Twisted

Twisted, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is from the 2008 Best Books for Young Adults list. This book was riveting and kept your attention to the very end. It comes with a disclaimer after the dedication page which reads “Note: This is not a book for children.” It’s not. It deals with some tough issues, especially near the end when the main character, Tyler, feels like his life is so messed up that he puts a gun in his mouth. But he doesn’t pull the trigger. And he takes the steps to turn his life around. Anderson is a very talented writer. I’ve read two of her other books, both from a female perspective. In this book, she very successfully takes the male perspective and runs with it. She got inside the head of a bullied, angry, persecuted teenage boy in a realistic and emotional way. Tyler had made some mistakes, but he was trying to live with them. Then things got worse and started to snowball. He was accused of a crime he did not commit and treated like he did it, both at school and by his father. His father was a real piece of work. He avoided his family except when he wanted to yell at them or blame his son for their problems. At the very end, the father-son relationship reached a point where it was either going to explode or it was going to get better. It kind of did both.