Book Review: Gentlemen by Michael Northrop

Release Date: April 15, 2009
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 256

Summary:

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. (From The Scholastic Store)
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On the same day that Micheal's friend Tommy goes missing, his English teacher, Mr. Haberman, begins teaching Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment--a novel I actually enjoyed in high school. In order to pique his students' interest, Mr. Haberman places a large barrel at the front of the classroom and asks the students to guess what's inside, then talks about words and ideas like crime and punishment. At the end of the class, Mr. Haberman asks Micheal, Mixer, and Bones to help him take the barrel to his car. At this point, Micheal and his friends don't know what's in the barrel, but they do know that's it's incredibly heavy and seems to have joints. Add that to the strange looks Haberman seems to give them in class as he talks about the murder in Crime and Punishment and Micheal and his friends think they know what happened to Tommy.

While Gentlemen may sound like a typical mystery novel, it's not all clues and snappy dialogue. Rather, it's a group of boys trying to get through school and life; finding Tommy is important to them, but it doesn't completely consume their attention.

Micheal is a likeable, realistic main character with an appealing first-person voice, but he's too wrapped up in himself to let readers become anything more than acquainted with the other characters. And even though he makes plenty of questionable decisions and spends a considerable amount of his freetime scoping out girls, drinking, and smoking, I never stopped rooting for him.

Now, if you've read this far you may have noticed that I keep misspelling the name "Michael"; it's not a mistake. I'll let Micheal explain it to you:

"My first name is spelled wrong. It's Micheal instead of Michael. 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."

Micheal's a funny guy, and I laughed quite a few times while reading Gentlemen.

There were plenty of moments, however, where I wasn't laughing. Gentlemen is a dark story, and it's not always easy to read. The most shocking scenes include a possible-rape (That's how I took it, anyway) and a good bit of violence at the climax. These parts weren't particularly enjoyable, but they didn't keep me from finishing the book. After the violent climax, however, the ending becomes predictable and inevitable, and I didn't want to watch; it was almost a chore to finish the book.

As far as language goes, Gentlemen is actually pretty clean; Micheal edits himself when it comes to the "F" word and no piece of profanity appears uncalled for.

Gentlemen is a dark, occasionally funny, and always intense read. The mystery of Tommy's disappearance held me spellbound until the last couple chapters, when all the pieces fell into place. This book is like a magnet. I enjoyed Gentlemen, and I recommend it to anyone in the mood for a quick, suspenseful read.

Book source: My local library.