Pure Sunshine

by Brian James

Book Overview

It's not about the drugs. It's not about the girls or the fights or the fading streetlights. It's about two nights that weren't going to be different from the rest, but then took a turn. It's about... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439279895
• ISBN13: 9780439279895
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Push
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.0" x 7.0"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Tripping with Perfection

This book is a magnificent. The casual drug use and cursing makes it all the more appealing to me and probably just the type of readers Brian James would like to have. I found myself reading Pure Sunshine carefully as to keep it in good condition so I could read it over and over again because I knew it was something special. It tells the story of Brenden, a high school boy trying to find out who he wants to be and tries to find much-needed comfort in drugs, clubs, smoking, his friends that seem to be nothing but but a bunch of unsupportive teenage boys that don't care about the things that are truly important, and being one of those guys that if a mother saw walking along the road would drag her child to the other side of the street. It's definately a must-read for anybody that likes those stories that are all too true to life and disklikes those sugary books that are all too common.

Its all about pure sunshine

An amazing book. It truely brings you into the life of a couple of teens on an acid trip. This is a book that i have read more than once. Brian James does a wonderful job with this book and i would absolutely recommend it to others. Even if you dont like to read, you will love this book, its very straight forward and brings you through the ups and downs of doing acid. Definately pick it up.

Better Living Through Chemistry?

Pure Sunshine places the reader inside Brandon's head during two nights of dropping acid with friends, and the day sandwiched between these two nights. His thoughts are somewhat random and extremely intense as he and his friends perform a wide range of stupid activities while under the influence. Some would criticize Pure Sunshine for not having much of a plot, but this lack of coherence is the point of the story. James obviously intended to paint this perfect portrait of directionless youth, and accurately portray the effects of LSD. Brendon shares several traits with Holden Caufield from The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger, J.D. New York: Little, Brown & Co., 1951). Despite Holden's 1940s-appropriate inability to score a dose, the two young men are prone to wandering aimlessly based on whims attempting to relieve unrelenting boredom. They are both acutely aware of the people with whom they interact, and mull over several of their physical and behavioral traits. Both are intensely focused on their feelings at any given moment, and are extremely impulsive despite their almost constant thinking. Brendon's equivalent to Holden's rye field in which he catches children heading for a cliff is a garden with edible clouds, where blue children play, and rats follow him like the Pied Piper as he plays the flute. Through Brendon, James accurately describes the teen angst that drives young people to drugs. Brendon, like all teens, lacks access to the adult pleasures of independence and a higher degree of control over one's life. Adult society has little use for him, and ignores him unless he acts as a menace to it. Devoid of any hobbies, sports, or vocational interests, in a world in which the joy of learning has been transformed into a chore divorced from real life experience, Brandon and his friends amuse themselves with increasingly destructive acts culminating in hard drug use. It is often difficult to determine where Brandon's real personality ends and the influence of the drugs begins. Teen readers will be riveted by Pure Sunshine. Teens with more direction and/or emotional connection to adults will either pity Brandon or feel condescending towards him, and see his foolish behavior as proof that drugs should be avoided. Those more like Brandon, including drug users, will relate to the character more directly, and will probably miss the extremely subtle anti-drug message. Parents will strongly object to it for the following two reasons: 1. The anti-drug message is so subtle that it is easily missed. As any critic of Go Ask Alice (Anonymous. Riverside, NJ: Simon & Schuster, 1994) notes, while drugs usually negatively affect the lives of their users, they do not necessarily have extreme consequences almost every time they are used. It is possible to use drugs now and then without being arrested, getting seriously injured, or suffering severe social penalties. This book reflects this fact, as Brandon suffers nothing worse than a o

THE BEST TEEN BOOK EVER!!!

Pure Sunshine is the best book I have ever read. I am 16 and have experienced drugs and alcohol and insecurities. This book is like my life written down. I feel like I could have personally wrote this book. This book can change your outlook on life and it certainly changed mine.

Sunshine

This novel is an easy read that describes an extremely vivid two days in the life of Brendan, the main character and narrator. It explicitly follows him through two occasions of him dropping acid, upon which he learns more about his friends, his relationship both with them and the world around him, and himself. The novel's style allows it to flow, and the reader is drawn in. Its length also permits the reader to finish it in one sitting, which is a benefit in that one can follow Brendan from the first day to the second without losing the character's immediate feelings or state of mind. Remarks that he makes upon finally finding some clarity from the acid-induced haze he experienced the night before are strong, descriptive, and pinpoint emotions that myself as a reader could strongly both identify and identify with. The variation in vocabulary and numerous allusions attest to James's intelligence. He is obviously well learned. (Also, Brendon is extremely interested in English, my favorite subject, so I couldn't help but smile when he spoke highly of the class.) James's age contributes to the relevancy of the tale, in that he speaks and presents the matter in a contemporary tone. I look forward to seeing what else can come from James.