******SPOILER ALERT*******This is the story of Peter and Mead 2 high school best-friends who like to sit around getting drunk and hanging out with their friends Angela and Lani. Mead is describes as a flake but everyone considers him the best kind of friend (whatever the hell that means). One night when Peter and Mead were suppose to get drunk on some really good cognac, Mead is late because he gets distracted by a lightening strike that caused a big commotion in town. Peter is upset by this because he just wants to get drunk and thinks Mead dissed him and decided nit to show up. When Mead finally arrives Peter is upset and wants to know where he was. Mead explains and thinks nothing of it but the alcohol Peter has already consumed makes him belligerent. Mead wants a drink of the cognac and Peter doesn't want to give him the bottle. Mead accidentally makes Peter drop the bottle and it breaks. Peter is so angry he punches Mead and Mead dies. After this Peter goes along and pretends to be Mead calling his family from a payphone. I have no idea how to respond to this book. I stumbled across this YA novel at a youth book sale at my library and the description on the back was completely right up my alley, or so it seemed. This book is not likeable in the traditional sense so in that way I thought it was just OK. The strange thing is that the book is well written. If I was an English teacher I would give kudos to my student for the superb imagery, similes and metaphors used. I just feel like I had no connection to Peter and he never became sympathetic enough for me to "get with what the book was selling".
