David

I enjoyed this book in the beginning (although all the characters and ranks took a while to sort out). The characters were solid, the action was good, but the book should have ended after the second part. Out of hundreds of listens, I've only left one other audiobook unfinished, and after reading all these reviews, I never thought this would be my second. It was. In my opinion, these reviews are way too flowery--probably out of a mix of nostalgia and guilt. My recommendation: Just go rent Platoon.

I just don't see how all these reviewers are calling this book "exciting." I listened to this with 3 others in the car on a long trip and we all agreed it was the literary equivalent to Ambien. We didn't even finish the first part before giving up. Maybe one day I'll try it again, b/c I usually almost always agree with the reviewers. But for now, it's going on the shelf as the most boring book I've ever purchased from Audible.

This book is well written and is marked with occasional humor (especially for those of us who've lived in NY), but I couldn't get past the overwhelming desire to strangle the know-it-all, ungrateful punk of a main character. Listening to him drone on about everything he "hates" and the asinine reason behind it made me want to open a vein. Highly frustrating if you can't stand negative teenagers.