Tom Lynch

Kids are so damn smart these days.

Henry Every, Dana Adam Shapiro's 15-year-old hero who washes ashore, dead, on the first page of the debut novel "The Every Boy," rings quite precocious. He keeps a journal--it's detailed, mostly about girls or his separated parents--that could've been written by an MFA student. He waxes poetic--"in the suburbs, nobody really knows anybody but everyone knows who everyone else is"--in a way that would make J.D. Salinger, or any Jonathan Safran Foer creation, proud. He has the undesirable duty of knowing more than any other character in the book. A demanding request, for a teenager.

After he's found mysteriously soaked and lifeless on the beach, his father finds a journal of more than 2,000 pages that tells Henry's tale--every thought, adolescent confusion, teenage doubt--and with the help of countless bottles of gin, Mr. Every dives in headfirst. The Every boy gets to ball-kick his father while boxing, hold a secret crush on a tomboy, pull a humorous and inventive prank on a high-school bully (the result of which ends in martyrdom after a mass murder), and fall in love with a one-handed queen of New York, a young girl even more precious than Henry, who eats hotdog-less hotdogs. Shapiro's most delightful segue way comes later in his brief novel, when Henry's one-handed obsession leads him to an underground group of amputees, who have altered their bodies on purpose--severed legs, arms, horns inserted into scalps and forked tongues--who title themselves the "Pilgrims," where Henry insists he could, just maybe, belong.

Shapiro, a former editor at Spin and co-director of "Murderball," the award-winning documentary about paraplegic rugby players, gives his characters--all-aching, alone and regretful--sentiment as a savior at book's end, and when Henry's death is explained, the circular nature of the story only spins more circles. Henry's father, depressed and depressing to a nearly unspeakable degree, immerses himself in the world of brainless, venomous jellyfish, which he believes he can tame. While Shapiro's chaotic and quirky subplots amaze, one can't help but wish they were pushed to the front lines, and his Every boy, which we all may be, would act his age.

The Every Boy

By Dana Adam Shapiro

Houghton Mifflin, $19.95, 224 pages

(2005-07-21)

Also by Tom Lynch

Telescopic pop
The name comes from a telescope
(2005-07-19)

Tip of the Week
Of course the creator of cult sitcom "Freaks and Geeks" was a virgin till 24
(2005-07-05)

Tip of the Week
As Chicago and its surrounding areas continue as a hard-workin' factory for solid, pop-punk emo-ites, bands that remotely fit into the system are jutting out of the woods
(2005-06-28)

Gadget inspectors
Welcome to the smartest room in the city
(2005-06-28)

Fiction Review
(2005-06-28)

Tip of the Week
(2005-06-24)

Rock Tip of the Week
(2005-06-15)

Tip of the Week
(2005-06-15)

No more lies
(2005-06-09)

Short Runs
(2005-06-09)

Radioactive Men
(2005-05-31)

Tip of the Week
(2005-05-24)

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment