My Life, Take Two

by Paul Many

Sixteen-year-old Neal Thackery is trying really hard to follow the logical (but boring) path laid out for him by his mother, his longtime girlfriend, Emily, his guidance counselor, his boss. . . He... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802787088
• ISBN13: 9780802787088
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Walker Childrens
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 11 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 6 to 9

Customer Reviews

What to do with your life while you're waiting.

This book is about finding your place in the world. When you look at adults, they all seem to have found somewhere that they fit. This book is about how Neal finds where he fits. It isn't where his mom or his girlfriend thinks, though. He finds it out for himself by making a film and finding out the secrets about his dad and meeting a new girlfriend who supports him instead of telling him stuff "for his own good." The film parts were good and it's a good story and I like the way it all came out.

Good Book for Creative "Misfits"

In My Life, Take Two, Paul Many writes the story of sixteen-year-old Neal Thackery's journey to self- understanding. Neal 's documentary about his deceased father has just bombed; he has mixed memories of his father with his dreams. Now Neal must spend the summer before his senior year revamping his documentary, and to appease his practical mother and girlfriend, working at a construction warehouse, making money for college. Neal struggles at work; he can't seem to hold down a job or accept the future that others seem to have already laid out for him. At work he becomes reacquainted with childhood friend Claire and her mother who help him come to know his father. Neal learns that he has a great deal in common with his father, both artistic and creative, and with this knowledge must now make important decisions concerning his future. Neal's voice is both witty and sarcastic, though sometimes his observations seem a little far-fetched. That lack of connection, though, may just put the reader with the practical, uncreative people who, in Neal's world, also find him hard to understand. Likewise, those readers may find that the documentary script sections slow the story and prefer Neal's humorous narrative. Overall, middle school and young adult readers will recognize Neal's feelings of inadequacies and understand his need to determine for himself what his future will hold.

nice

Nice job. If you like art, it will mean something to you. If you don't, maybe you'll just scratch your head. I liked how the art/film theme tied together the other issues in the book--death, separation, dealing with childhood so one can move on to adulthood.

Take the time to read it

The protagonist's wisecracks and trenchent throw-away lines beat out the plot for originality, but all in, it's a thumb's up. I dare you not to smile at Many's subtle sarcasm and sly sense of humor.