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Sunday, 1 December 2013

Books 2013: The Pursuit of Cool

Sometimes I pick up a book for no reason at all. I just happen to read a sentence about it, or the cover looks good, or the title sounds intriguing. This novel, I picked up on Twitter. For some reason I followed the author, Robb Skidmore, on Twitter and he put out some sentences from the book which made me curious. It's a book about growing into adulthood in the 80s, and a couple of pop music references made me decide to buy the book. 
 
Unfortunately, the book said nothing to me. It was just a written version of the seemingly endless amount of american high school/college films that keep being made. American high schools/colleges as presented on film might as well be part of a different planet if you're European. 
 
I couldn't make myself find his story realistic at all. Nobody can be that stupid. Only in American films. We meet the slightly awkward kid, who wants to be one the cool guys, who wants a girlfriend and a career and all that. And somehow he mangedes to become partly cool at least, and to get his hands on a couple of girls, all the time wasting his education on nothing, being a spinless creature without a sense of belonging. Sorry, no sympathy from me.


Skidmore, Robb (2013): The Pursuit of Cool. TMiK Press.

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