But then, in one of the most vexing parts of the book, she tells his biggest secret to the two seniors. As in many of the tangled plotlines, Lorelei and Stein’s relationship seems to be lifted from teen movies she pairs with him because the two senior boys who have been “assigned” to torment her want to hurt Stein, and threaten her into agreeing to pretend to like him. It starts with Stein and Davidek’s banal detentions, then Lorelei being bullied by two sophomore sisters whose “surly attitudes… reflected lifetimes of torment” (there’s a blighting lack of graceful language throughout), and eventually leads to a relationship between Lorelei and Stein. The chief trouble is this: the novel details a series of tragedies that befall Davidek, Stein, and a girl named Lorelei whom they befriend, and each episode (there are too many to count) trumps the last, without any further insight into the characters. The Famous Writer’s endorsement leaves a one-upping door wide open: “If you thought high school was hell, has Anthony Breznican got a story for you…” And this is where the blurb on the cover of the book, from Stephen King, backfires. Unidentifiable muck slides down the school walls seniors engage in vicious yearlong hazing, torturing freshmen while teachers turn a blind eye and no one-not the heads of the school, not the guidance counselor, not even the only warm-hearted teacher-has even a scrap of sincere love for St.
They immediately get a taste of how bad the year ahead will be. Mike’s, and meet again on the first day of school.
Fast-forward several months, and for tenuously believable reasons, both Davidek and Stein-as they are referred to throughout the book-have decided to enroll at St. Peter Davidek and Noah Stein are visiting students standing on the lawn below the shower of statues the day of the infamous “Boy on the Roof” incident, and they form an instant bond by trying to be heroes together. Clink is far from a central character-we only see him once more, for a fleeting moment-but throughout Brutal Youth he is often referred to, and always as “The Boy on the Roof.” Consider the prologue a preview of heavy-handedness-no pun intended-to come.
Michael’s, the crumbling Catholic school that sets the stage for all the drama within the book’s four hundred plus pages. Anthony Breznican’s debut novel, Brutal Youth, opens with a troubled teenaged boy, nicknamed “Clink,” violently hurtling statues of saints off the roof of St.
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