Cut Both Ways in 2016 Hub Reading Challenge

Nov 05, 2015 Bethany Miller added it

Shelves: royal

Grades: 10-12
Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Good
Recommendation: Optional purchase for public libraries, not recommended for school libraries

Will Caynes lives the double life that many children of divorce are familiar with. Half his time is spent with this mother and her new family in the suburbs where the lawns are well manicured and the houses all look the same. He spends his time with his two half-sisters and his best friend Angus. The other part of his life is spent with his father in Grades: 10-12
Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Good
Recommendation: Optional purchase for public libraries, not recommended for school libraries

Will Caynes lives the double life that many children of divorce are familiar with. Half his time is spent with this mother and her new family in the suburbs where the lawns are well manicured and the houses all look the same. He spends his time with his two half-sisters and his best friend Angus. The other part of his life is spent with his father in the city in the house where he grew up. His father, who has struggled with drinking in the past, has undertaken a massive remodel of the house, and Will is spending the summer helping him. Will’s already fragmented life becomes more complicated when he and Angus, who is openly gay, kiss after a night of drinking. Will does not consider himself gay, but he likes how he feels with Angus and their physical relationship becomes more and more intense. At the same time, he has entered into a relationship with Brandy, a girl from his school who babysits for a family that lives near his father. Will knows that he can’t continue to live with the strain of the opposing sides of his life pulling him in different directions, but he also can’t bring himself to choose between the two.

Mesrobian does a great job of getting into the mind of a confused teenage boy who is struggling with realistic and relatable dilemmas. Some of the situations were uncomfortable for me to read, but I am not the target audience for this book. Much like a real teenage boy, Will is at times likable, despicable, annoying, sympathetic, and clueless, and he makes choices that reader (or this reader at least) can see are leading him to a fall.

Even though some of the content of this books made me a bit squeamish, especially when I thought about the younger and less mature end of the spectrum of my high school students, I was on board with this book. But then the ending…Just when one major plot point got wrapped up a couple of new conflicts are brought into the story with no resolution. The reader is left wondering what is next for will and whether or not he has changed (or will change) in any meaningful way. Though that may be true to how it is in life sometimes, it makes for an unsatisfying end to a novel.
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Feb 04, 2016 Julie Trapp rated it did not like it

This was one of the most disgusting, smutty books I have ever read. So the "hero" was bisexual. Then say so. He was having sex with both Brandy and Angus and it was far too graphic for a YA book. If this book were not on the Hub Challenge list I would have tossed it after the first page. Concentrate on his divorced parents, his drunk of a father, the house fire (never resolved) the inappropriate sexting that an 8-yr old sibling found - but it was all about the crude sex. Would never recommend th ...more

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Jan 25, 2016 Anna Chappell rated it really liked it

4.5 stars, I think - I was all set to give it 5 because it was completely engrossing, but I'm not a big fan of the way it ends, so I knocked it down a bit. But still, it's a good read. ...more

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