Paranoid Park - Hardcover

Nelson, Blake

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670061182 ISBN 13: 9780670061181

Publisher: Viking Juvenile, 2006

Synopsis

A sixteen-year-old Portland, Oregon skateboarder, whose parents are going through a difficult divorce, is engulfed by guilt and confusion when he accidentally kills a security guard at a train yard.

About this title

About the Author

Blake Nelson lives and works in New York City. He is the author of several young adult novels—including the ALA Best Book for Young Adults Rock Star Superstar, as well as the cult hit Girl.

Reviews

Grade 7 Up–As if his parents' impending divorce isn't stressful enough, the 16-year-old unnamed protagonist and self-described Prep skater dude writes a confessional detailing his remorse over his role in the gruesome death of a railroad security officer while hopping a train to Safeway to get beer. Also, he has fallen into an uneasy relationship with cheerleader Jennifer, who seems more interested in losing her virginity than he does. Nelson's natural-sounding teen speak authentically grounds this story in contemporary high school/skateboard culture. After deciding not to call the police immediately following the accidental homicide, it gradually becomes easier to justify continued silence, and simultaneously becomes harder to imagine coming forward to anyone about what happened. What finally moves him–and the plot–is the formerly pesky little girl down the street, Macy, now an attractive sophomore, who genuinely listens to him and cares enough about him to recognize his distress. She suggests that if he truly cannot tell anyone what's bugging him, perhaps he should at least write about it. Thus, this novel, which probes the cultural divide separating the narrator from the rough-and-tumble Streeters, examines the chasm separating moral responsibility from the eternal damnation of keeping a horrible secret. The story is less resolved than Michael Cadnum's Calling Home (Viking, 1991), but many teens will relate on one level or another to this teen's terrible dilemma.–Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

In a compelling voice, the 16-year-old narrator tells how he got into the mess he is in. He is heavy into skateboarding, so when he gets a chance to visit sketchy Paranoid Park, where the rougher element skates, he is so there. On his second visit, he jumps a train with a street kid. Waiting at the yard is a transit cop, who goes after the narrator with a fury enforced by his billy club. The boy fights back, hitting the cop with his skateboard, and then watches in horror as a train crumples the man. Now what? Nelson captures the confusion, fear, and despair that alternate with moments of normalcy as the kid tries to pick a path through this labyrinth. Readers will have a visceral reaction to this story, but on a literary level, they'll also appreciate Nelson's clever plotting and spot-on characterizations: the boy's parents' acrimonious divorce adequately explains how the kid escapes adult scrutiny, and his girlfriend, tediously eager to lose her virginity (mission accomplished), seems depressingly real. Nonstop page turning until the surprising conclusion. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

My first connection to Paranoid was through Jared Fitch. He s a senior at my school. He s pretty insane, but cool, though, and one of the best skaters at our school. He does stuff like skating off the back of a delivery truck going forty miles an hour while someone videotapes it.

That s how we became friends. I was just getting good at skateboarding, and he would show me stuff. He had videos of things he d done. He also had other skate videos-- stuff you couldn t find at the local mall. He just knew what was up, so the two of us became friends.

Last summer we skated every day. We d go downtown to different places, like this old parking garage that was condemned that everyone snuck into and partied in. That s when we really became friends. And other spots, like the famous "Suicide Stairwell" by the river where everybody used to go. Places like that.

Like I said, I wasn t on Jared s level yet, but I was learning. And he liked that I was young and eager. He liked being the teacher and showing me stuff.

Anyway, during the last week of summer, we were downtown one day and Jared said we should check out Paranoid Park. I didn t say anything at first. I had heard of it, of course, but had never thought of going there. I had assumed it was out of my league. But when I said I didn t think I was ready, Jared laughed and said something like: "Nobody s ever ready for Paranoid Park."

So we went. I was nervous, naturally, but I was also kinda psyched. Skating Paranoid. That was an accomplishment. That was something you could tell people about.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Juvenile
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670061182
• ISBN 13: 9780670061181
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176