Michael Harmon is the author of Skate, “a remarkable first novel,” according to Kirkus Reviews. He lives in Spokane, Washington, where he is at work on his next novel for Knopf.
From the Hardcover edition.
Last Exit to Normal
eBook
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ISBN-13:
9780375849398
- Publisher: Random House Children's Books
- Publication date: 07/08/2019
- Sold by: Penguin Group
- Format: eBook
- Sales rank: 145,340
- Lexile: 620L (what's this?)
- File size: 359 KB
- Age Range: 14 Years
Available on NOOK devices and apps
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It’s true: After 17-year-old Ben’s father announces he’s gay and the family splits apart, Ben does everything he can to tick him off: skip school, smoke pot, skateboard nonstop, get arrested. But he never thinks he’ll end up yanked out of his city life and plunked down into a small Montana town with his dad and Edward, The Boyfriend. As if it’s not painful enough living in a hick town with spiked hair, a skateboard habit, and two dads, he soon realizes something’s not quite right with Billy, the boy next door. He’s hiding a secret about his family, and Ben is determined to uncover it and set things right. In an authentic, unaffected, and mordantly funny voice, Michael Harmon tells the wrenching story of an uprooted and uncomfortable teenaged guy trying to fix the lives around him–while figuring out his own.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Harmon is the author of Skate, a highly praised first novel. In The Last Exit to Normal, the narrator is Ben, an angry young man. Most of his anger has been caused by what he sees as his father’s lies and betrayal. His father was married and fathered Ben, but a few years before this story begins, Ben learned that his father is gay and that his real love is another man. This dissolved the family and caused Ben to go on a tear. In an effort to rein Ben in, his father and Ed, the boyfriend, go to a small town in Montana, and live with Ed’s elderly mother. Harmon brings all his skill to this situation, with each character so well realized, so quirky, so individual. Ed’s mother is a terror, and yet as her personality is revealed, we understand how very complicated and how honorable she is. Ben eventually is transformed by this culture shock, and by a beautiful girl who makes him want to be a better person. A subplot involves a truly disastrous father-son situation next door where an 11-year-old boy is being physically and emotionally abused. This is the first time in quite a while that Ben feels some compassion for someone other than himself, and his rage is directed at someone other than his own father. This metamorphosis takes place slowly over the weeks in the summer heat, and the reader feels every bit of the heat. An excellent story. Reviewer: Claire Rosser
March 2008 (Vol. 42, No.2)
"Because [Harmon's] take on people is convincing, audiences will want to believe in his story, too."
Starred Review, School Library Journal, April 2008:
"It is filled with atypical character interactions that make it an excellent read."