Review: Surface Tension (Brent Runyon)

Luke’s family visits the lake house every summer. And every summer, things are different—at age thirteen he’s searching for luckystones and trying to perfect his rock-skipping, at fourteen his parents start to become curiously annoying, at fifteen sexuality strangles his perspectives, and at sixteen Luke suffers from his relationship with a girlfriend. Through the years, few things are constant. But the lake, the waterfall, and the rush of water on skin are constant. And in this, Luke finds his comfort.

Surface Tension is definitely unlike any other book. It offers a very real and sudden perspective on the journey through the teenage years. It takes a while to get used to the writing, because there’s really no drive in the plot, no tangible antagonist, but it does awaken feeling and memories with realistic lyricism. Readers will find themselves remembering times in their life when they felt similar to Luke. The fourth and final section (the only part with actual excitement) is left untied, which though irritating, is true to real life. In all, Surface Tension isn’t to be anticipated as an ‘adventure’ or a story. It’s a remembrance, a glimpse of life.

And it's from a guys perspective, which can be rather annoying to us greater females ;)

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Clean?: Language, Sexuality

Length: 208 Pages

Released: March 10, 2009

Reccommended to: Those who don't mind a lack of excitement and like literary novels; guys