This Book (and Podcast - "Frothy") Will Change Your Life - Birch Hills @ World's End by Geoff Hyatt.

There are coming of age tales, how we operate and function as boys, and maybe later men, questions of security and safety in the wake of Columbine, and man, it's weird that we never really thought about the parallels in how the country reacted to both Columbine and September 11th before now. There is also having your head buried in a book with all of these themes bouncing to and fro in your head, while on line waiting to get through security at the airport, as we were, and being so lost in the passage you are reading that you try to walk through security even as they are firmly asking you not to, as we did, which somehow reminds you how things change, get warped and molded and yet still always come back to some basic themes, over and over again, love, confusion, safety and risk, finding oneself, being different, seeking individuality, and how these themes are among the many that make for coming of age tales. Arguably though a goal of any coming of age tale is to make it fresh, both familiar and unfamiliar, or more accurately, familiar, yet new, all of which is to say that Birch Hills @ World's End by Geoff Hyatt does much of this exceedingly well. And yes, freshly. Is there another novel set against Y2K and Columbine, and did we remember they happened so closely together? We did not. Birch Hills @ World's End so much more though, and it pushed so many buttons for us about what it means to be different and young and male, being a freak, or geek, bullying and violence, and so there it is, go read it, because it just might change your life. Also though, when you have a moment, and even if you don't, please go listen to the new episode of This Podcast Will Change Your Life - "Frothy" as well, wherein we riff with the Hyatt on all of this, and more. And do it now. There. Thanks.