THE OUTSTANDING LIFE OF AN AWKWARD THEATER KID

A self-proclaimed jock from the Rust Belt learns to express himself both on stage and in life in hopes of winning the girl.

Flex is a football player in Empty Factory, Indiana, who auditions for his first theater production in hopes of impressing a girl from youth group. To his chagrin, the school is staging Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, and he soon finds himself avoiding practice to protect his pride as he stumbles over lines and navigates culture shock. Though the characters appear to be in middle school, the language feels as though it’s intended for a much younger audience, with the glaring exception of oft-quoted passages from Shakespeare. These make for challenging reading even as the characters dismiss them as something no one understands anyway. Biblical references and lessons seem wedged into the plot with little rhyme or reason. Accompanying illustrations and pop-culture references seem plucked from a different time. Meanwhile, most of the characters—the first-person narrator not excepted—are shallow and stereotypical caricatures who give readers little reason to continue engagement, and the dismissive, even scornful attitude displayed toward mental illness is distasteful. A lack of cohesion across story elements leads to an overwhelming feeling of disorientation. All the primary characters and most of the supporting cast are white.

A lackluster hodgepodge of anachronisms that respects neither its subject nor its readers.