I swear I wrote this review already but here we go again. The unfortunate truth about books is you often about which ones you actually enjoyed reading. Like a night out, it could feel amazing to chat with friends, eat a great meal, and hear some music. But when asked to recollect if you've done anything fun in the last month, you might forget about going out all together, and wonder if any of it was worth it to begin with (it was).

Over a year ago I read Teenager for a book club at work and immediately loved it. Whip smart, humor in the right spots, romance in the other, Bud Smith wrote a fantastic story about two dumb lovers roughing it out in the name of love and adventure. Smith reminds you why teenagers are our most written about -- they're willing to believe and do anything!

Although the plot is incredibly similar to the 1973 masterpiece Badlands, Teenager takes the best of Badlands and goes at its own pace. If there were a movie to ripoff, why not Badlands?

Weird. Sweet. Beautiful. Anxiety-inducing. Fun. So many words to describe this, so little time. I think I felt a bit emotionally distant from this book in the middle because I was nervous about what would happen because I cared so much about the characters lol. That's on me!! Beautiful ending, so well-done. I will say it doesn't feel like a favorite or even one I would recommend to a wide audience, but I did love my time reading it.

Really into how insular and weird this story is. Bud Smith always gets it right with character, and both of these characters are so earnest in a way that makes you want to hug them, but the stakes also feel so low--young love, and so high--murder, runaways, at once.

I expected something very different than what I ended up reading. This wasn’t a free-wheeling tale of two wild kids on a cross-country excursion, but a bleak tragedy about the futility of escaping one’s mistakes. Smith’s writing style is poetic in its simplicity, though it might not be for everyone.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Vintage for the complimentary advance copy of this work. My opinions are my own.

Teenager
A Bonnie and Clyde teenage romance full of edge, loyalty and violence. In this novel, Kody is in juvie. His girlfriend, Tella, has been banned form communicating with him and furthermore, she’s being sent away to Rome, her parents hellbent on keeping their daughter as far away from Kody as possible. When Kody breaks out of juvie, heads straight to Tella’s home and murders both of her parents, they set off in a stolen car across country to forge a future on their own, for as long as teenage fugitives can flee. This book explores young love, American and the choices we make. A book about reckless love for readers who want a unique spin on a trope. Thank you to NetGalley and to Vintage for the advanced review copy.

I have been searching for an adventurous, exciting book with real depth and “literary merit,” and Bud Smith delivered.

TEENAGER is jam-packed not just with edge of your seat adventure and thrills, but unforgettable people, places, and characters. The almost-ghost of Elvis; a hen that can beat a coyote; a Dunkin with rolling pink fog. There’s alpaca ranching and fairs; a hand re-broken by a KJV; a returned to life merchant; and many, many psychics.

It’s an expansive story, stretching from coast to coast, bookended with shootouts and filled with love, or what is called love. Kody and Teal are phony and genuine in turns, absolutely confused, probably thoroughly unhinged, but utterly sympathetic and endlessly root-for-able.

This is gripping literature for everyone and truly a masterful work.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Teenager.

This was an unusual story about two teenagers named Kody and Tella. They're sort of like a teenaged version of Bonnie and Clyde, but not. If that makes sense.

The author depicts a tale of two teenagers in love; survivors of an abusive past, searching for home and belonging, a sense of place and peace.

After Kody busts out of juvie and comes looking for Tella when he discovers she is being put on a plane to get her away from him, an explosion of violence leaves two people dead and Kody and Tella running and on the lam.

As they lit out of town, they live an existence that could only exist in a book, in their own bubble of reality. They eat at diners, they camp out under the stars, they steal and live on junk food and what they can loot from unlocked homes and cars, they visit Graceland, they encounter more violence, they get married at the Grand Canyon, and live their lives as best as they can with what they have.

In the meantime, Tella's older brother has gone AWOL from the Navy to look for his sister.

Kody and Tella's is fraught with excitement and danger, love and sorrow, despair and hope.

The author has a beautiful writing style; lyrical, endearing, poetic, almost purple to the point where it's too much but not quite.

He captures the romanticism and boundless energy and innocence of young love; how young people just throw themselves wholeheartedly into relationships with no rhyme or reason to what it means for people outside their social circle. Everyone else be damned.

The illustrations are a great addition to each chapter, reminding the reader the innocence and naivete, to a certain extent, of our protagonists.

I'm still not sure what Teenager is about.

Is it about love? The innocence not so innocence of being a teenager? The complexity and difficulties of being a certain age?

Or maybe that's what Teenager is about.

Love. Wildness. Breaking free. Living your life away from rules and expectations. Being with someone who knows you, accepts you, and loves you for who you are.

This isn't a typical story and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for something different to read.

Hmmm. This book started off interesting but ultimately left me feeling frustrated. Bud Smith's writing is poetic, but as a novelist, his writing doesn't really work in this long form. The writing is too sparse and flowery for my taste. I do think a lot of readers would enjoy his writing and this novel. The overall story was intriguing, but the characters seemed far-fetched and over-the-top. They didn't feel fleshed-out enough. Everything they said and did felt very self-level. These characters are deeply disturbed, so it was difficult to feel empathy for them. I wanted a more dramatic work. This felt like a dark comedy.

Love-struck teenagers take a road trip across the USA from New Jersey to Oregon, by way of Graceland, Montana, and Hollywood in Bud Smith's novel full on reality and dreams. Kody escapes from juvenile detention, murders Tella's parents, and the two begin a trip by stealing cars, robbing stores, and hiding out from police. The plot reveals the plans of teenagers who hope to live off the grid. Interesting reading for adults and `teens. A great discussion book.

Bud Smith is the real deal. There's such a beautiful rhythm to his sentences, his paragraphs, and always a powerful sincerity, always finding humor in the mundane. This novel, especially, highlights Bud's strengths -- in trailing the regular people of regular America, for lack of better phrasing.

Teenager is a sprawling novel that tells the story of two love birds on the run from the law; it's a roadtrip story; it's Americana. Mark Twain, Elvis, Montana. Plot-wise, a lot happens -- Teenager would be a prime example in good storytelling for aspiring novelists. There's a surprising deal of violence, too, which doesn't feel unearned, but true to life in a way.

Anyway, loved it. Thank you for the e-galley!