Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Twisted
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Released |March 20th 2007 by Viking Juvenile|
Edition |Audio|
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High school senior Tyler Miller used to be the kind of guy who faded into the background—average student, average looks, average dysfunctional family. But since he got busted for doing graffiti on the school, and spent the summer doing outdoor work to pay for it, he stands out like you wouldn’t believe. His new physique attracts the attention of queen bee Bethany Milbury, who just so happens to be his father’s boss’s daughter, the sister of his biggest enemy—and Tyler’s secret crush. And that sets off a string of events and changes that have Tyler questioning his place in the school, in his family, and in the world.
In Twisted, the acclaimed Laurie Halse Anderson tackles a very controversial subject: what it means to be a man today. Fans and new readers alike will be captured by Tyler’s pitch perfect, funny voice, the surprising narrative arc, and the thoughtful moral dilemmas that are at the heart of all of the author’s award-winning, widely read work.

I've been wanting to read Twisted for a long time now and when I saw the audio book at the library I couldn't pass it up. The book was really interesting and I like the realistic feel that it had to it. I like books that feel realistic and I could definitely relate to the family issues that Tyler was experiencing. I think the author did a great drama of portraying all the issues of emotional and verbal abuse in the within a household on all sides. You could see it with the kids and also the parents and how it was taking it's tole.


In the beginning of the book, I wasn't really all that into the story. It was kind of slow paced and not much was going on, but slowly we started to get to know Tyler. Tyler was sort of a very depressing kid. He use to be a really kind of dorky kid who would be pick on all the time, but he grew into himself and was still considered an outcast. Then we meet Bethany who is considered to be one of the "populars" and is Tyler's biggest crush, but the sister to his worse enemy/torturer. At first, I was sorta of rooting for Bethany and Tyler because, you know, dorky + popular are opposites. But as the book continued and things started to happened, I really started to dislike Bethany. But Tyler, Tyler had issues. Tyler's dad was hardcore and treated Tyler as if everything he did was wrong. It was hard to see how bad Tyler was treated by his dad. And not even just Tyler, but his sister and their mom. But Tyler did have have some character growth by the end of the book and I was glad how he turned things around.

I would say I had a problem with the pacing at times. And I would have a tendency to start tuning out the narrator. I usually don't have many issues like that with audio books, so I don't know if that was on my part of an issue I had with the audio book's narrator. I was also put off towards the end of the book when Tyler had the suicidal issues and thoughts. I didn't think he was that depressed that he would even consider it. Throughout the book he had his issues, but he seemed strong even though you could tell it was weighing on his mind. But I just thought that was unexpected and it didn't fit his character to me.

But overall, I really enjoyed the story and I'm glad I finally read it :) I would definitely recommend it to you if you like realistic stories.