Posted by Bailey in New, Review | 3 Comments
Review: Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky
Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky
January 9, 2007
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Author
Synopsis:
Then I met Wes, a track star senior from across town. Maybe it was his soulful blue eyes, or maybe my hormones just started raging. Either way, I was hooked. And after a while, he was too. I couldn’t believe how intense my feelings became, or the fact that I was seeing—and touching—parts of the body I’d only read about in my Gray’s Anatomy textbook. You could say Wes and I experienced a lot of firsts together that spring. It was scary. It was fun. It was love.
And then came the fall.
My Review:
ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND is one of the most accurate contemporary YA books that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. In reality, happily evers rarely happen, especially for first loves. Even though I love a book with a “perfect” ending with the boy and girl together, I can appreciate ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND for what it really is: A realistic book about two dysfunctional teens who fall hard for each other, while also experiencing some other firsts. I’m not going to lie, ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND is heavily focused on sex, but not in a bad way. Sex is just something that happens with teens. No matter how much people want to ignore it, it happens. Thank you, Daria, for creating such a heartfelt and intense book that really made me think about life, lust, love, and all the things in between.
Dom is your average teenage girl going through all the ups and downs of her firsts. Her voice is brutally honest, leaving nothing to the imagination. I wanted to shake her in frustration at times, but everything she did is just so true to a regular teenage girl. There are so many doubts that go through her mind when she’s with Wes: Why won’t Wes come out and tell her his feelings? What’s wrong with her? Why is Wes so perfect? Why is Wes such a jerk? Why does she love him so much? I feel like every teen girl at some point or another has gone through what Dom goes through in the book. Love is the best thing that can happen to you, but also the worst when things fall through.
I liked Wes just as much as Dom at first. He and Dom have some crazy intense chemistry between them! It was most definitely lust at first sight with them. While it takes Wes a while to man up and get a clue, when he and Dom finally acknowledge their feelings for each other, the book takes off. Some of the things that happen between Wes and Dom are so awkward, but they made me giggle. I just adored how sweet he was to Dom in the beginning. However, I found myself wanting to smack Wes at some points. He is such a typical boy! Daria did a great job putting real life boys’ personalities and bad habits on paper.
While ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND isn’t your typical YA romance, it stands out because of that. Sometimes you just need a book that isn’t so fantastical with perfect boys that make you depressed because there aren’t any guys like them in real life (this happens to me a lot 
). This is most definitely a book for older teens, not younger ones, due to the sexual content in it. It is handled in a classy way, but I still don’t think it should be recommended to those not able to handle the heavier scenes. I do think that the audience that ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND is targeted at will love the honesty and raw beauty that is behind the book’s pages.
My Rating:
You’re so right — sex happens. And it sounds like this author handles it in a way that’s both realistic and necessary to the plot of the book. (Gratuitous sex gets in the way of the story, in my mind.) I’ll have to check this one out!
GREAT REVIEW! I love how you acknowledge that yes, sex happens, but it sounds like the author handles it the right way. Teenage loves is NOT flowers and poetry and saving the world in 350 pages. It’s messy, awkward, complicated and rarely ends any way but bad. Definitely sounds like my kind of book. I’ll check it out!
… After I read the other 25 books you made me swear to read. LOL
I haven’t heard of this one, but it sounds like a really great book. It’s great to have a book that addresses sex in the right way. Teenagers do have sex. The characters in this sound very realistic and entertaining too. Great review!