I would completely recommend this riveting novel (it’s a quick read!).“Equal parts entertaining and provocative. (He’s not a character that needs to be talked about too much in a review he needs to be read about and experienced). That is Zack rolled up into a few sentences.

Think a more laid-back version of a YA sociopath. Her personality was too stereotypical for me (she falls for guys way too easily, is always wanting to be on the ‘in’ crowd, and she just strikes me as someone who wouldn’t have Kyle’s back when he needs her the most.)Īnother character I despised was Zack. While she can freely reach Kyle, he, on the other hand, is always at a loss with how to really reach her. Ashley and Kyle have known each other for years, and she always calls him to dish about each and every aspect of her teenage life. Reflecting back after finishing the novel a few days ago, I realize that she’s much more a symbol of perfection and idealism rather than an in-depth character to connect with. The only thing I didn’t particularly enjoy about Kyle’s story was that Ashley was a part of it. This novel reflects the small and large choices that he decides to make (or not make) and the dire consequences of those. He’s also a regular guy with inner demons like all of us. Real enough that most of us, after reading this story, can probably picture someone very similar to him that we saw walking alone in the halls at school.

What I liked most about Kyle and the way Benoit created him was that he seems so real. (I don’t care much for Ashley because she was a little too ‘Valley Girl’ for me, but more on how that relates to the plot later on.) We follow 15 year old Kyle as he goes through the everyday, same old, same old motions of his life: listening to the nonstop bickering of his parents, (especially his mother who just seriously won’t lay off) the mundane and pointless moments he spends with his group of terribly unmotivated and typical hormonal teenage boy friends, (known at their school as ‘hoodies’ because all they wear is, you guessed it, black hoodies), and what’s most important to Kyle, his fascination and love for Ashley, the girl that just always seems to be out of reach. Even though Charles Benoit’s You isn’t like that exactly, (we learn our main character’s identity within the first couple of pages) I found this YA novel to be unlike anything I’ve ever read, storytelling wise. (Which, is a cool element to a story in my opinion).

When I first began this book, I thought that this was going to be one of those novels that doesn’t list the name of the protagonist for the entire novel. But then, how do you explain all the blood? How do you explain how you got here in the first place?” “You’re just a typical fifteen-year-old sophomore, an average guy named Kyle Chase.

Jump by Elisa Carbone