PROMISING YOUNG MAN

In Axel’s YA novel, a teenager struggles to find his identity and his place in society during a cross-country road trip with his grandmother.

Angst-ridden teens have long been a staple trope in fiction, but 18-year-old Oscar Danielsson finds that his familiar difficulties feel particularly daunting, due to his diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It’s a condition that requires him to take extra time to complete his school assignments and also leaves him habitually late for work. He’s struggling to finish his senior thesis and mend fences with his best friend, Christian, who notes, “You don’t reply to my texts for weeks.” Oscar’s life is further muddled by the fact that his go-to stress relief method is smoking cannabis; his pal scoffs that “the last time I saw you canni-sober was sophomore year.” Matters come to a head after Oscar is caught breaking into Chicago diner Oh Henry’s, where he works, and wrecking a new milkshake maker. Bright as he is, Oscar’s future seems irreparably damaged, yet he’s allowed a chance at redemption—if he agrees to join his grandmother on a cross-country road trip and pick up a new shake machine. Their ensuing odyssey through Fort Defiance in Illinois, Dallas, and Memphis favorably recalls the feel of classic 1970s road films, thanks in part to Oscar’s dry, sardonic asides: “I’m so itchy to smoke I might shed my skin,” he narrates at one point. Many young readers will readily identify with the young protagonist, who, deep down, underneath his wiseacre façade, simply wants to be accepted and loved. It’s a deft portrait that sidesteps stereotypes with sensitivity and skill, and, for many, it will strike a strong chord. Where Axel goes from here should prove to be exciting to watch.

A bittersweet and revelatory coming-of-age story by a promising author.