BOOK REVIEW: Struck By Lightning by Chris Colfer ★★★★★

“Life comes at you fast. It hits you and tries to escape and be expressed in any way possible. In a way, it's a lot like...lightning.”

Let me break it down for you.

From the man behind the funny and sassy character Kurt Hummel (Glee), Chris Colfer is the author (and starred in the feature film of the same name) of Struck by Lightning – The Carson Philips Journal.

Written as a journal, Cason Phillips is an outcast and a cynical senior high school student. He hates his peers, is stuck living with his depressed single mother in a small-minded, small town of Clover (is probably not on a map). He has an unsuccessful school newspaper The Clover Chronicle that students use as paper mache in art class and he has a writers club after school with only one member, Malerie Baggs, who like him is an outcast. His one ambition is to get out of this provincial life, get into Northwestern University and then become the editor of The New Yorker.

That’s all great but his guidance counsellor tells him that newspapers and writers clubs just won’t do it if he ever wants to get into university. He has to be original – that means starting a literary magazine, which would be perfect, but submissions will be from students. See the problem? The only way to make Carson’s dream come true is to blackmail the most popular students into contributing to his literary journal. After all, everybody has a dirty little secret.

I just cannot express THE JOY I had reading this book and laughing out loud (at midnight and my mum thought I went crazy) at this remarkably smart story. The dark, cynical humour added to the craziness to his plan to blackmail his peers.

Carson is a character who you’d probably love or absolutely hate and the reasons behind this make sense. He’s a unique character, relatable and I would definitely have joined his little Chronicle Crusade (lol I’m hilarious but it’s the name I would give) and the literary magazine but then I would have hit him with a pan because of his bitterness. One thing I like about him is that he doesn’t hesitate to express his opinion, as demeaning as it may be –

"I do not care what you are - straight, bisexual, black, white, purple, cat, dog or pigeon -. If you behave like an asshole with me, I'll behave like an asshole you"

And that seems pretty much legit. There’s no doubt that he is a hardworking, ambitious teen, who never gives up, even when things don’t go according to plan. Although he appears to be such a negative character he has a sweet relationship with his dementia-suffering grandmother, who despite her illness doesn’t give up on him, or his dreams, making her seem more human than anyone in town.

Personally, Carson is a character who feels incredibly real. My high school years were terrible; somewhere I felt I didn’t belong and I felt a connection when I read this book, as it sounded like my journal. Carson could have had friends, but he is so straight forward, saying things we wouldn’t even think of saying aloud. He came across as an intolerant, self-absorbed guy, who had it all planned and never gave a hoot were everybody else went, because he just saw people for who they were on the surface. But that changes because after he reads the entries, he goes on a journey and understands that there is so much under the surface that we never want to expose.

The storyline is driven by Carson’s journal, revealing how bitter and judgemental he is towards people in general. I think it really stems from his dysfunctional family life, how his father left and his mother isn’t really good at coping with it, thus resulting into severe drinking and depression. I have to salute Colfer’s writing on dementia and depression. He wrote it in such a subtle way it made Carson that more real and as a reader feel sorry for him.

I really liked this book, but the only tiny thing that bugged me (ha the bugs eating people alive in Quail Gardens) was the grammatical errors. I mean the real Carson Phillips would be horrified! But then again when it comes to journals, you’re not going to check grammar and that may just add to the ‘realism’ of his journal.

What is my favourite part of this book? This quote –

“From this day on, I refuse to let anyone bring me to a point where I can't take a horrible situation and spin it into something beneficial. I will never let anyone make me feel anything I don't want to feel again or rob me of the passions that make me who I am.”

There were so many things I got out from this book that I’ve never really had from any other fiction books I’ve read. First, Carson assumes his life is harder than everyone else, but as he discovers, we all are going through some bad things, others are better at hiding it. Second, don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t do anything, just believe in yourself. Third, high school can be a dark period in peoples’ lives, but if you rise above that, focus on what you want, you will get there. Forth, for some people, life is easy; presented on a silver platter, but for others, it is a damn struggle and you have to work hard to make your dreams come true.

I can’t express any further how much I love Struck by Lightning. Colfer should be proud to have come up with a story that teaches teens about life, struggles and seeing so much more than meets the eye.

Rating 5/5
Publishers: Atom
Publication Date: November 20th 2012
Genre: Young Adult/Humour