James Sveck, 18 years old, lives in New York, doesn’t really fit the cookie cutter mold, and doesn't really want to. James dislikes teenagers and talking, and finds peace in being alone and isolated, he only likes to be with his grandmother, the only person he really likes to be with.
“I think that’s what scares me: the randomness of everything. That the people who could be important to you might just pass you by. Or you pass them by,” James says, “I felt that by walking away I was abandoning him that I spent my entire life, day after day, abandoning people.” James is not your average normal teenager, he explores the deep thoughts and actions of life and wants to make every second worth it and makes it his decision to his own standards and not someone else’s.
He adamantly feels that college is unnecessary and finds he could easily learn by himself and not spend time with other people and college: “I don’t want to be in that kind of social environment, I’ve been with people my own age all my life and I don’t really like them or seem to have much in common with them, I feel that anything I want to know I can learn from reading books--basically that’s what you do in college anyway--and I feel I can do that on my own and not waste all that money on something I don't think I need or want. I think I could do other things with the money that would be better for me than going to college.” James is concerned with things that most teenage boys would not think of or are not troubled by. This emphasizes James as a character and draws the reader in, making the reader try and figure out James’ mindset and thoughts on the world.
Throughout the book the reader follows James along with his decisions and problems. He is a likeable character that is easy to connect with and relate too. This is a wonderful book if you are a teen (or just someone looking for an ingenious book) looking for witty and thought provoking book, it is a wonderful mixture of real life experiences, blended with vanilla like humor and a shot of truth.