Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Children’s, Teenage & Educational
Weblink
http://www.stevebrezenoff.com/

GUY IN REAL LIFE

Steve Brezenoff

From the author of Brooklyn, Burning comes a story of one random encounter that changes everything.

Lesh and Svetlana, two teens from St. Paul, Minnesota, are adrift in a sea of social coterie, desperate for something to change. When they crash into one another in a drunken bicycle accident at two am, they don’t yet know how close they are to finding it. For now, Svetlana is simply looking for a fifth member to legitimize the Central High School Gaming Club, and Lesh is looking to escape his being grounded for said drunkenness by entering, reluctantly, the world of online role playing games.

Lesh’s gaming life takes an interesting turn as, unable to figure out how to speak to Svetlana, he “becomes” her in-game. When real life and in-game life inevitably become entwined, Lesh and Svetlana both start to realize that the lines they draw to keep their lives in order are not so easy to maintain. Especially when they no longer understand why they drew them in the first place.

Steve Brezenoff is the author of young adult novels The Absolute Value of -1 and Brooklyn, Burning, as well as dozens of chapter books for younger readers. He grew up on Long Island, spent his twenties in Brooklyn, and now lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Beth, who is also a writer for children, and their son Sam.

Available products
Book Published 2014-05-27 by Balzer & Bray
Book Published 2014-05-27 by Balzer & Bray

Comments

In a voice full of authentic grit, poetic verve, and real emotion, Steve Brezenoff weaves a tale that feels both wholly original and instantly classic. Another fantastic book from a writer I envy and admire.

Lesh wears a black trench coat and listens to heavy metal. Svetlana embroiders her flowing skirts and blasts Björk. Lesh, with his bad-boy persona, appeals to Lana in a way she would have never anticipated. And Lesh’s attraction to Lana is so intense that he creates an elf princess, Svetlana, in a MMO game with Lana’s same long blond hair and lithe body. Soon Lesh finds that he can’t wait to play the game and assume a female persona. In the swift, action- filled chapters that describe Lesh’s game, Lana grows in strength and integrity and gains an admirer. Meanwhile, IRL, Lana copes with her disintegrating after-school gaming club, which plays tabletop RPGs. As with Lesh’s online-gaming adventures, Lana’s game scripts play out in engaging stories. The overall effect of the novel, then, is of marvelous fantasy sequences interspersed with the messiness of real-life romance. Lesh’s predicament—that he loves becoming Svetlana as much as he loves Lana—is presented sweetly and believably. Like his easy evocation of gender-free characters in his Brooklyn, Burning (2011), Brezenoff deftly handles one teen’s experience of gender dysphoria.

Guy in Real Life is a remarkably original, addictive novel that illuminates the roles we play for others and, ultimately, ourselves. A must-read for anyone who questions who they truly are, and who they could be.

After some late night drinking at a heavy metal show, high school sophomore Lesh Tungsten literally runs into senior Svetlana Allegheny when her bicycle crashes into him. What begins as an accident evolves from wariness to friendship, especially after Lesh discourages an unwanted admirer of Svetlana's. They soon discover their mutual interest in gaming—he, online, and she, role-playing—and as they navigate their differences, the teens learn that the roles they play aren't as important as who they really are, especially when together. Whether reading it as a brief glimpse into the world of gaming and MMOs (massively multiplayer online games), a romance, or a tale of self-discovery, Brezenoff's novel works on many levels, and its depth and humor will appeal to many readers. Told in the alternating voices of Lesh, Svetlana, and their online personae Svvetlana and Kugnar, the story deftly navigates the real and virtual worlds of the characters, and while the gamer-speak can be a bit much, it gives the audience a better understanding of who Lesh and Svetlana truly are. Although they are flawed and have traits that are unlikable, they come across as authentic teens who will have readers rooting for them as individuals and as a couple. Their sweet-natured romance isn't overly saccharine and offers a charmingly awkward look at first love, and the supporting characters, particularly Svetlana's friends, are well developed and just as quirky as the main protagonists. For fans of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl (St. Martin's, 2013), gamers, and readers in-between.

I suppose Steve Brezenoff will have to grow up one of these days and forget what it was like to be sixteen, but let’s hope it doesn’t happen too soon—at least not to the part of him that can write a book like Guy in Real Life.

This is not the teen love story you’ve read a thousand times before.