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    Finding Mr. Brightside
    Finding Mr. Brightside
    Finding Mr. Brightside
    Audiobook5 hours

    Finding Mr. Brightside

    Written by Jay Clark

    Narrated by Cris Dukehart and Jesse Bernstein

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Two funny, smart, but hopelessly lost teens find love at CVS.

    Abram and Juliette know each other. They’ve lived down the street from each other their whole lives. But they don’t really know each other—at least, not until Juliette’s mom and Abram’s dad have a torrid affair that culminates in a deadly car crash. Later, when they see each other, it's uncomfortable, to say the least. They don’t speak.

    Fast forward to the neighborhood pharmacy, a few months later. Abram is on Paxil. Juliette is on Adderall. Abram decides to say hello. Then he decides to invite her to Taco Bell. To both of their surprise, she agrees. And the real love story begins.

    At turns poignant, funny, and insightful, this compelling novel proves that love can emerge from pain and ultimately triumph.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMar 24, 2015
    ISBN9781501209598
    Finding Mr. Brightside
    Author

    Jay Clark

    Jay Clark has written essays and articles for The Washington Post and Tennis magazine. A former resident of Ohio, he now lives in Virginia. The Edumacation of Jay Baker is his debut young adult novel.

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    Reviews for Finding Mr. Brightside

    3/5

    21 ratings2 reviews

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    • 1/5
      I’m always a fan of supporting local authors, and I really thought that this story sounded interesting. Boy meets girl… after boy’s father and girl’s mother, who were having an affair, die in a car crash (boy’s father was driving). Now, a year later, the pair run into one another at a drug store when the girl (Juliette) is filling her Adderall prescription and the boy (Abram) is going to pick up his Paxil prescription. Well, I have to say that that isn’t something I read every day, so I gave it a whirl.First, this book is short. It’s technically 214 pages, but the print is fairly large, so it’s a super quick read and feels more like a novella than an actual book – which is a good thing, because I don’t think that I could have dealt with a full book of these two characters, to be honest. I actually made a list of points that I wanted to address in my review, which I almost never do for fiction. Annnnnd go!Juliette is beyond annoying as a character. She’s hooked on Adderall thanks to her mother, who introduced her to the drug, with which she seems to be relatively okay, but she can’t handle that Abram is on Paxil. Granted, Abram tells her that he doesn’t think that he really needs the Paxil, but Juliette immediately devises a plan for him to get off the drug. Listen, drugs are serious, mmkay? If you’re going to go off of something like Paxil, it should be under a doctor’s supervision, and not some plan someone found on an internet message board. And it’s not like she even asks him if he wants to go off of Paxil – she just announces that this is what he is going to do now, and when he briefly brings up her Adderall addiction, Juliette just brushes it aside.Juliette comes across as extremely controlling manipulative and controlling to me, and it’s not just about the Paxil. Everything has to be done on her conditions, in her time, according to her rules – and if something was too much for her to handle, she just ran away. Abram, who seems to be suffering from a severe case of white knight syndrome, goes along with all of this, including having to chase after her repeatedly. I really hate when a passive character gets steamrolled, and Abram gets steamrolled by Juliette right and left. And I have a major problem with Juliette’s hang-ups on words like “slutty” and “whore.” Ick. I hate those words, hate those words being used in YA fiction (or any fiction, or really anywhere, to be honest), and HATE that no one called her out on that and said “hey, you know what? Not cool.” It’s especially bad when Juliette and Abram have some of the least sexy foreplay ever, and Abram tells her that he doesn’t have a condom. Juliette tells him that’s okay, because she’s on the pill, but it’s for regulating her hormones and not because she’s a whore. What the fuck. So everyone woman who is on the pill for birth control is a whore? Intense rage-inducing dislike! And then there is the “dwarf” thing. At a party that Juliette attends, thrown by her best friend Heidi, a “dwarf” starts hitting on Heidi. Juliette thinks it is gross. Heidi doesn’t (and goes creepy in her own way by hitting up fetishland). And, of course, the character in question (who doesn’t even have a name) is super creepy and gross. How about no. They are not “dwarves” and they are not fetishes. And why does he have to be the creepy one? The whole situation felt wrong, wrong, wrong.So, to escape from their lives, the pair of them decide to go to the beach for a mini vacation. And neither of their parents seemed to mind a great deal about that. Where are actual parents in YA fiction? I understand that there wouldn’t be nearly as much “action” if there were actual parental figures present, but come on. I can’t imagine being seventeen, going away for nearly a week with someone I barely knew, and my mom being okay with that in the slightest. In fact, just telling her (instead of asking her) of my plans would have been a one-way trip to ground town. But, hey, have fun kiddos!And the place that they go on vacation is even worse – Abram’s mom’s beach house. The beach house where Abram’s father and Juliette’s mother spent time hooking up more than once. What a splendid idea! At least Juliette seems a little bothered by this at points, but not enough to actually do anything about it. Sorry, that was just awkward and a little creepy. Know what else is creepy? The fact that they go to a local restaurant where the two “adults” that Abram knows in the area buy them alcohol. The waiter doesn’t bat an eye, even though it’s obvious that four drinks were ordered for the two legal people at the table. And when a second round is ordered, when it should have been crystal clear that the two teenagers were also drinking, no questions were asked again! Awesome customer service! So glad that that waiter was willing to risk losing the restaurant’s liquor license!But Juliette is apparently used to creepy, because her mother told some woman who worked at a coffee shop in the area that she thought her daughter [Juliette] and the man she’s having an affair with’s son [Abram] would be perfect together. That is just disgusting. How would you even go about introducing them? “Honey, meet the man with whom I’m cheating – and here’s his son, Abram! What a catch, right? Maybe we can double date! Just don’t tell your father!” How about no.And yet, in spite of spending nearly a week in the beach house, Juliette and Abram never address the elephant in the room – their parents’ affair. I mean, it’s not like I’m expecting a huge drama about it, but the affair is never really addressed, only skirted around a few times throughout the book. Come on, it had to at least cross their minds once or twice that maybe they should have a conversation. But they never really seem to have a conversation about anything at all. Most of the book is just Juliette being standoffish and Abram being the bland, perfect Prince Charming.Well, except for the fact that he apparently doesn’t own one pair of pants that fits properly and his underwear is always hanging out. Because that’s super sexy. Ick. I didn’t even know that moping was still a thing (please tell me it isn’t).And yet, even after Abram put up with all of this, Juliette is still freaking out about putting a picture of them together up on her Facebook. And then she freaks out because no one “likes” the picture in the first few seconds it was posted. How immature can she possibly be? She talks about how she avoids liking pictures on her 700+ friends’ Facebooks, but she expects them to instantly validate her whenever she posts something. How much more self-absorbed can she possibly be?And that, basically, sums up this entire book. Juliette is incredibly self-absorbed and needs “rescued.” Abram has virtually no personality and does all of the “rescuing.” Dislike. Do not want. This book could have been, should have been, so much better. And yet it was not.
    • 3/5
      I wanted to read this one because it sounded like the kind of love story that gets me every time... the one formed by tragedy. The prologue didn't do much for me but I liked once we got into Abram and Juliette's heads and lives. We see right off, with them meeting at CVS that both were taking care of parents who aren't fully present, but also that Juliette is taking ADHD meds and abusing them even though she has a prescription and that Abram is on an anti-depressant. I think both are pressing issues for teens, knowing when meds are okay, helpful and what the line is with abuse. As a side effect of the ADHD meds, Juliette feels a confidence that she normally doesn't have and she agrees to go get some food with him, and so their love story began. Their parents are against them being together but especially her dad. Abram's mom seems more resigned, and has always wanted Abram to keep an eye on her, but never this closely. Juliette is more of a free spirit, and just drops in pretty much when she wants, uses his computer, and steals his heart. I enjoyed Juliette's growth, but wish that some was more self motivated rather than because Abram asked her to stop the meds. But I was still proud of him when he followed her suggestions of how to wean off of his. The ending was sweet and perfect for the journey of these two characters. The only reason that I marked it down is because while it is a story line that I enjoyed, and a good romance, it ultimately didn't stand out. Their meds, their parents (the dead ones also got attention and they were working through the cheating and the position they're in because of their relationship) I feel like it could have been more emotional. Regardless of what I said about their reasons for recovery, I do like that they challenge the other. Juliette steps out of her comfort zone-- talking to others, trying new things, being open to stop the meds eventually. Abram was open to trying tennis again, something he was very good at, but something that was very associated with his dad. I also didn't like the slut shaming. I get that Juliette didn't have the best self-esteem, but she def focused on someone Abram was friends with and in her mind and sometimes out loud, tearing down this other girl. I guess that her views of sex can be skewed as well because of her mom's affair, but associated just being on the pill with being a whore, or letting herself feel lust and passion in the same light. I did enjoy the remaining parents' dysfunction and development. It took a lot to get Juliette's dad to face reality instead of depending so much on her, and being a legit writer hermit. On the other hand, Abram's mom was involved but not pushy. She would voice concern but respect his decisions. She didn't let her husband's affair with Juliette's mom effect her view of Juliette as a separate person. The ending was sweet and perfect for the journey of these two characters.Bottom Line: Fast read, good characters with decent growth and a sweet romance, but not without issues.