The Loser’s Guide to Life and Love
A. E. Cannon
HarperTeen, 2008, 272 pp., $16.99
www.harperteen.com
In this modern-day, teen version of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ed falls for a gorgeous girl, Ellie, who is visiting for the summer, oblivious to the fact that one of his two best friends, Scout, is hopelessly in love with him. At the same time, his other best friend, Quark, has fallen for Scout. These star-crossed crushes lead to some humorous situations.
The Loser’s Guide is fairly well-written and full of engaging characters. Cannon overloads the prose with a bit too many clichés, but I don’t know a teen who would care or who doesn’t speak in clichés. Narration rotates between the four main characters, which is contrived at times, but still works.
Although most of the characters are Mormon (the story takes place in Utah), the only Christian character falls into the tired “Bible thumper” stereotype.
