After reading Larry Watson's 'Let Him Go', which was a good story, I wanted to read more in the same style. Alas! This 'American Boy' was written from a teenage boy's view. Now if I was a teenage boy I might like it; Very disappointing. I ended up skimming through all this juvenile whining. I don't think I'll read anymore from this author.

We spend a few months in a fictitious southwest Minnesota town, Willow Falls, and watch two friends in their senior year of high school. Watson has written a coming-of-age story that looks at adolescent boys' struggles for love and meaning in a small town at the beginning of the 1960s.

It should have hit home for me as my high school graduation was nearly the same year as theirs. But, I'm female; Matt and Johnny are male. It made all the difference. I just couldn't see what attracted their lust for Louisa Lindahl. But, my husband got it right away! So, read it for all that's wonderful about a Larry Watson book, but if this is the first you pick up I suggest starting with 'Montana 1948.' Then, you'll read every Larry Watson novel you can find.