Synopses & Reviews
Review
"If you liked Harmony Korine's film Kids, you'll definitely be into McDonell's story....Not bad for a by-now 18-year-old, but still far from good: McDonell should stay in school a few more years." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Mr. McDonell finds an authentic voice....He gives us a palpable sense of the privileged but spiritually desolate world that his characters inhabit, without ever condescending to them, and he gives us some digitally clear snapshots of life in the upscale ZIP codes of millenial Manhattan." Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Review
"[T]here can be little question that the sheer phenomenon of its author's youth probably has as much to do with [Twelve] finding its way into print as its literary merits....[McDonell] employs a prose style that affects pithiness and punch....We are meant to be shocked as the plot moves toward what the publisher calls its 'apocalyptic climax,' which is a lot more apocalyptic for the kids involved than for the reader, who saw it coming about a hundred pages earlier." Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World
Review
"[A] shocker of a first novel....[T]erse, controlled prose....The final scene, at a raging New Year's Eve party, will leave readers stunned, as well as curious as to what might come next from this precocious writer." Publishers Weekly
Review
"[T]his novel is a Less than Zero for a new generation of disenfranchised rich kids, except it's not quite as good....But the sparse, fiercely unsentimental prose and the stark hopelessness of the teenage characters make the book a surprisingly engrossing read." John Green, Booklist
Review
"McDonell is an authentic talent and, long after the storms of hype have died away, his novel will endure as a snapshot of his generation as surely as Less Than Zero did of the Eighties....The voice is not original...but it is remarkably assured....[McDonell] is very good at imitating an existing narrative style. The reader can look forward confidently to the book he will produce when his voice has become properly his own." Stephanie Merritt, The Guardian (London)
Review
"[An] accomplished first novel....[A] satirical, even playful portrait of a world that is perilous but essentially humane. It is a less original and far more likable work [than Less Than Zero]....I was impressed by the wit and commitment of this book, by McDonell's ability to write with distance and perspective about a world he's still smack in the midst of. Such qualities will serve him well as a writer of any age." Jennifer Egan, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"In Twelve, Nick McDonell displays a remarkable arsenal of gifts wit, near poetic concision, a terrific eye and ear all of which add up to the Great Gift: the ability to tell a story, in such a way, that once engaged, the reader will find it near impossible to put the book down" Richard Price
Review
"Nick McDonell is the real thing, a powerful young writer with the look of a dangerous freak and very sharp teeth. The ratio of age to talent is horrifying. His trick is he writes the truth. I'm afraid he will do for his generation what I did for mine." Hunter S. Thompson
Review
"An astonishing rush of a first novel." Joan Didion
Synopsis
From a gifted and assured 17-year-old author comes a stunning portrait of his generation, set among wealthy kids in Manhattan.