Stand Off by Andrew Smith

12/1/2015BookFilter | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=3c30208b-d273-46c1-b64f-7460d460f812&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/4HomeTop Picks: All BooksStand‐Off MoreStand‐Offby Andrew Smith, Sam BosmaPrice: $17.99(Hardcover)Published: September 08, 2015Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)From the Publisher: Ryan Dean West is back to his boardingschool antics in this bitingly funny sequel to Winger, whichPublishers Weekly called “alternately hilarious and painful,awkward and enlightening” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).It’s his last year at Pine Mountain, and Ryan Dean should befocused on his future, but instead, he’s haunted by his past.</p><p> Hisrugby coach expects him to fill the roles once played by his lostfriend, Joey, as the rugby team’s stand-off and new captain.</p><p> Andsomehow he’s stuck rooming with twelve-year-old freshman SamAbernathy, a cooking whiz with extreme claustrophobia and aserious crush on Annie Altman—aka Ryan Dean’s girlfriend, fornow, anyway.Equally distressing, Ryan Dean’s doodles and drawings don’t offerthe relief they used to.</p><p> He’s convinced N.A.T.E. (the NextAccidental Terrible Experience) is…Rate This Book|Rate/ReviewAdd To BookshelfGet This BookGo to your preferred retailer, click to choose a format and you' ll be taken directly to their site whereyou can get this book.BookFilter12/1/2015BookFilter | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=3c30208b-d273-46c1-b64f-7460d460f812&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/4 Personalize / Add More ChoicesWhat We SayRugby, high school, comic books, girls, boys, friends, enemies, cooking shows, sex, cursing (sort of) and more are allpresent in "Stand-Off," a very welcome sequel to the highly amusing coming of age novel "Winger." I actually HATEDthe end to "Winger," a really funny book about Ryan Dean West and his gay best friend at boarding school, both ofwhom are nuts about playing rugby.</p><p> Which is redundant, because anyone who plays rugby is by definition nuts.Anyway, it was a terrific book but ended -- bizarrely -- with some throwback, 1970s, the gay-kid-must-die finale so thestraight kid can feel bad and manfully get on with his life.</p><p> Now here's the sequel by Andrew Smith which manages tomake me hate the ending of the first book a lot less and laugh a lot more.</p><p> Ryan Dean West's internal monologue isconsistently hilarious and self-deprecating and his drawings that accompany the book are really fun, along with hissubtly witty word play and endearingly clumsy nature.</p><p> And he is totally f'ed up. (The book has what I can onlyconsider a strange running gag about almost no one approving of swearing.</p><p> It's like an alternate universe to real life,though not to worry -- Ryan Dean West regularly swears in this book though he immediately confesses that whateverswear word he uses wasn't in fact what he actually said.) Indeed, most everyone is f'ed up.</p><p> Ryan Dean entered thishigh school at a really young age so he's 15 and a senior.</p><p> Now he's rooming with Sam Abernathy, a 12 year old whois just as out of place as Ryan Dean was back then.</p><p> Sam Abernathy is a really good cook, really nerdy and has apuppy-like enthusiasm for darn near everything.</p><p> But he's 12 and Ryan Dean is determined NOT to be nice to the kid,not to be friends with him.</p><p> At all.</p><p> The kid has claustrophobia and can't bear for Ryan Dean to be in the room whenhe's using their bathroom.</p><p> So Ryan Dean freezes to death at night (the kid hyperventilates if the window isn't leftopen) when he's not standing in the hall while the kid uses the loo.</p><p> Oh and Ryan Dean is literally freaking out.</p><p> He'sso unwound by his gay best friend's death that he's afraid to be with his girlfriend because surely something bad willhappen to her too.</p><p> And he gets panic attacks at night.</p><p> Oh and another dude on the rugby team tells Ryan Dean he'sbisexual and keeps hitting on him.</p><p> And the younger brother of his gay best friend visits the school but despises RyanDean on sight.</p><p> Or so Ryan Dean believes.</p><p> It's all funny (truly!) and real and sexy (Ryan Dean's girlfriend is super cooland sexy and even sexier when she's chiding him, which is often) and while it's pretty rosy at the end, it's not like allproblems are solved.</p><p> And the fact that the trauma at the end of "Winger" reverberates throughout all of "Stand-Off"makes that cheap plot twist feel not so cheap after all.</p><p> Author Andrew Smith gives it heft here, so now both books arebetter for it.</p><p> Here's hoping Ryan Dean keeps a journal in college. -- Michael GiltzLessWhat Others Say*"A brave, wickedly funny novel about grief and finding a way to live with it, with sweetly realistic first sexualexperiences." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review*"Ryan Dean’s voice remains engaging, honest, and idiosyncratic (a page-long internal monologue follows hisdiscovery of two teammates in a compromising situation).</p><p> Smith capably expands on Ryan Dean’s coming-of-ageand path to emotional recovery, chronicled through his crude comics and growing maturity." - Publishers Weekly,starred review"Smith has created a consistently interesting character whose singular sense of humor grows on readers.</p><p> Plus, henails the rough-and-tumble sport of rugby.</p><p> This sequel won’t disappoint fans." - Booklist*"The novel succeeds not only as an emotionally satisfying sequel but as a hopeful, honest account of coping with a