<div>if my parents ever got divorced and i started acting like that... take me out like ol' yeller.<br><br>the most product of its time of products of their times. there were moments where i was really enjoying myself, moments where i was rolling my eyes so far back into my head it felt like they were going to fall into my skull, and moments where all i could do was sit there in confusion. it kind of felt like that after every paragraph. every single paragraph it was a new emotion i was experiencing, that i swear i invented just then, nothing no one else has experienced, from reading this book.<br><br>it's very pulpy. it's insanely dramatic. it's stupid. it's the most fear-mongering shit i've ever read in my life.. thus far. and i liked it. i liked it, i did. that's why it's 3 stars. i almost gave it 4 stars, actually, before it started to reveal some more of its true colors. <br><br>something i kind of enjoyed was how steve realized his father's thinking was incorrect. i was convinced he was going to continue on with that mindset for the rest of the book and i wouldn't have been surprised; it was the '50s after all, but i was even more surprised to see that he changed his mind. he wised up. he was like, wait, that's super flawed thinking. cool!<br><br>plato though? holy shit. coming from someone who watched rebel without a cause 10 times, that is the most insane characterization of plato ever. you thought movie plato was crazy? read this fucking book. it's a complete 360 in behavior. out of nowhere he just becomes nuts. <br><br>i think the book was written quite well, skill wise, and imagery. some of the parts were poignant and reflective. and then there were two typos that made me laugh.. dope, almost 70 year old typos. fun. shulman also had a habit of repeating the same shit over and over again. it made a lot of the reading a total slough at times to get through. like hey man! i fucking get it! these kids! these crazy kids! now make someone say something else!<br><br>one of my favorite parts of this book especially however was how shulman would interject these tiny little mannerisms in the characters, like george stark, steve's dad, "picking lint from his trousers," or steve "tracing the crack on the ceiling with his eyes" or whatever. i really liked those tiny details. it made it feel alive, and thus added to the scene. <br><br>how do i feel now? no idea. will i watch rebel without a cause and view all of these characters the same way i did before i read this book? nope. am i mad about that? who knows. i don't know. crazy read. what am i going to do with myself now. what a soap opera. finished this book at 4 am, btw.</div>
