Strange Boy

Reflective, personal, poignant and nostalgic--Paul Magrs' first novel for teens, Strange Boy, contains within it many interesting moods and contrasting themes. Together with its engaging front story about a 10-year-old boy growing up on an estate in the north east of England in the 1970s, it is an altogether curious reading experience. Strange Boy is at times entertaining and engaging and yet, in contrast, when wading through some of the chunky indulgent swathes of the same boy's family autobiography it is less appealing.

David has a troubled family life. His mum is trying to move her new boyfriend into the family home, while his dad, who he sees only at weekends, has one unsatisfactory new girlfriend after another and is forever getting emotional and borderline violent about his ex-wife's new love life. David, however, is pre-occupied with his superpowers, which he believes are real, and his friendship with John, an older boy who lives next door. Throughout the book David has fantasies about John, and on a number of occasions his relationship becomes innocently physical. But John is often bullied and this fact ultimately leads them both to a final encounter that changes their relationship forever.

The whole book is littered with cultural references of the day--including music, film, sweets, TV programmes--many are name-checked. There are several handy pages of glossary at the back of the book explaining these uniquely iconic 1970's English icons--and it is a joy to peruse them.

There's no great dénouement to the book, but that doesn't really matter. It's a very gritty, "kitchen-sink" type of family drama told here that reads like a soap and is undoubtedly authentic. Magrs is a writer with more to come, for sure, and it'll be interesting to see which story he chooses to tell next. (Ages 13 and over)--John McLay

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Confused ten year old tries to understand - Rated
Set in the 1970s Strange Boy is a touching story narrated by ten year old David. As his parent separate and subsequently find new partners David tries to understand the complexities of adult relationships and discover where he belongs in his now separate parents' lives, at the same time he is troubled by his own sexual awakenings, although he doe not recognise them as such. The complex and confusing world of the adult seen very much through the eyes of and related in the words of the ten year old David make a very rewarding read.
This is very much a book for all ages, not just the young

Strange Boy by Paul Magrs - Rated
My name is Philip and I am 18 years old.

I had recently read Hands up by Paul Magrs the only reason i found out about Paul Magrs was becasue when i was in Waterstones the cover of the book Hands Up caught my eye! I judged a book by its cover! And thought that book was excellent and decided to choose another of his books Strange Boy.

It is a great book and also strange but very interesting and funny.

If you've experienced your parents splitting up, like I have, then you will understand David's situation - Who is the main character!

I will not give too much of the book away to people who may intend on reading it.

But I think the two books i have read by Paul Magrs are great!

I would recommend it to any young readers, although you would need to be around 16 as the book as some mild language in it!

Strange Boy... Strange Book - Rated
I bought this on the recommendation of the previous reviewers but overall it failed to live up to its promise. On the one hand, there is much to enjoy in this book for someone like me from a 1970's childhood with the nostalgic references. Like the main character, my parents also spilt up when I was young so I can also relate to the pressures and situations. But the thing that spoiled it for me was the silly nonsense about "super powers" and the rather clumsy way being gay was handled (a theme never really explored in any detail). That needs to be more cleverly written. I ended up wondering whether the super powers were thrown in to make it appeal to teenagers as opposed to adults but I think it ends up not being one thing or the other. Unfortunately this will probably sit on the shelf without a second read.

Stange Boy - Rated
Author Paul Magrs says in his introduction that his intention with Strange Boy was to write the kind of book he himself would have wanted to read as a teenager. I for one finished the book feeling both disappointed and cheated that I was never able to find any books like this when I was hovering around puberty age myself. Magrs' latest novel opens up the endless landscapes that literature can and should far more than any of the books that I ever read in my early teens. However, to call Strange Boy a children's book is to do it something of a disservice. It only serves this purpose in the same sense that, say Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha does; it has a child as its central protagonist and views the world through his eyes. There's enough material here to be appreciated by all ages, and not just in the indulgence of 70s pop cultural references, of which there are plenty, complemented by a wonderfully funny glossary at the back. Strange Boy is all about growing up, whilst never really fitting in. But it's also about being treated as a mediating force between adults that can't and won't talk to each other. After all, that's what adults are like, and from a childs point of view this is baffling. It also has very clear elements of autobiography to it and fans of Magrs' other work will, I'm sure, find this especially fascinating. The ending is appropriately low-key and transitional, because life doesn't really offer closure, just constant on-going development. To top it all off, the prose style is enticing and addictive, in fact this is a book that it is tempting to consume in one sitting. This is certainly recommended to all ages. More like this please. Much more.

Strange Boy - Rated
This is a wonderful novel and any controversy arises not from any reading of it - it affords sheer narrative pleasure - but the manner in which it is being discussed. The young hero is gay and Magrs' achievement is not to make this the story or even that strong a plot point but simply, effectively and truthfully an aspect of the character - as relevant as say his class, his gender, his age: one of the many things that colour his approach to the world. This is not the familiar issue-based gay novel in which the hero struggles his way out of the closet by finding true love but an intimate and invloving family drama, shrewd, tough-minded and yet warmly humourous. Would I read it aloud to a teenage boy? No - I'd let a teenage boy read it for himself and then listen to what he had to say about it. I'd do the same with a teenage girl, too.