Teen Fiction

Gentlemen

Name: Gentlemen
Author: Michael Northrop
ISBN: 9780545115841

by Michael Northrop

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Overview

This gripping YA debut has garnered two starred reviews and its author was named a PW Flying Start--and it's now available in PUSH paperback!

Micheal, Tommy, Mixer, and Bones aren't just from the wrong side of the tracks--they're from the wrong side of everything. No one at their high school takes them seriously, except for Mr. Haberman, their remedial English teacher. Mr. Haberman calls them "gentlemen," but everyone else ignores them--or, in Bones's case, is dead afraid of them. When one of their close-knit group goes missing, the clues all seem to point in one direction: to Mr. Haberman.
Gritty, fast-paced, and brutally real, this debut takes an unflinching look at what binds friends together--and what can tear them apart.

Synopsis

Micheal, Tommy, Mixer, and Bones aren't just from the wrong side of the tracks--they're from the wrong side of everything. Except for Mr. Haberman, their remedial English teacher, no one at their high school takes them seriously. Haberman calls them "gentlemen," but everyone else ignores them--or, in Bones's case, is dead afraid of them. When one of their close-knit group goes missing, the clues all seem to point in one direction: to Mr. Haberman.

Gritty, fast-paced, and brutally real, this debut takes an unflinching look at what binds friends together--and what can tear them apart.

Publishers Weekly

Northrop's debut is one dark ride, as events spin out of control for three friends who haven't had many lucky breaks. High school sophomores Micheal (the narrator), Tommy, Mixer and Bones are a pretty tight crew. (And, yes, that's how Micheal's name is spelled: "Mom or Dad, one of them dropped the ball on that one, probably Dad, in the hospital or wherever it is you fill out that paperwork.") Then Tommy goes missing. It isn't the first time, so the guys aren't initially too worried, but as time passes-and following increasingly unsettling interactions with their English teacher, Mr. Haberman, during a unit on Crime and Punishment-they begin to suspect that the teacher is involved in Tommy's disappearance. Micheal, who has an eye injury stemming from a childhood incident, is a sympathetic but unreliable narrator-something he himself recognizes ("Having a messed-up eye, you know, it'll affect how you see things"). The brutal narration, friendships put through the wringer and the sense of dread that permeates the novel will keep readers hooked through the violent climax and its aftermath. Ages 15-up. (Apr.)

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

VOYA - Jennifer Miskec

From the initial pages of Northrop's first novel the suspense begins to build. Where is Tommy? Is he dead? Did Mr. Haberman, the sadistic, chain-smoking English teacher, murder him? As high school sophomores Micheal [sic], Mixer, and Bones work to get to the bottom of the mystery of classmate Tommy's disappearance, increasingly more clues point to Haberman, especially the heavy, body-shaped load Micheal and his friends help Haberman lift into his car. Through the course of the novel, the young men discover that little is as it first appears, and little of what they believe to be true actually is—which they unfortunately discover a little too late. This dark novel is stripped down and slowly paced; from protagonist Micheal's perspective, his world is hostile and uncaring. Much like Crime and Punishment, the much-referenced novel the young men are reading in their English class, nihilism and alienation are prominent themes, and like its classic referent, these issues are left mostly unresolved by novel's end. Instead of philosophical resonance, however, the result here is a novel with little payoff. Even the mystery of Tommy's disappearance is resolved superficially at best. Northrop offers a kind of protagonist not prevalent in YA literature: Micheal is ultimately unmotivated and unrepentant. Although a hopeful ending is not necessary, this reviewer misses a protagonist with depth and a sense of purpose. Reviewer: Jennifer Miskec

Children's Literature - Joella Peterson

How far would an English teacher go to get students to understand the book Crime and Punishment? Mike, Tommy, Mixer, and Bones are four friends who struggle together to make it through each school day. When Tommy disappears, not only is the group dynamic of the other friends tested, but the three must figure out why their English teacher seems to know so much about murder and guilt. Readers watch as Mike, the narrator, discovers not only the balance of friendship, but also the power of ideas—both from the book and from life. Mike begins to realize that, similar to a literary novel, sometimes life is going to come up and smack you in the face, and you better be ready for the consequences. Northrop weaves together the story of four friends and Dostoyevsky's novel, resulting in a fast-paced, gritty novel that teens will love and teachers will compare and contrast with the classic. Reviewer: Joella Peterson

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up—Micheal, Tommy, Mixer, and Bones aren't so much viewed as troublemakers at Tattawa High School as they are personas non grata. On the fringe, the four friends struggle their way through school and to survive their dysfunctional families. When Tommy disappears, his friends write it off as another one of his escapades until Mr. Haberman, their remedial English teacher, starts speaking in riddles that lead them to believe that he may have killed the boy. Despite an interesting cast of flawed misfits and an edgy concept, Northrop doesn't bring the gritty tale to its full potential because of a slogging pace and meandering narrative.—Terri Clark, Smokey Hill Library, Centennial, CO

Kirkus Reviews

Underachiever Micheal finds that art imitates life a little too closely when his friend Tommy leaves school in a fit of anger and doesn't return for days. The timing of Tommy's disappearance coincides with the beginning of an English class unit on Crime and Punishment. Due to an unusual introduction to the book, Micheal and his friends Bones and Mixer start to believe that their English teacher, Mr. Haberman, is responsible for Tommy's disappearance and possibly his death. As he reads the book, Micheal cultivates the idea of Haberman's guilt. In violent Dostoevskyian fashion, the three boys take action against Haberman and are subsequently punished both by prison and guilt. Micheal's practiced, smart-yet-slacker voice is authentic but also uneven; there are times when the author, not Micheal, is describing his surroundings. A few subplots involving meeting girls and the changing nature of the boys' friendship add some realism but are ultimately unimportant. The boys' immediate, assured suspicion of Haberman's complicity in Tommy's disappearance is frightening and realistic, but Tommy's return and his reasons for leaving are a letdown, told and not shown. (Mystery. 15 & up)