HARDNOSE

by Douglas Gilbert ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 1957

This is one of the best high school problem stories of the current season, though it loses some of its potential dramatic force by continuing interminably to its inevitable end. The central figure, Dean Canady, is a boy with traits too often unappreciated:- he is simply average. He neither excels in- or is bad at- sports or studies; in the midst of his senior year he is plagued by the conviction that he is falling short of his dad's expectations. Then, unexpectedly, Dean finds fame in an upsetting way. On an illicit foursome date, Jack, hero football player, gets drunk and Dean is forced to knock him down, for safety's sake. Then the story gets around that it is Dean who caused the damage, and the incident, though it blows over, leaves a stigma. Dean fights Jack but this does no good. He almost decides not to go on to the University. Then the first step towards clearing his name comes when he and two friends on a camping trip, help turn in two crooks, in a somewhat contrived turn of the plot. The final stages, in which Dean is persuaded by his friends to go on to college is convincingly handled.

Pub Date: March 15, 1957

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crowell

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1957

Categories: FICTION