I’m honestly not the type to read many “classics” by choice. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them, because I honestly do when they fall into my hands, but they always get there by way of assignment. My teachers in high school, and professors in college, tell me what to read and when to read it. Unfortunately, that has shaped most of my reading experience; I very rarely have time to read novels that I choose personally. I hope to change that one day, but sometimes life and obligations make choices like that for me, so it’s a slow-moving process as I start my first semester at a new school with a new major.
Nearly two years ago, I was studying psychology with a focus on adolescents. And, surprisingly, through a rare assigned fiction novel in one of my courses in that period of time, I found a piece of work that altered me. Of course, I wouldn’t realize until more than half a year later, because it’s not common for things to happen simply and easily that will set one on an entirely different path in their life. It’s always going to be a rocky journey with absurd twists and turns, and “Youth in Revolt” by C.D. Payne plays that idea up in a way that dispenses dark humor by way of an exploring adolescent, Nick Twisp.
The novel is portrayed as a comedy, and it certainly is, but there is so much hidden beneath its entertaining characterization of its 14-year-old narrator, a boy obsessed with sex, Frank Sinatra, and his “soul mate”, Sheeni Saunders, a girl who is unique in her own right. It’s an examination of adolescence as a period of time for experiments and ridiculous choices. The character of Nick that Payne created inspired me the most because he was different and absurd, yet consistent and alluring to read. Payne created this boy and dove into his mind with both feet and made no apologies for the silly outcomes. They were embraced and only pushed further. Payne’s voice as Nick is amazing to me. The creation of it felt so unique but also real, whereas characters in other books sometimes feel as though they are only there to serve the plot. But Payne uses his first-person narration to drive his storyline. The character of Nick is everything to the adventure, and that unique look into adolescence and how the mind works and changes then is something that has stayed with me. It has made me have a desire to write my own young adult novels. It has made me want to search for other voices that should be heard and characters that are distinctive but identifiable.
Below is an excerpt from the beginning of “Youth in Revolt”:
WEDNESDAY, July 18- My name is Nick. Someday, if I grow up to become a gangster, perhaps I will be known as Nick the Prick. This may cause some embarrassment for my family, but when your don gives you your mafia sobriquet you don’t ask questions.
I am 14 years old (nearly) and live in Oakland, a large torpid city across the bay from San Francisco. I am writing this in the tenuous privacy of my bedroom on my annoyingly obsolete AT clone. My friend Lefty gave me a bootleg copy of WordPerfect, so I’m doing some writing to try and learn the command codes. My ambition is someday to be able to move entire paragraphs in a single bound.
My last name, which I loathe, is Twisp. Even John Wayne on a horse would look effeminate pronouncing that name. As soon as I turn 21 I’m going to jettison it for something a bit more macho. Right now, I’m leaning toward Dillinger. “Nick Dillinger.” I think that strikes just the right note of hirsute virility.
I am an only child except for my big sister Joanie, who has left the bosom of her family to live in Los Angeles and sling hash at 35,000 feet.
The next thing you should know about me is that I am obsessed with sex. When I close my eyes, ranks of creamy thighs slowly part like some X-rated Busby Berkeley extravaganza. Lately I have become morbidly aware of my penis. Once a remote region accessed indifferently for businesslike micturition, it has developed- seemingly overnight- into a gaudy Las Vegas of the body, complete with pulsing neon, star-studded floor shows, exotic animal acts, and throngs of drunken conventioneers perpetually on the prowl for depraved thrills. I walk about in a state of obsessive expectancy, ever conscious of an urgent clamor rising from my tumescent loins. Any stimulus can trigger the show- a rhythmic rumble from the radiator, the word “titular” in a newspaper editorial, even the smell of the old vinyl in Mr. Ferguson’s Toyota.
As much as I think about sex, I can only with extreme difficulty conceive of myself actually performing the act. And here’s another thing I wonder about. How could you ever look a girl in the eye after you’ve had your winkie up her Wendell? I mean, doesn’t that render normal social conversation impossible? Apparently not. (Page 3)
Nick’s voice never falters from this, a too-smart for his own good and exploratory attitude of a boy diving into teen-hood. It has a quality that lures me in and makes me want to know who Nick is and what he will do or say next.
There was also a movie version of this book, which is actually part of a series, released last year starring Michael Cera. I found it enjoyable, but it couldn’t match actually hearing Nick explain all of his actions and reactions as he does through journal entries in the novel. It loses some of its charm that comes from his tone and vocabulary.
Below are a few interesting links relating to “Youth in Revolt” and C.D. Payne.
