Sexy

by Joyce Carol Oates

Book Overview

The most provocative young adult novel yet from New York Times best-selling author Joyce Carol Oates. Darren Flynn is popular, good-looking, and has a spot on the varsity swim team. But after what... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060541490
• ISBN13: 9780060541491
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 263 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 14 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 9 to 12

Customer Reviews

Excellent Book

I really enjoyed Sexy. Coming from a teacher point of view and former librarian, I would not have titled it "Sexy". I think the book is so much more than it's title but, that is what the parents are going to see and it might inhibit some students from picking up a great book. The book explores so may aspects of teen turmoil. I loved the ending!!

Wonderful and thought provoking YA effort by Ms. Oates!

I decided to give this book a whirl because I have heard wonderful things about Joyce Carol Oates's Young Adult offerings. Sexy is quite a compelling and thought-provoking novella. When an English teacher is accused of committing a sexual crime, it is up to young Darren to speak in his favor. But Darren is overwhelmed with confusions regarding his sexuality. Darren is quite a popular sixteen-year-old who is part of the swimming team that one of the boys, out of spite for having been flunked, accuses Mr. Tracy of being a pedophile. Darren struggles with his identity and the reader wonders whether or not he is indeed gay. There are various twists throughout the novel. The novella may seem disjointed at times -- especially toward the end -- but that is because Oates wants you to read between the lines and understand the sort of confusion Darren is going through. The language is remarkable; you feel as though you are having a conversation with the narrator. The language is also quite stark and ambiguous at times, which leaves a lot of room for interpretation. That is the reason why the writing may seem disjointed at times, but this is done on purpose. I was able to feel Darren's loneliness and confusions as though it were my own. His inability to share his insecurities with others spoke volumes. That is what makes Sexy an incredible book that all adolescents, male or female, should read. The novella is thought provoking in more ways than one. Once again, Joyce Carol Oates has wowed me with this effort. This isn't her best book -- her short-story collections are much more literary -- but it is one of the best YA books I have read in a long time. I cannot recommend Sexy enough.

Sexy: To Both Men & Women

This book is exquisite and marks another transitional point in Ms. Oates writing style. The book centers around the development of a sexual identity in her protagonist, Darren. Darren is 16 going on 17 in the story, which takes place over about a 1 year time frame. Oates is particularly specific and incisive with her psychological development of the character's sexual identity. In addition, there are several powerful subplots or themes concurrently unfolding in the story. But perhaps the most significant of these is the result of a person being falsely accused of a sexual crime. Despite the fact that this person has passed a lie detector and there is no tangible evidence against him, neither physical nor testimonial; not even enough to show cause to arrest him. Yet this does not stop the entire town from believing precisely the opposite of the truth. In a most profound manner, Joyce illustrates just how the "appearance of impropriety" is just as bad as an actual impropriety. Oates' writing style is particularly fascinating in this book. It is a conflation of all her previous talents, with elements of Barthelme image fragments and D.H. Lawrence style deep psychological introversion; it also combines her prior writing styles with her Rosamund Smith (her pseudonym) style in its page turning readability. The character of this style is very, very different; and leaves the reader to interpret much more than Oates usually does. Yet it is also gripping and charismatic in the manner in which she uses it. This is one of the finest of her novels so far, and completes the transitional writing style, which seems to have been so prevalent, but developmental in her book "Rape: A Love Story." The book is recommended for almost all readers, it is a thriller, a classic and a mystery rolled all into one. The feelings and empathy she displays here are seriously professional. The book is truly a bit magical.

Oates Greatest Young Adults Novel Thus Far

Unflinchingly forging into new territory, Joyce Carol Oates has written a novel delving into the mind of an adolescent boy whose potent sexual appeal is only just emerging. The author's first two novels for young adults primarily focused on the lives of unpopular, strong-willed teenage girls. In this novel she writes about a character named Darren who is popular, athletic and (to his confusion) attractive. The story focuses on an encounter Darren has with one of his teachers named Mr Tracy. A group of Darren's friends choose to use this teacher as a scapegoat to divert attention away from their own misconduct. The hapless boy is put under enormous pressure to speak out against his teacher and is forced to make a serious choice. With remarkable subtlety, Oates depicts this teenage boy's evolving consciousness. You follow how he suddenly becomes aware of himself as a physical presence in the world. The author expresses in the narrative the way that he is unable to articulate his own feelings and thoughts about people such as the girl he is romantically involved with and events such as the ride home with the teacher. Oates skilfully explores the male psyche in Sexy like she did in the accomplished novels What I Lived For and Wonderland, but in a much more compressed form. This novel would make a wonderful start for growing readers who can then continue on to delve into a rich range of adult novels by the same author.

Very Realistic and fast-paced!

This is the best YA book Oates has wrote so far and I hope she keeps writing them, they keep getting better and better. I finished the whole book in just a few days so it's the perfect book to give to your friends and ask them to read and you don't have to wait for a long reply. READ THIS!!!