Grab On to Me Tightly as if I Knew the Way

April 3, 2006
Recent high school grad Vincent Sweeney, though unmistakably sweet, also masquerades as crass, courts his own demise by baiting bar thugs, nurses rock star fantasies with his band, Judy Lumpers (it's grungy in 1992 Kalamazoo, Mich.), and plays indifferent after losing his virginity in a one-night stand. After flippantly quitting his dishwashing job, Vim (from a childhood mispronunciation) runs up against his stepfather's blue-collar bitterness with quiet acceptance and embarks on a short-distance road trip. Fits of rage and exaggerated lust, tinged with self-loathing, erupt from within a searing numbness, which puzzles Vim, and which he parses using lyrics from the like of Jim Morrison, Fugazi and Nirvana. Charles, in this debut, gives Vim an unevenly self-aware first person, making large portions of the book read like a vague, angry diary; they're dull, but come through as convincingly natural and make moments of connection (as with a bandmate's girlfriend) take on a special glow.

November 1, 2006
Adult/High School-Vim Sweeney takes his place in the long list of fictional characters is search of themselves. His journey centers on Kalamazoo, MI, in the summer of 1992, after his high school graduation. He works as a dishwasher, plays in a band, lusts after his best friend's girl, and tries to figure out his relationships with those around him, including his father and stepfather. The novel was written shortly after 9/11, although the existential questions it asks are more those of teen lit than of apocalyptic fiction. Told in Vim's voice, the chapters are short and choppy, although first-time author Charles is very good at capturing the way teenagers speak to one another. The dialogue is filled with bravado and expletives, which the characters use to mask their insecurities and uncertainty about their future, and even, perhaps more so, their present."Nancy Brown, Fox Lane High School, Bedford, NY"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2006
The wistful title (taken from song lyrics by the band Pavement), eye-catching cover art from Chicago printmaker Jay Ryan, and fine writing from the gifted Charles make for a powerful combination in a debut novel that seems poised to generate a fair amount of buzz. It's 1992, and Vim Sweeney, newly graduated from Kalamazoo High School and a member of the band Judy Lumpers, is casting a wary eye toward the future: "college, beer, job, marriage, babies, debt, divorce, nuclear annihilation." Kurt Cobain is taking the music world by storm, hometown boy Derek Jeter is making his mark in the major leagues, and Vim is washing dishes at the Gull Lake Cafe side by side with dour ex-felon Wendell, wondering all the while if "it's too early in the game to concede defeat." Charles strings together poetic, episodic glimpses of Vim's life, including his erotic infatuation with his bandmate's girlfriend, his anger at his deadbeat dad and love for his stepfather, and, most of all, his desperate yearning to make sense of the world. Telegraphing ambience in the details--pithy T-shirt slogans, brightly lit donut shops, apt song lyrics--Charles draws a loving if unforgiving portrait of the seedy, semirural Midwest. His approach--plenty of heart and laugh-out-loud humor--will invite comparisons to Nick Hornby, but let it be said that Charles does it his way.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)