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Jul 15, 2020ATEN_DNAR rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
I had to read this book for an English class in college. Upon being first introduced to this title, my professor explained that science-fiction/fantasy fans may like this book because it talks about things in Lord of the Rings, Stars Wars, Star Trek, etc. While that statement is strictly correct, the book mentions and references these things, but is not actually about anything like these things. Defenders of this book are probably reading this and telling their computer screens at this point in my review, "Well, yeah. It's not truly a science-fiction/fantasy book, so it's not about those things." Fair enough, but I mention this point to introduce the strange tonal clash that arises from a modern, contemporary lit title trying to make a point of these references. Ultimately, they came across to me as trying too hard to be quirky and fairly shallow. Suffice it to say, a footnote explaining what a Nazgul is didn't leave me very impressed. The actual story revolves around two characters, Oscar and his friend, an attractive, easy-going author self-insert character, and their quest to get Oscar laid. Oscar is an unfit, geeky young man and doesn't have a lot of success with the ladies, contrasting with the author's self-insert. The author's character reinforces the idea in Oscar that his life will be complete and all his problems will get better as soon as he can successfully have sex. So, Oscar, following the author's advice, makes this his primary motivation. The only reason that this title wasn't a one star for me was because I see some value in telling a story about this sort of young man, as it is a sympathetic perspective for many boys out there. However, the end significantly lessened anything I may have liked about this book. I must be careful not to write outright spoilers, but I will allude to it with two statements. Oscar's life is literally described as "brief" in the very title of the book. Also, presumably, a character's overriding motivations contribute to and lead him to his fate. Overall, I don't think the author wrote with a great deal of compassion for the aforementioned perspective of a lonely young man, leaving the end far from triumphant or satisfying in my opinion.