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Twelve (Paperback)

by Nick. McDonell (Author) "WHITE MIKE IS thin and pale like smoke ..." (more)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
  • ISBN-10: 1877008257
  • ISBN-13: 978-1877008252
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3,824,595 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

17-year-old Nick McDonell's debut novel centres around White Mike, an upper-class drug dealer, and the days just after Christmas leading up to a New Year's Eve party destined to go down in history for all the wrong reasons. For this is New York City, and the bored, ultra-rich teenagers who roam free with seemingly no parental guidance are jaded and tough, fed a steady diet of Camus, cynicism and concealed weapons. Hunter is a nice kid who likes to play basketball in Harlem. Jessica is an athlete, popular and self-confident. Molly and Tobias are models. Sara is beautiful and famous not only in her school but all the surrounding private boarding academies. Chris and Claude's parents are never home, so their parties are legendary. Timmy and Mark are two white boys desperate to be black. Andrew's a quiet guy who has enough connections to save him from total obscurity. All these kids need White Mike's assistance at some point or another, never more so than for some Twelve, a new drug unlike anything they've ever experienced before. When at last they all come together on New Year's Eve, the drugs come out. And then the guns. McDonell has the bold and confident voice of a teenager, and his characters are clearly well known to him, as is their way of life, their speech and their conduct. However, the sheer number of characters proves a burden as, aside from White Mike, only the barest of surfaces is scratched before hastily moving on the next character's brief sketch and relevance to the plot. For all the vibrant attitude and gritty realism, the novel's not quite three-dimensional enough. Comparisons have already been made with Bret Easton Ellis, and the climactic party scene is admittedly reminiscent of Less Than Zero. But this is a new generation of wasted youth, the younger siblings of Ellis's coked up late '80s kids, inheritors of false corporate social responsibility, political correctness and September 11th. Once McDonell polishes and focuses his narrative, he'll be an important voice for the 21st-century generation drowning in a sea of drugs and guns. (Kirkus UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Gary Flockhart, Scotland Online

Twelve captures the spirit of a generation in a way seldom seen since Catcher In The Rye... poetic, sexy, unsettling’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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WHITE MIKE IS thin and pale like smoke. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

39 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (39 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars "Less than zero" 15 years on, 16 July 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Twelve (Paperback)
I enjoyed this book as I read it, though over time I realise how little effect it's actually had on me. On picking this up I found it hard to put down - and read the whole book in 3 sittings. It reads well and is entertaining - with a choppy, cut-up style and some interesting characters. He writes with a good turn-of-phrase and you get a good feel for the types of people and places he portrays.

However, if you've read 'Less than zero' or (dare I say it!) seen Beverly Hills 90210 (!) you'll be familiar with the themes (obviously given here on a far harsher scale) - i.e. screwed up rich kids with too much cash and not enough love. The 'apocolyptic' ending is no surprise at all.

If I was 17 and I'd written this I'd be very proud (come to think of it if I'd written it at all at any age I'd be pretty chuffed!) It's ultimately an enjoyable read and I'll read reviews of his next one with interest now that that 'difficult' first 'semi-autobiographical' (which it seems quite heavily to be) novel is out of the way.

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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars nice work, 9 Sep 2002
This review is from: Twelve (Paperback)
it's well crafted and written in a careful, spare style. it tackles Easton Ellis type themes - rich kids who don't know what to do with themselves and are alienated from society by remote parents and by having too much of everything. contains some thoughtful observations. the author is much more comfortable with his male characters than his female ones - overall, he clearly doesn't think much of his girls who are thick, manipulative, and mentally confused. the ending was a slight cop out. it's a very readable book and a wonderful achievement for such a young writer, but the terrain is one we've seen before, and the author brought more style than novelty to it.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars The Children of the Revolution Will Not Want It., 22 Feb 2004
This review is from: Twelve (Paperback)
The commonest comparison for McDonell's precocious debut has been Brett Easton Ellis' "Less than Zero", probably since they both use the same device of narrating different episodes from the points of view of their various different characters. Also, like Ellis, McDonell seems to be attempting to find something of existential significance in the everyday - his popcultural references are certainly bang up-to-date. But there's a debt owed here to Jay McInerney's "Bright Lights, Big City" - which in turn borrowed the whole idea of an aimless everyman from Salinger's seminal "Catcher in the Rye". The writing is sharp enough to make the plot engaging but it can come across as a little contrived at times and feels like McDonell is trying just a bit too hard to ape a specific narrative voice: that of the world-weary youth who sees an essential emptiness in modern living. So while it's not as accomplished as the soundbitten hype would have you believe, neither is it as bad as some of the understandably disappointed reviewers have ended up feeling. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with next.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Proper job
Brett Easton Ellis' planet obviously; but more realistic; and under it all a proper, serious novel with proper, serious and engaging characters - some, but not all, of whom come... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mr. David Cheshire

5.0 out of 5 stars Unorginal, but brilliant
By now we're all familiar with the spoilt little ultra-rich kids of America with their superficial little lives that revolve around drugs and getting laid. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Stephen Newton

2.0 out of 5 stars A good story but well-trodden ground
There's no denying that this is a well-written story, and pretty funny in places. White Mike's perspective is biting and satirical about the society he's found himself in - rich... Read more
Published 14 months ago by A. Furse

5.0 out of 5 stars wow!
I just finished this book and felt I had to review it. It's gripping, honest and utterly thrilling. Brilliant!
Published 20 months ago by Mrs. N. L. Gill

5.0 out of 5 stars A class of it's own.
To be gripped by a book in such a way is rare; this book left my hand three times between the first and last pages - the second being a dire need for sleep. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2007 by M. Pedrick

5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing and shocking
I ended up reading this book very quickly because I just couldn't put it down. The whole thing is so real that it almost hurts. Read more
Published on 19 Sep 2006 by Kate

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the best
As for myself, I would actually consider me as being a fan of Fantasy and Science-Fiction. However, as I opened the first page of the life of White Mike at Christmas a few years... Read more
Published on 20 April 2006 by Jonathan Oscar

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book
This is one of those books that really impacts you, you find yourself thinking about it weeks after you've read it. Read more
Published on 11 April 2006

5.0 out of 5 stars COME ON NICK WRITE ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i really enjoyed this book. It is the only book i have read more than twice, I've read it 4 times since i got it, as i dont think Mc Donnell has written another, this being... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2006 by lucie332

4.0 out of 5 stars Maichan's review
First I was really shocked about the book "Twelve", because I'm in the same age like the characters in the novel. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2005 by Maichan

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