How to Lose Everything: A Mostly True Story

Gr 9 Up—In mid-'90s suburban Munich, four bored and disillusioned teenage boys with nothing to do but skateboard and smoke pot decide to explore an abandoned house. They discover a small fortune in cash, which they split four ways, making for one eventful summer. Jonathan, Sam, Schulz, and Eric find they can't spend their ill-begotten gains on anything major without attracting attention, so they spend it on junk food, clothing, drugs, and alcohol. The story is told by Jonathan, who is deeply disturbed by the money and worries about the elderly women who owned the apparently abandoned house. Sam is equally troubled, but his erratic behavior, galvanized by drug use, puts him in a mental institution. Schulz and Eric also face dire consequences related to their actions. The novel should appeal to teens who enjoy gritty, realistic fiction that reads like a men's magazine article.—Mindy Whipple, West Jordan Library, UT