WPL Reads

One Man Guy by Michael Barakiva

There are moments when I feel like I am getting old.  I know that every single one of us will experience this feeling, whether it’s when you first realize that you don’t feel ‘current’ with popular music or when an actor is mentioned (for me it was Shia LaBeouf when he was cast in the 4th Indiana Jones movie) and you realize you have no idea who that person is.  I accept this as an expected stage in life but, once in a while, you get the opposite feeling – a chance to feel young again.  I find that those wonderful moments come most often through a really fantastic book.  It’s one of my very favourite things.  It came to me again recently through the words of a first-time novelist Michael Barakiva and his book One Man Guy.

It’s written for teens but I’d like to make a strong case for it to be read by everyone in their teen years and older.  Remember the Required Reading lists for your university courses?  I think there should be a Required Reading List for Life and this book should be on it because it gives you that chance – Poof – to feel like a 14-year old again.  That simultaneous joy and terror of starting to make decisions on your own and break free of some of the things your parents taught you while still holding tight to some of the others.  All that edgy half-kid and half-adult feeling wrapped up in a shiny yellow book cover of 255 pages. 

In this book, Aleksander Khederian has been forced to attend summer school after his first year of high school sees his marks dip down low enough that he just misses the cut off for the Honour Roll.  We get to know Alek through a family dinner that is held in a neighbourhood restaurant.  Restaurant meals are rare in his family as they are v-e-r-y particular about their food and this first chapter will remind you of some of the best stage writing you’ve ever seen or read.  It had me dashing off to the WPL catalogue to see if we had any Neil Simon on the shelves so that I could compare the two. The writing is that clever.  In the first chapter alone you get the sense of the kind of kid Alek is and the world he inhabits with his parents and one older brother.  

Once Alek realizes that summer school is in his future he is resigned to it.  He dresses for his first day in a bedroom decorated in colours and furniture chosen by his parents, conservative clothing also chosen by his mother, carrying a JanSport schoolbag he wishes would disintegrate and somehow finds himself making friends (and eventually falling in love with) with Ethan who is known for skateboarding and starting a cafeteria-wide food fight to protest a change to the school dress code.  Ethan is described as having “wavy sandy hair that fell in his face in a way that made Alek think of surfers” while “Alek’s own hair was dark, thick and unmanageable, like weeds in a garden”.  It’s not exactly star-crossed love but it’s pretty close.  There are wonderful hills and valleys in their relationship and Alek has a sassy friend named Becky who helps him to navigate all of them.  She’s the kind of friend everyone should have in their lives; teen or adult.  I’d love to read a novel with Becky as the main character. 

This is a novel about teen romance, it’s a novel about family and it’s a novel about understanding different points of view.  All valuable thing to read about; wrapped up in one of the most convenient and entertaining packages – a novel!  If you are still in your teen years you will find friends in Alek, Ethan and Becky and might gain some insight into the actions of your mysterious parents.  If you are in your post-teen years you should read One Man Guy just for the pleasure of going back in time and remembering what it felt like to be on the cusp of something incredible like that.  This book really should be on a Required Reading List for Life.  Oh, and if you were in the mood for a playlist to enjoy while reading it; Ethan and Alek take in a Rufus Wainright concert while they visit New York City (the title of the book is taken from one of Rufus’ songs) and we have several of his CDs in our collection here at WPL.  Anything Rufus Wainwright sings will be the perfect thing to listen to while you read this book but the song “One Man Guy” is on the 2001 album Poses.  Psst, his father, Loudon Wainwright III, wrote and recorded this song in the 80s and we have a recording of his version of that song in the WPL catalogue on his 2000 album The BBC sessions.

- – Penny M.