The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga is a very well-written formula story, the formula being bitterly unhappy genius teen loner meets suicidal girl and no one lives happily ever after. I was kind of anxious while reading it because I pretty much knew what was going to happen, and I kept hoping things were going to be different because I hated to see such good writing doing the same old, same old.
Fanboy isn't a massive book but it seemed to take me a long time to get through it. Some of the scenes seemed to go on and on, particularly when Fanboy and Goth Girl were fighting. For instance, there's one scene in which they're talking about girls' breasts that seemed as if it could have used a little nip/tuck. And yet, the ending seemed rushed. I had trouble seeing how ol' Fanboy got to various points in his thinking. I felt he was making some creative leaps and not taking me with him. I think one could make an argument that the ending was more upbeat than it could have been, but it's hard to see exactly how Fanboy got there.
I kept thinking of Boy Proof while I was reading Fanboy because while Boy Proof covers a lot of the same ground--brilliant, arty teen who doesn't fit in--it doesn't seem as oppressively formulaic.
Check out the Amazon reviews for more positive responses to this book.
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