Rating: 
Summary: Kids in the Gutter -- Disturbing/Enlightening/Mesmerizing
Review: "Behind the Buffy's are the school-spirit types, the ones who organize the Cookie Drives and Theme Dances and Administration Days. Behind them, the kids who play music in a band. Behind them, the other jocks-the track teams and the guys who swim the twelve-thousand-mile race and stuff like that. Behind them, the artsy types. Behind them, the kids that are good at something real, like math or writing. Behind them, the theater kids. Behind them, the rebels. Behind them, the druggies. Behind them, the kids nobody notices. Behind them, the fu*%-ups. Behind them, the geeks. Behind them, the kids from like the sticks, the trailer types. Behind them, the retards and kids with missing jaws and sh%t. Behind them, us. Our group is a group of two."
Jim Shepard - "Project X" (page 34)
The pecking order established as the innate social system within schools has either served to elevate some kids to a hierarchy fantasy world of bliss with adoring worshiping fans or has allowed other youth to suffer the misery of torture from within the deep confines of Hades' dungeons. Thankfully, not all children who end up trapped in the lowly pits of hell on Earth decide to commit mass murders. Unfortunately, a few of the troubled kids (like those from Pearl, Mississippi, Paducah, Kentucky and Littleton, Colorado) have managed to unleash their potent feelings of dread and pain into bloody massacres for the whole world to endure. Edwin Hanratty and his only friend Flake were two junior high school students banished to the lowest recesses of Earth by their peers and allowed to suffer daily without any hope of a future (they couldn't even wish for something as simple as a life devoid of mental and physical abuse). Edwin and Flake were prime examples of damaged souls, quite capable of entertaining the notion of offing their classmates with guns. When Edwin realized how big of a loser he really was, my heart ached, and I wanted to climb through the pages of "Project X" to rescue him before it was too, late. Edwin reflected on his abysmal condition: "...I start to say something, but I don't even know what I was going to say. I'm such a loser and a half. I'm the kid you think about when you want to make yourself feel better. If I were me I'd talk about myself behind my back."
Of course teachers offered succor and understanding to these abandoned, lost boys; right? After conducting a disciplinary interview with Edwin one school administrator made the following comment: "God," he says. "Kids like you used to get their butt kicked when I was a kid."
Edwin: "They still do," I tell him.
"Project X" portrayed two believable misfits and explored the hidden issues that can cause violent tirades in schools. Author Jim Shepard doled out enough blame to include: inadequate parenting, clueless administrators, unsympathetic teachers, unmerciful bullies and nonexistent self-esteem. Edwin and Flake were also devoid of any spiritual beliefs. The author's prose adequately reflected the angst of two junior high school boys, and the abusive situations were painfully realistic. Obviously, I have been reading books on a similar theme. I'm currently halfway through another amazing albeit disturbing book regarding killer kids entitled "We Need to Talk About Kevin" by Lionel Shriver. I guess I'm just trying to get a grip on what spawns an explosive kid just in case I ever observe the signs within the student body where I teach and with children in my own neighborhood and community. It doesn't hurt to be informed even if it does hurt to read about the immense suffering that some unfortunate teenagers have been forced to endure. The novel's viewpoints on the school's class system were also eye opening. In 1998, an awful, horror flick entitled "Disturbing Behavior" contained a scene in which actor Nick Stahl described the social classes of the students within the school. This memorable and potent scene accurately reflected my own observations of the class system in place at Susquehanna Township (where I teach). The description imparted by the author in "Project X" (quoted at the top of this review) illustrated a modernized, thorough class system that painted both an enlightened and bleak portrait of the novel's two forlorn losers. Trust me; nobody would want to be at the bottom of author Jim Shepard's list and more importantly, parents, teachers, peers and neighbors should be cognizant of troubled youth in this predicament. Thankfully, the book served as a reminder that society must keep vigilant, afford solace and provide liberation to those lost souls struggling through the abyss of being labeled as human rubbish. Most kids who end up at the bottom of the social structure don't deserve to be there, and they must be rescued in order to prevent another Columbine. Unfortunately many youth trapped in the portals of grief are not served well by our current educational system. Perhaps some of these kids would do better learning a trade rather than being forced to meet Math and English standards aimed at college oriented students. Augmented standards along with the "No Child Left Behind" act may have inadvertently opened the doors for creating more members of the bottomless pit of despair like Edwin and Flake (chiefly special education students and kids diagnosed with genuine psychological and behavioral problems). I'm all for higher standards, but our government may have unintentionally created a situation for leaving more kids behind without realistic options for a productive future. Society beware; more disenfranchised youth might become the byproduct of our government's attempts at making unrealistic/unattainable educational reforms.
Jay's Grade: A-
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible but completely realistic
Review: Constantly tormented by their peers, and getting little or no help from their parents and teachers, Edwin and Flick feel tortured and misunderstood. Their only friends each other, they are picked on, beaten up, bullied, and stolen from. Finally, in desperation, Flick comes up with a plan to take his father's guns to school and use them- and Edwin joins him. This book, although very mature (there is swearing on almost every page, and the subject matter itself isn't a light topic), grabs your attention immediately. It puts you into the minds of two students who decided to fight back in the only way they knew how, even if it cost them their future.
Rating:
Summary: Another teen reviewer fails to understand big-boy books
Review: Don't listen to Richie the Reviewer, below. Project X is realistic, compelling, and exceedingly well crafted. Each scene in this short novel is steeped in realistic detail and the accrual of these simple scenes leads to a conclusion of devastating impact. In the aftermath of events like Columbine, where answers are hard to come by, I believe only literature is capable of telling us what went wrong and how. Jim Shephard is perhaps the first writer to deal with the "logic" of school shootings in a convincing way: more honest than Dennis Cooper, less ridiculous than DBC Pierre, and yes, more detailed and involving than Richie's beloved kids' books. This is literature, pure and simple, and it shows us how the systems can fail -- all of them -- and it provides no easy answers. Heartbreaking.
Rating: 
Summary: Another clueless adult author tries to write about teens
Review: Every teacher and parent in this book is characterized as being stupid, evil, and out to get the two teens. Teachers go out of their way to continually and purposefully bait the teens and then punish them. An administrator gives a week's detention when one of the teens complains that he can't open the combination lock on his locker. A coach passively observes his team leave practice temporarily to tear the two teens apart and then doesn't even come to see whether the two get seriously hurt. The parents relentlessly treat them in a hateful manner...and one of the parents conveniently leaves a large cashe of firearms lying around. Of course, it all goes back to the pool party at age six when one of the teens was stripped, locked in the pool shed, and photographed naked by older children. The mother supervising the party tells the boy's mother: "Poor Edwin had a hard time today." There is an incredibly wide chasm between Young Adult fiction and this rambling piece of rubbish. If you want the real thing then read SPEAK. Read WHAT HAPPENED TO LANI GARVER. Read WHALE TALK. Read BLANKETS. Read YOU DON'T KNOW ME. Read THE LAND. If you want an adult book author, read BIG MOUTH AND UGLY GIRL or DRIFT. If you want to know about about Columbine, read GIVE A BOY A GUN. If you want specifics, then take the passages about Mr. Neck and Melinda's first day of school (near the beginning of SPEAK) and compare them to this passage about the first day of school in PROJECT X: " 'Mr. Hanratty,' my fifth period social studies teacher says in front of the whole class. I haven't even sat down yet. 'You going to be favoring us with more of your particular brand of sullenness this year?'
"I write my name on the inside of the 20th Century Civilizations cover: E. Hanratty.
" 'What are you shaking your head about?' he wants to know.
I'm not shaking my head about anything, I tell him.
"He asks if I'm calling him a liar.
" 'I'm not calling you a liar,' I tell him.
"He says he'd like me to apologize to my classmates for wasting everybody's time at the beginning of the semester.
"I apologize to them. Kids snicker. 'Don't let it happen again,' a kid behind me murmurs.
"We're going to be concentrating this year on Innovators,' the teacher says. 'Men and women of the twentieth century who found new ways of addressing society's problems.' A kid in the last row makes a farting noise. The kids around him make snorty and strangled little sounds.
" 'Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King,' the teacher goes. 'Mr. Hanratty? Any names to add to our list?'
" 'Richard Speck,' I go.
"So on the first day I get detention. The secretary outside the vice principal's office congratulates me on being the first kid called in this year." Not honest, not authentic, not plausible, not YA. Richie Partington
Rating:
Summary: Let the Shepard Guide Us
Review: I don't think it is revealing much to say that this work deals with a pair of grade eight students who are planning a school shooting. Knowing this from the beginning, the real depth of the book comes from its careful examination of the daily lives of the protagonist and his only "friend", aptly named Flake. Each tiny insult, misunderstood comment, rejected overture, failed attempt by parents and teachers alike to reach out to the kids is horrifying, since the accumulation of events is weighing so heavily on the boys and we can guess at the most likely outcome. Anyone who remembers the confusing times of their teen years will immediately identify with what happens in this book, and while they may have emerged relatively unscathed, it is all to easy to see how a tiny minority of kids just can't deal with the confusion and pressure of "young adulthood". While reading I kept wishing that I could just sit the kids down and say "hey, what is happening may seem soul destroying and never ending, but once you get through this phase you'll realize how little impact any of what is happening to you now will have on the rest of your life". The author has done an excellent job of pulling you into the story and has created a book that is almost impossible to put down. Days later I still feel disturbed, but I still highly recommend the book. Should be on the reading list of all grade eight kids, accompanied by a thorough discussion afterwards.
Rating:
Summary: A compelling and disturbing tale
Review: I don't think it is revealing much to say that this work deals with a pair of grade eight students who are planning a school shooting. Knowing this from the beginning, the real depth of the book comes from its careful examination of the daily lives of the protagonist and his only "friend", aptly named Flake. Each tiny insult, misunderstood comment, rejected overture, failed attempt by parents and teachers alike to reach out to the kids is horrifying, since the accumulation of events is weighing so heavily on the boys and we can guess at the most likely outcome. Anyone who remembers the confusing times of their teen years will immediately identify with what happens in this book, and while they may have emerged relatively unscathed, it is all to easy to see how a tiny minority of kids just can't deal with the confusion and pressure of "young adulthood". While reading I kept wishing that I could just sit the kids down and say "hey, what is happening may seem soul destroying and never ending, but once you get through this phase you'll realize how little impact any of what is happening to you now will have on the rest of your life". The author has done an excellent job of pulling you into the story and has created a book that is almost impossible to put down. Days later I still feel disturbed, but I still highly recommend the book. Should be on the reading list of all grade eight kids, accompanied by a thorough discussion afterwards.
Rating:
Summary: Very well done, couldn't put it down
Review: I picked up PROJECT X based on the subject matter and could not put it down. I've read books that attempt to approximate the real language of adolescents, but this one was seamless; the author is really talented to be able to do it so flawlessly. It was very accessible, at times funny and heartbreaking, and I really wanted to see what happened. Edwin's affection for his kid brother, and his ambivalence toward everything, was touching. So many times, he wanted to reach out, but this really shows the situation he was mired in. I read it all in one sitting and really enjoyed it. The only thing I wasn't sure I liked was the ending, but I could understand the point of it - I can live with it. To be able to pull this off, the author is clearly very talented. It was the first book of his I've read, but I'll check out the others.
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK
Review: I read this book and was completely blown away. It is definately one of the most amazing things I have ever read, and should be required reading for every parent and educator in the country. Nowhere have I ever seen a better description of what it feels like to be at the bottom of the middle-school foodchain. Anyone *coughcoughRichiethereviewercoughcough* who thinks that this book is unrealistic is engaging in serious wishful thinking. This book describes reality for a lot of kids, including myself when I was that age. Read this book. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: What Went Wrong?
Review: In the few years since the Columbine massacre, there have been a slew of novels (including the 2003 Booker Prize winner, Vernon God Little) attempting to understand what triggers such horrifying acts. Shepard's is the first of these I've read, and it's hard to imagine a superior version existing. This story of two boys plotting revenge on a school that has shunned them is a nuanced and subtle work that perfectly captures the speech and emotions of its protagonists while shying away from offering easy answers. Edwin and his only friend, Flake, are not metal/goth listening, animal torturing, trench coat-wearing, video-game junkie, grumpy teens. Teetering between adolescence and teenagerdom, they are the perpetual targets, not ultra geeky or ultra feeble or ultra nerdy, just enough of each to make them a pair of misfits worth picking on.
Told from Edwin's perspective, the novel depicts junior high as an endless series of insults and defeats, sometimes culminating in a bloody beating. Adding insult to injury, teachers never give Edwin the benefit of the doubt. This has led many reviews to write that the teachers pick on him or dislike him, which is actually not true. It would be very easy to portray the teachers as monsters from Edwin's viewpoint, but in fact, the teachers are often shown reaching out and making at least clumsy attempts to try and understand what his problems are. But because he is sometimes in the wrong, and can often be sarcastic or disrespectful, it's also easy to see why he is sometimes unjustly punished. And this is part of the complexity of the novel that makes it work-the teachers' actions do contribute to Edwin's misery, but not by design.
Similarly, Edwin's home life is hardly the dysfunctional den of horrors one might expect. His father is around, if distracted much of the time, but his mother is very aware that he is troubled, and frets about it a great deal. And there's Gus, his four-year-old brother, whom he clearly loves a great deal. Edwin's parents make repeated attempts to try and get him to open up and talk about what's bothering him, but he just can't get out of his shell. His mother manages to empathize with his emotional pain, mouthing the perfect words, but all her best efforts just never quite penetrate. Again, the complexity lies in the reality that the family is very typical, the parents don't do anything wrong, and yet Edwin sees shooting his classmates as a viable action. Interestingly, Shepard shows Edwin as suffering from sever reoccurring headaches and severe insomnia, which may speak to a physical or chemical disorder that might explain much else. Of course, these may also be stress or anxiety induced, but either explanation goes a long way toward explaining why he seems to sleepwalk through life.
As the book progresses, Edwin and Flake wallow deeper in their misery, humiliation, and ambivalent hatred, while remaining relatively sympathetic and amusing characters. As a counterpoint, their social prospects actually seem to improve slightly even as X-Day approaches. One sees rays of hope as a girl flirts with Edwin and his art project is enthusiastically lauded. Their plans for revenge are so desultory that one prays that they'll be abandoned as too much trouble, but in the end, Edwin's actions are precisely what we expect them to be. So what is the ultimate message? Shepard's novel seems to be delivering the disheartening message that even essentially good kids can be turned into powder kegs, and given the ease of access to guns in this country, we shouldn't be surprised when tragedies such as Columbine occur.
Rating:
Summary: It's a Rush
Review: Jim Shepard, one of America's most under-recognized writers, has achieved yet another first rate novel. Project X is a "ripped from the headlines" story of middle school bullying, which is heart-rending and convincing. He explores the roots of violence in our society without providing any easy explainations or answers. His characters are thoroughly believable and consistant. The pacing is masterful. It's a rush.
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