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348th out of 538 books
—
81 voters
Twelve
Twelve is a chilling chronicle of urban adolescence that has already created an international sensation. Set in Manhattan between Christmas and New Year's Eve, from the housing projects of Harlem to the penthouses of Park Avenue, it is the story of White Mike, a seventeen-year-old prep-school dropout turned drug dealer, and his privileged peers. The kids of Twelve stay hom...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
July 10th 2002
by Grove/Atlantic
(first published 2002)
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I thought this was just a shitty book. I think the author goes completely off the charts in his portrayal of the northeast privileged lifestyle of youth, entering into the absurd. And truth be told, I was offended by much of the writing.
The author hadn't even started college when he wrote and published this book. The book was published with ease because his parents are rich New York socialites in the publishing business. At the time when I read this I had great dreams of becoming a young, successful writer, so I wanted to see if the kid had talent or if he just had money and access.
I did like reading the book, but I'm not sure how much talent was involved. I don't believe he's written anything since. I mean, maybe he is talent...more
I did like reading the book, but I'm not sure how much talent was involved. I don't believe he's written anything since. I mean, maybe he is talent...more
3 likes · like · see review
I am a relative late-comer to the cult of Nick McDonell since I came at his early success from his latest piece of nonfiction, The End of Major Combat Operations. Much as I admired …Combat Operations, I found the fictional Twelve to be admirable as well and almost as hard to put down, though one could not find a subject more different.
Much has been written about Twelve, for when it was published in 2002, its author was barely eighteen years of age. I had imagined twelve referred to the age of th...more
Much has been written about Twelve, for when it was published in 2002, its author was barely eighteen years of age. I had imagined twelve referred to the age of th...more
Skip the nearly straight to DVD movie with A-list actors and read this book. I'm stunned by all the negative reviews. White Mike takes a year off from his over-privileged life to defer an ivy league education and "work". Needing only a supplier, a beeper and his never-ending prep school connections, he walks the streets of New York to collect cash in exchange for drugs. Near the beginning, another dealer, much like Mike, dies in a violent and bloody deal gone bad in Harlem and the wrong guy is a...more
3 likes · like · see review
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I really enjoyed this book. It was different and it was open. I'm actually surprised that this book doesn't have more higher rated reviews. The book was intense and the short, concise and compelling chapters really added to the effect of this book - the formatting certainly helped it to have an impact. The characters were realistic and frank, the setting was well described. I think this book is underrated - it is something that I feel that I will remember for quite some time. The fact that a 17...more
1 like · like · see review
Dvanáct od N.McDonella
Anotace: Mikovi je sedmnáct. Matku už nemá, žije jen s otcem. Nekouří, nepije ani nefetuje jako ostatní příslušníci newyorské zlaté mládeže, a přestože by mohl jít studovat na kteroukoli prestižní univerzitu, poznává raději život, což v jeho případě znamená chodit v dlouhém plášti po luxusní části Manhattanu a zčásti pro zábavu, zčásti pro obživu dodávat drogy svým vrstevníkům, předčasně vyspělým, v zásadě však nedospělým dětem, jejichž rodiče se odjakživa víc zajímali o vy...more
Anotace: Mikovi je sedmnáct. Matku už nemá, žije jen s otcem. Nekouří, nepije ani nefetuje jako ostatní příslušníci newyorské zlaté mládeže, a přestože by mohl jít studovat na kteroukoli prestižní univerzitu, poznává raději život, což v jeho případě znamená chodit v dlouhém plášti po luxusní části Manhattanu a zčásti pro zábavu, zčásti pro obživu dodávat drogy svým vrstevníkům, předčasně vyspělým, v zásadě však nedospělým dětem, jejichž rodiče se odjakživa víc zajímali o vy...more
I remember reading "Twelve" shortly after it came out, mostly due to the hype that the author was only 17 years old and was some kind of wunderkind. Well, that wasn't exactly the case.
McDonell wrote the book over a summer and had his publishing deal handed over on a silver platter. His parents, incidetally, were figureheads in the publishing industry. This is also how McDonell obtained his blurbs from Hunter S. Thompson and Joan Didion, respectively.
I'll let you decide if this book would have e...more
McDonell wrote the book over a summer and had his publishing deal handed over on a silver platter. His parents, incidetally, were figureheads in the publishing industry. This is also how McDonell obtained his blurbs from Hunter S. Thompson and Joan Didion, respectively.
I'll let you decide if this book would have e...more
I will be completely honest: I picked this book up after seeing the movie trailer, because I think Chace Crawford is easy on the eyes! And, the trailer made this look a little like Gossip Girl (which is a guilty pleasure for sure!). But, that is not what it was like at all.
So, the book sucked. Big deal - Nick McDonell was 17 when he wrote it. And, there has been serious speculation to the manner in which his book was published anyways. I am sure, this will make a much better movie than book. Th...more
So, the book sucked. Big deal - Nick McDonell was 17 when he wrote it. And, there has been serious speculation to the manner in which his book was published anyways. I am sure, this will make a much better movie than book. Th...more
Nick McDonell does have a nice writing style. It is crisp, clean, and driven by contemporary language. He catches the inflections and slang of how high schoolers talk, think, and act. The book was written when McDonell was in high school , which only makes you itch with anticipation for what comes next. If he can write like that when his only 18 imagine what he can do in ten years?
The way the book is written it seems more like a real life conversation rather than novel. It gives you a feeling th...more
The way the book is written it seems more like a real life conversation rather than novel. It gives you a feeling th...more
Aug 31, 2012
Emily
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who likes a good time.
Recommended to Emily by:
Saw movie first.
So I'm a bit stunned at all the horrid reviews. I actually saw the movie first but after reading the book, loved it 394409308 times more. The narrator is very entertaining and the fact that the author was 17 when he published it makes me as an indie, 20 year old writer, jealous but also happy that young people can get published too! Yeah, he was rich, but if you look at it this way, many actors and actresses have gotten famous through a family member or friend. Why is this any different? I'm sur...more
When I finished reading Twelve by Nick McDonell i had to say wow. The main character is White Mike, a seven teen year old drug dealer who lives in New York. He sells Marijuana to his rich peers. I can understand why he makes bad decsions and I think it's because his mother died of cancer before the book started. His father is barely aru\ound to support and modivate him to make right decisions and his best friend Hunter encourages him to sell and do drugs. Lets see whos left, wait NO ONE.
The no...more
The no...more
I liked this book because of it's short concise chapters.
The book is quite simple, it's a about a dealer who goes by the name White Mike and people he knows or deals to, Mike sells marijuana exclusively to Manhattan preppies, and it's vacation time when lots more of them are in town with cash to blow and party.
On the scene there's a new drug called Twelve, which acts like a combo of blow and "X," sold by White Mike's dealer Lionel. A tough Brooklyn black guy.
Jessica gets hooked on Twelve immedia...more
The book is quite simple, it's a about a dealer who goes by the name White Mike and people he knows or deals to, Mike sells marijuana exclusively to Manhattan preppies, and it's vacation time when lots more of them are in town with cash to blow and party.
On the scene there's a new drug called Twelve, which acts like a combo of blow and "X," sold by White Mike's dealer Lionel. A tough Brooklyn black guy.
Jessica gets hooked on Twelve immedia...more
Mar 20, 2012
Jennifer
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Young Adults (out of highschool)
Shelves:
young-adult-2012
In a regular book, it builds to the climax, and than resolves the problems of the book, Twelve is not a regular book, this is book is about rich, snotty, drug using teens who don't get enough love from their parents so they drink and do drugs to cope. (I about summed up the plot right there).
White Mike is a 17 year old drug dealer from Manhattan's Upper East Side, he himself, does not drink, or do drugs but he did drop out high school and nows sells drugs- Weed and an Ecstasy called "Twelve"- t...more
White Mike is a 17 year old drug dealer from Manhattan's Upper East Side, he himself, does not drink, or do drugs but he did drop out high school and nows sells drugs- Weed and an Ecstasy called "Twelve"- t...more
May 26, 2010
Susan
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of disillusioned youth stories
Shelves:
2010read
I wish publishers wouldn't feel the need to brag about the ages of their young writers. This is one of those books where I just have a hard time deciding whether it's brilliant or just terrible, and I don't think knowing how young McDonell was when he wrote it helps the problem.
The quality of the prose is decent enough, sometimes even quite good. At other times, it feels too rushed and staccatto. The way he kept describing everyone's physical characteristics and all their material possessions w...more
The quality of the prose is decent enough, sometimes even quite good. At other times, it feels too rushed and staccatto. The way he kept describing everyone's physical characteristics and all their material possessions w...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
With ‘Twelve’, young Nick McDonell creates interconnected thumbnail sketches of, like, a dozen miserable rich kids. The narrative weaves in and out of their respective lives via frustratingly short snapshots. It’s a cool device – very detached, very Bret Easton Ellis – but it comes off as far too scattered. We don’t spend enough time with anyone to even begin to care (White Mike is the only character who gets any real screen time and yet, somehow, he remains the biggest cipher of them all!).
The...more
The...more
Well written, a little too many platitudes though, especially in the first 100 pages.
You recognize the writer age while reading. I was sometimes hearing my students talking.
Nevertheless, I really loved McDonell's sparse language, the short chapters and the constant switching point-of-view. White Mike is a well-developed character whose psychological flaws and strengths make him interesting and lifelike. The plot has its weak points. (view spoiler)...more
You recognize the writer age while reading. I was sometimes hearing my students talking.
Nevertheless, I really loved McDonell's sparse language, the short chapters and the constant switching point-of-view. White Mike is a well-developed character whose psychological flaws and strengths make him interesting and lifelike. The plot has its weak points. (view spoiler)...more
A weak milky tea version of Bret Easton Ellis. The exceptionally short chapters are concise and to the point. It's over quickly. The author was just 17 when he wrote it, which sure is admirable, but it doesn't make the impact that it seems to strive for.
The world of privledged teenagers in New York, is not a world that is wholly engaging. As a young adult reader in London it does not engage me. If you live in New York and know the archetypes of the book then perhaps it would be more meaningful....more
The world of privledged teenagers in New York, is not a world that is wholly engaging. As a young adult reader in London it does not engage me. If you live in New York and know the archetypes of the book then perhaps it would be more meaningful....more
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I actually really enjoyed this book. The fact that it was written by a 17 year old astounds me.
I thought that it was a little slow to start with, but once I was about 1/3 of the way through I was hooked! I thought that, although there were lots of 'main' characters, the author managed to get the chapters to flow well, thus eliminating confusion. The writing was a bit sloppy in places and I didn't really get the relevance of some of White Mike's flashbacks.
Speaking of White Mike, I really liked...more
I thought that it was a little slow to start with, but once I was about 1/3 of the way through I was hooked! I thought that, although there were lots of 'main' characters, the author managed to get the chapters to flow well, thus eliminating confusion. The writing was a bit sloppy in places and I didn't really get the relevance of some of White Mike's flashbacks.
Speaking of White Mike, I really liked...more
I read this book after seeing the indie film last year.
I was quite surprised that it was written by a 17 year old but after just a few pages, I could see it was not well done.
Let's start with what works. The story follows about a half dozen teenagers throught the course of a week as they prepare for a New Years party. I liked reading each individual's perspective as the story progressed. Some details are strewn nicely throughout the work to positive effect. Also, the pacing towards the end of th...more
I was quite surprised that it was written by a 17 year old but after just a few pages, I could see it was not well done.
Let's start with what works. The story follows about a half dozen teenagers throught the course of a week as they prepare for a New Years party. I liked reading each individual's perspective as the story progressed. Some details are strewn nicely throughout the work to positive effect. Also, the pacing towards the end of th...more
This is undoubtedly a heavy read for teens and adults alike. The riveting story of a prominent drug-dealer who is clean as a whistle himself, having never touched so much as a smoke. White Mike, who I fell in love with, is the character our story is built around, and branches out into the dirty, disordered lives of several of the teenagers and the people who buy from him. The end is shocking, to be truthful. I was stunned momentarily, and heavily saddened before I could close the book. Not only...more
I was very excited to read this book. I had heard about it months ago when the movie came out, and I though the plot line was interesting, and it would create an exciting read, but boy was I wrong. One thing I realized from reading this book was that sex and drugs in a plot line can only take the story so far. If the story is lacking in relatable, complex characters or a detailed setting, the story will flop. Many of the characters were extremely one dimensional. Because the story revolved aroun...more
Ugh, what should I say? I want to explain why I gave this one only one star, even though even that one star seems to be too much to me.
As the author states in his afterword, this was written over summer, hurried, somehow. The author is the child of another published author, or so I remember. Maybe a journalist or something. That being said, I guess that gave him quite the advantage at being published this early in his life.
I know this was praised a lot for the chapters, for the flow of the story...more
As the author states in his afterword, this was written over summer, hurried, somehow. The author is the child of another published author, or so I remember. Maybe a journalist or something. That being said, I guess that gave him quite the advantage at being published this early in his life.
I know this was praised a lot for the chapters, for the flow of the story...more
This was written by a seventeen-year-old, and while it is impressive that someone so young wrote a novel, this is not otherwise a very impressive novel. The story mostly follows a group of rich, white high-schoolers in New York's upper east side, and while there are a lot of stereotypes and caricatures, some of the characters and exchanges did actually ring true to me. The beginning was a little slow and disjointed for me, but once things developed a little there were some interesting interconne...more
Okay, so this one was odd. Basically a play-by-play chronicle of a bunch of spoiled, unsupervised teenage Manhattan debutants who waste their talent and opportunities on drugs, sex and violence. The main character, White Mike, refrains from doing any drugs but doesn't seem to mind dealing. The girls are ALL airheads and the guys think with their little digits. The end comes so jarringly and out of the blue. Not sure if this was on purpose, and I'm guessing there is a message here about gun contr...more
As with most books, I read through the beginning, waiting for the plot to develop and the story to get interesting. Sadly, this never happened. More than half way through, I realized: this was it. The book is a composition of daily life for a couple of teens. Though there are many places where the author could have created a gripping plot line, it never occurred. Twelve is a coming-of-age tale, but without the significance of the characters finding their way. I was dissapointed in the sense that...more
This might be one of the best first books by a young author I've read in some time. It came out a few years back and I'd been slow getting to it.
It's definitely is a book of its own generation and might go down as one of the definitive ones. It's that good. The spirit of the story is reminiscent of "Less Than Zero" (not LITERALLY like "Less Than Zero") and takes place over the New Year holiday in New York, when all the rich and privileged are back home and there are parties and drugs and guns.....more
It's definitely is a book of its own generation and might go down as one of the definitive ones. It's that good. The spirit of the story is reminiscent of "Less Than Zero" (not LITERALLY like "Less Than Zero") and takes place over the New Year holiday in New York, when all the rich and privileged are back home and there are parties and drugs and guns.....more
The book's climax doesn't come until the last ten or so pages, but it still was able to hold my attention. One of the amazing things about this book is that it was written by a seventeen-year old boy. His writing seems beyond what most seventeen-year olds could do. Even though the story is based around drugs, sex, and partying, McDonell is able to take us into the story of a coming of age and hardships of young adults. The main character White Mike does not really fit in with the rest of the cha...more
Feb 17, 2011
Zoë (In The Next Room)
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
review-copy
Twelve by Nick McDonell was an unusual case for me, in that I picked up the novel after absolutely loving the film and wanting to read the source material. Twelve was McDonell's 2002 debut, written when he was only seventeen it tells the story of a fictional drug called Twelve and the impact it has on the lives of a group of New York City teens. The novel takes place over several days at the end of December, and the events center around a drug dealer called White Mike, who happens to have never...more
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Robert Nicholas "Nick" McDonell is an American writer.
He attended the Buckley School (New York City), the Riverdale Country School, and was graduated from Harvard College in January 2007.
He wrote the novel Twelve in 2002, at age 17. The subject of the novel is disaffection, despair, drug use and violence among a group of wealthy Manhattan teenagers during Christmas break. The publication of McDone...more
More about Nick McDonell...
He attended the Buckley School (New York City), the Riverdale Country School, and was graduated from Harvard College in January 2007.
He wrote the novel Twelve in 2002, at age 17. The subject of the novel is disaffection, despair, drug use and violence among a group of wealthy Manhattan teenagers during Christmas break. The publication of McDone...more
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1 person liked it
“White Mike was a thinker, his teachers said. This is what he was thinking as he watched his mother's coffin being lowered into the ground.
You will not be remembered if you die now. You will be buried and mourned by a few, and what more can you ask for. But you feel so tremendously alone, because you fear that your blood is not strong or good and your friends are few and embattled too. But so what. That is the answer. So what so what so what so what so what so what so what. The world will spiral out from underneath you, and you will find nothing to hold on to because you are either too smart or too dumb to find God, and because what the fuck will Camus ever do for you? Just ideas. You are not an artist, you will not leave something behind. Maybe you are angry only because the way out is through love and you are horny and lonely. And she's dead, of course. Maybe this is the way it is for everybody, only you are weaker, or less lucky, or have seen something they all have not. You have seen that before you lies a great stretch of road, and it is windswept or blasted by the hot sun or covered in snow, or it is dirt or concrete or shrouded in darkness or bright and clear so you have to squint, but no matter what, it is utterly empty.
That was what White Mike was thinking.”
—
1 person liked it
More quotes…
You will not be remembered if you die now. You will be buried and mourned by a few, and what more can you ask for. But you feel so tremendously alone, because you fear that your blood is not strong or good and your friends are few and embattled too. But so what. That is the answer. So what so what so what so what so what so what so what. The world will spiral out from underneath you, and you will find nothing to hold on to because you are either too smart or too dumb to find God, and because what the fuck will Camus ever do for you? Just ideas. You are not an artist, you will not leave something behind. Maybe you are angry only because the way out is through love and you are horny and lonely. And she's dead, of course. Maybe this is the way it is for everybody, only you are weaker, or less lucky, or have seen something they all have not. You have seen that before you lies a great stretch of road, and it is windswept or blasted by the hot sun or covered in snow, or it is dirt or concrete or shrouded in darkness or bright and clear so you have to squint, but no matter what, it is utterly empty.
That was what White Mike was thinking.”
Dec 01, 2009 06:49pm
Feb 23, 2010 08:03pm
Dec 31, 2012 06:29pm