“There is something about a good teen angst novel that really resonates with me, even as a 42-year-old. You’d think a quarter of a century since leaving high school would have given me some detachment, and it has for the most part. But every once in awhile, the old feelings of frustration, anger and cynicism come rushing back as vividly as if I were 16 all over again. Re-reading Catcher in the Rye, for example, makes me feel like a teenager, and not in a good way. Darian Worden’s powerful first novel, Bring a Gun to School Day, had a similarly disturbing effect. Erik Shylding, like Holden Caulfield before him, is the perfect embodiment of the alienated male teen of his day. Of course, in Holden Caulfield’s day, a fascination with guns would have characterized him as a healthy, normal young man. Times have changed.” (04/27/08)