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lost_reader's review
dark
funny
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault
crd314's review
3.0
I didn't like this one very much. The ending was kindof out of nowhere and seemed a little... dumb. There was very little resolution and the characters were mostly flat with no growth. I don't really understand the point of this novel. Though all of this could be because I am definitely not the target audience. I would still recommend this for some teen boys.
snowstar280's review
4.0
Definite must read. I kept trying to figure out what happened. This is definitely a edge-of-your-seat-can't-put-it-down-who-cares-if-I-have-a-paper-due-tomorrow kind of read. Don't read it if you have stuff to get done. Read it after :) The voice of the book was really interesting and it made sense for the book. It was told as a boy in high school, and used the language and vocabulary of a teenage boy. His feelings made sense and you could totally understand his point of view and his feelings. The ending was quick, sort of unexpected, and pretty good. It did not leave you wishing for more, but did not answer every question. Definite good read. RECOMMENDED!
pjams84's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. However, the predictable ending and some annoying characteristics of the main character (apparently he likes to say "like" and "bam" a lot) ruined any chance of me ever recommending this book to anyone.
timeunspun's review
4.0
Gentlemen is a nice change from majority of other YA novels. It's written in the first person and the narrator is a teenage boy who is from the 'wrong side of everything'. His character, both the good and the bad of it, shine through, and he and his friends feel like real people.
Northrop pulled me along with the suspicion and paranoia without making me feel too manipulated, and the ending was near perfect.
I don't have any quibbles with the book, and I look forward to see what else Northrop comes out with.
Northrop pulled me along with the suspicion and paranoia without making me feel too manipulated, and the ending was near perfect.
I don't have any quibbles with the book, and I look forward to see what else Northrop comes out with.
xdennie's review
Voice is horrible and I only finished it because I hate not finishing a book. I hated this book.
librandian's review
1.0
WOW what a terrible book. Not only does it promote laziness, it has negative character development and ridiculously unbelievable situations. I feel like life has cheated me into reading this book.
katiephantom's review
2.0
Well, that was unexpected. Like this whole book was just a bunch of weird and crazy and that’s not really a good thing in this case.
This book takes a lot of its plot from Crime and Punishment as they try to figure out what happened when Tommy goes missing. He’s gone for a while when the police get involved and the school starts getting insane. They almost assume that their teacher, Mr. Haberman, did it with really no good evidence. But that doesn’t keep them from making really irrational decisions. Seriously…all three of the boys are so stupid. They are supposed to be misfits who were held back and only a couple more problems away from juvie but none of them were smart for such ‘criminal’ people. Around halfway through the book it started getting really ridiculous, ending in a really weird climax and then the whole book just took a turn for the worst.
The concept was good. What happened around this plot was terrible. The characters weren’t the right fit for the story. The idea of a teacher kidnapping a student was good. This was a terrible execution of that topic.
Micheal (does anyone else find it weird when the character and the author have the same name?) is a really bad main character. He’s kind of boring. There are various attempts at side plots, mostly dealing with his attempt to get a girlfriend and this girl not accepting his friend request. Also included are various drug references for no reason at all. There are a couple of pages about how this group of boys buys their drugs which has nothing to do with anything. Micheal did have a good relationship with his mom and ultimately did the right thing at the end, which I think was supposed to be a lesson about friendship. He just wasn’t a strong main character.
The other boys, Bones and Mixer, were more interesting. They had anger problems and were much more ‘street’ than Micheal. Really, they controlled most of where the story was going. Of course, they were the least rational too. None of the characters were really that likable. Mr. Haberman was a really tragic character and I felt bad for him as the boys were trying to prove he murdered their friend, although their friend just went missing. It was a really weird jump…
Overall, this book was very confusing and not the best. Micheal, the main character, was boring and not interesting. The entire concept of the story was good but it took some weird turns and it just didn’t execute well enough.
This book takes a lot of its plot from Crime and Punishment as they try to figure out what happened when Tommy goes missing. He’s gone for a while when the police get involved and the school starts getting insane. They almost assume that their teacher, Mr. Haberman, did it with really no good evidence. But that doesn’t keep them from making really irrational decisions. Seriously…all three of the boys are so stupid. They are supposed to be misfits who were held back and only a couple more problems away from juvie but none of them were smart for such ‘criminal’ people. Around halfway through the book it started getting really ridiculous, ending in a really weird climax and then the whole book just took a turn for the worst.
The concept was good. What happened around this plot was terrible. The characters weren’t the right fit for the story. The idea of a teacher kidnapping a student was good. This was a terrible execution of that topic.
Micheal (does anyone else find it weird when the character and the author have the same name?) is a really bad main character. He’s kind of boring. There are various attempts at side plots, mostly dealing with his attempt to get a girlfriend and this girl not accepting his friend request. Also included are various drug references for no reason at all. There are a couple of pages about how this group of boys buys their drugs which has nothing to do with anything. Micheal did have a good relationship with his mom and ultimately did the right thing at the end, which I think was supposed to be a lesson about friendship. He just wasn’t a strong main character.
The other boys, Bones and Mixer, were more interesting. They had anger problems and were much more ‘street’ than Micheal. Really, they controlled most of where the story was going. Of course, they were the least rational too. None of the characters were really that likable. Mr. Haberman was a really tragic character and I felt bad for him as the boys were trying to prove he murdered their friend, although their friend just went missing. It was a really weird jump…
Overall, this book was very confusing and not the best. Micheal, the main character, was boring and not interesting. The entire concept of the story was good but it took some weird turns and it just didn’t execute well enough.
shutupnread's review
1.0
Let's just say, I didn't like this book. Seriously. The plot was awkward with many, many unecessary stuff. The characters weren't developed nicely. The whole thing was just a plain old mess. The only thing that slighly redeemed this novel is probably the ending.
Okay, let's start with the plot. There was one main plot that, I felt, was pretty clear and straight-narrowed and that was "what happened to Tommy". However, that's not what I disliked. What I didn't like was all the little subplots that were there as well. I mean, there's so many different things that were completely unecessary and had no point in the whole story.
And the characters? Don't get me started. First, none of the characters were well-developed. There seemed no depth in any of them and the one with the most personality and character is Micheal. The rest of the guys, Bones, Tommy and Mixer, were basically observers from the sidelines. And Micheal is so weird.
There's this one scene where he stands and watches his friend rape a girl who was obviously drunk or she would have fought back. And he just stood there. Getting a boner. Which kind of disturbed me...and the thing is, that entire scene was completely unecessary. Did it help build the main plot? Nope. Was there any real point in it except letting the readers know what a nutjob Micheal was? Nope.
The ending, however, was done quite nicely. It kind of made the whole book seem worthwhile but, not really. The plot for the ending was so predictable but I liked how Micheal grew. He was able to see what was right and what was wrong and was finally able to move on with his life.
Overall, Gentlemen is kind of a growing-up novel with a lot of gritty and real information.
Okay, let's start with the plot. There was one main plot that, I felt, was pretty clear and straight-narrowed and that was "what happened to Tommy". However, that's not what I disliked. What I didn't like was all the little subplots that were there as well. I mean, there's so many different things that were completely unecessary and had no point in the whole story.
And the characters? Don't get me started. First, none of the characters were well-developed. There seemed no depth in any of them and the one with the most personality and character is Micheal. The rest of the guys, Bones, Tommy and Mixer, were basically observers from the sidelines. And Micheal is so weird.
There's this one scene where he stands and watches his friend rape a girl who was obviously drunk or she would have fought back. And he just stood there. Getting a boner. Which kind of disturbed me...and the thing is, that entire scene was completely unecessary. Did it help build the main plot? Nope. Was there any real point in it except letting the readers know what a nutjob Micheal was? Nope.
The ending, however, was done quite nicely. It kind of made the whole book seem worthwhile but, not really. The plot for the ending was so predictable but I liked how Micheal grew. He was able to see what was right and what was wrong and was finally able to move on with his life.
Overall, Gentlemen is kind of a growing-up novel with a lot of gritty and real information.