The Beginner's Guide to Living
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Seven days after his mother dies in a sudden, senseless accident, seventeen-year-old Will embarks on a search for meaning that leads him to the great philosophers—Plato, Seneca, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche—and to Taryn, the beautiful girl he meets at his mother's wake. In Lia Hills's The Beginner's Guide to Living, Will is desperate to find, however he can, something authentic, something ultimate, something so true he would live or die for it. But is he willing to risk losing Taryn—losing everything--to seek the answers he craves?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After his mother is killed in a traffic accident, high school senior Will feels nothing at first. Then, at his mother's wake, he falls in love with Taryn, the daughter of family friends ("I am the king of bad timing. Only a monster could think of love"). Pained by his loss, frustrated by his father and brother, and confused by his infatuation, Will begins to question life's meaning. His quest draws him to books from the likes of Seneca and Nietzsche, a passionate relationship with Taryn, experimentation with drugs, and some unlikely mentors. In this acutely insightful first novel, Australian author Hill laces Will's pained journey with the questions he lists in a notebook ("Do my mother's memories live in me?"), philosophical quotations, and his own memories of his mother. Almost nothing escape Will's notice (though his perceptiveness alone doesn't produce answers), and the mosaic of imagery and musings in his poetic, staccato narration offers thought-provoking ideas about grief and the universal drive to find a purpose. Although this novel begins with a death, it is a celebration of life, companionship, and love. Ages 14 up.
