There are two kinds of angry young men, the sort that is angry at the world because they have gotten their butts kicked so many times that they hate everyone and everything and the sort that is angry at the world and thus kicks the butt of everyone and everything he comes across.
The only thing these guys have in common is anger, other than that, trying to treat them as the same sort of creature is only going to make bad disappointing things happen. But you do have to do something because without some timely intervention an angry young man will turn into an angry man and at that point, they both do look strikingly similar. They both hate what is weaker than them and that usually means women, children and small animals.
And really - the world doesn't need more men looking for fights with that many of the rest of us.
So here is my Angry Young Men (AYM) List, Part 1. This is the for the guys who initiate the fights, in the hopes that they might gain just a little bit of insight into what motivates all those flying fists. Tomorrow will be for the ones who are usually the targets, and just simmer about it for years.
The Blue Helmet by William Bell. I wrote about this book at length just a few weeks ago and it will be in my December column. It is written about an AYM, 17 year-old Lee, who is in the back of a police car when the story opens. The world is only worth hitting until Lee's life dissolves one night and he ends up in another town, with a job a job that includes a very strange man named Cutter. It is uncovering Cutter's secrets that finally forces a change in Lee's life the way Bell tells this story - while staying true to who Lee and Cutter (and everyone else) really are and without getting sweet or silly or sophomoric, makes it an amazing book for teenage boys. Unfortunately for American readers, it is only out in Canada right now and we can't seem to get it from amazon.ca. However, I've heard from the author and he says anyone interested should get in touch with him (greenleaf@orillia.org), and as long as you are willing to prepay, he will make sure that a copy gets to you.
Autobiography of My Dead Brother by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Christopher Myers. WD Myers is a well known and respected YA author but I think he really did an amazing thing with this illustrated collaboration with his son. The story is told from the perspective of Jesse, a young aspiring artist who is struggling to find a way for himself in an intense and violent city. He is most concerned about his friend Rise, someone who has been a "blood brother" all of Jesse's life but has lately abandoned everything in pursuit of the fast and seemingly easy money found in dealing drugs. As Rise pulls further away, Jesse creates an "autobiography" of his friend to remember all he is going to lose. The artwork is wonderful and pitch perfect and really pulls the books together. All in all it is very accessible for AYM - they will not feel silly reading it (or weak) and they will identify all the way with the frustrations that both Rise and Jesse share. Hopefully they will stay with the book until the end and get the message Myers is selling. For a longer review, see what I said at Bookslut.
For obvious reasons, books on war should appeal directly to guys looking to get into a fight. Arthur Slade's Megiddo's Shadow is about teenage Edward who is so furious at the death of his brother in the trenches during WWI that he lies about his age and joins the war effort himself. Edward's anger shifts as he finds himself immersed in the fighting in the Middle East and he becomes angry not just as the enemy but at everyone, even God, who is making the war happen. It's an exciting, action-packed story that grips your attention from beginning to end and Edward is the kind of protagonist that you can not help but identify with. I wrote about this more in my recent column on war titles.
Amaryllis is the story of two brothers, one who goes to Vietnam and one who tries to hold their family together after he is gone. As Frank sends letters home that chronicle his slow collapse as the war crushes all life and reason out of him, Jimmy tries to find some way to get his parents to stay together and accept why Frank left. The tension in this book is relieved only by the moments Jimmy spends at the nearby beach and the slow relationship he builds with Sally. It's a timely story and a very well crafted one. The author, Craig Crist-Evans was direct in what he had to say and clearly respected his young audience. There are many reasons for both Frank and Jimmy to be angry in this story, and all of them are laid bare for the reader. Vietnam is the war that most teenage boys have a clear idea about (thank the movies for that), so they will know what is happening in this drama, and they won't be able to deny the truth that Crist-Evans gives them. (Here's my longer review from an earlier column this year.)
Three Strikes is a graphic novel by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir and illustrated in crisp black and white by Brian Hurtt. It follows the collision between Rey Quintana who has just shoplifted some jewelry and gotten caught and now is facing serious jail time as part of the "three strikes" law and Noah, a retired cop and now bail bondsman (bounty hunter) who's life has been slowly falling apart for ages, leaving him with nothing but a job and a daughter he thinks he's going to lose. Rey jumps bail and Noah must bring him in and although that seems like a short simple story, there is nothing here like we see on tv. Rey can not understand how his life could possibly have come to this and neither can Noah. And the ending - holy shit. This is what the real world is like, in all its intensity and with none of the glorification of violence that movies and video games and everything else seem to hand out so easily. I haven't been able to forget about this books since I read it, over a year ago. It's amazing. (You can get a peek at the interior pages over at Oni Press's site.)
The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher is the kind of instrospective title that just might draw even the most belligerent AYM in. It starts with Eddie and Billy, friends forever and then quickly it is about an accident and how Eddie loses Billy and can not believe how quickly the whole thing happened. But Billy remains the story's narrator, the dead narrator, as he follows what happens in Eddie's life after the loss of his best friend. There is a lot of legitimate anger here, as well as some religion that manages only to confuse and anger Eddie even more. Then surprisingly the book becomes a story about Eddie and a book - a book that finally seems to break through all the barriers he has so carefully constructed. It would be a happy ending except the book is a bit too graphic for some adults and so the story turns again and becomes about book banning. Then Eddie gets smart and honest and fights the good fight, very effectively.
As I said, Sledding is the kind of book that just might make an AYM identify with everyone else. At the very least it will make him think, and that - more than anything - should always be the goal of a good book. (And again, here's my review from last fall.)
