"Anatomy of a Boyfriend," just your average class


Nov. 5, 2007, midnight | By Maya Calabrese | 16 years, 4 months ago

Clichés make novel a typical read


Instant messaging, sex, e-mail and more sex- "Anatomy of a Boyfriend" contains all the stereotypical teenage-novel elements possible in 260 pages, and even more that should be left to the imagination. But the worst part is, it's hard to put down.

Dominique ("Dom") is a 17 year-old girl who has yet to have her first kiss and admits that the closest she has ever come to getting physical with a guy is playing the board game "Operation." To make matters worse, Dom's best friend Amy has a line up of regular hook ups and constantly talks about "the big O." And when Amy is not getting with a guy, she is scoping them out at her favorite spot, the annual senior vs. staff football game at her high school.

This year, Amy drags Dom along, hoping she will find someone other than Matt, Amy's older brother, to crush on. On the way to the bathroom Dom meets Wesley Gersch, East Fort Myer High's star sprinter, who helps her out of the mud after an embarrassing fall.

Dom is easily attracted to Wesley's uncommon kindness and looks him up in the yearbook the second she returns home. Amy encourages Dom to e-mail him, which leads to a string of e-mail responses and an eventual exchange of screen names. The two soon begin hanging out one-on-one and eventually become an exclusive couple; and as their relationship develops it becomes hard for readers not to blush.

What starts out as an innocent relationship, yielding a first kiss for both parties, quickly turns into a highly charged sexual relationship. Author Daria Snadowsky describes the young couple's interaction as they round the bases and heighten their sexual relationship day by day. Consequently, the reader will be left with vivid images that are a little too awkward for comfort.

Aside from the constant talk of sexual activity, and a small reference to teen partying, the book proves to be a more stereotypical teen novel by filling its pages with instant messaging conversations and e-mail confessions. Dom is often found at her desk drafting the latest e-mail, erasing hours of thinking of that perfect thing to say after deciding that it sounds wrong.

Eventually the young lovebirds must face the ultimate question: should they go to the same college and, if they don't, should they stay together? Wesley has decided on NYU, leaving Dom wondering if she should go to one of her top schools that offered her a full ride, or NYU, a last minute addition to her list.

Dom decides on the former, so long as they continue their relationship. Relying on e-mail once again as an easy communicator, the two do last for some time. But, just as anyone with any knowledge of stereotypical high-school relationships would suspect, the couple struggles to stay together.

As Dom grows in her relationship with Wesley, and struggles to keep it going, the reader will be dragged through the common range of teenage emotions. Mix this with talk of sex and constant use of technology and "Anatomy of a Boyfriend" lives up to every stereotype of a teenage-novel. But even in its ultimate clichés, the novel will be a guilty pleasure.




Maya Calabrese. Maya is a SSEEENNNIIOOORRR! Her guilty pleasures include MTV, chocolate, boys and blasting music in her granny mobile with the windows down. More »

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