Charlie-Man by Thomas Cullen
Publisher: Brandylane Publishing
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by AstilbeIt’s August 1994, and Charlie Stewart begins his final year at St. Mark’s Episcopal School, a prestigious all-boys school in Richmond, Virginia. Charlie, an undistinguished student by St. Mark’s standards, faces tough odds as he seeks to rekindle his relationship with Katy Hendricks, a beautiful tennis star, and gain admission to a highly selective state university.
Through it all, Charlie relies on Beau Miller, his best friend and the top student athlete in their class. Despite Beau’s movie-star looks and infectious charm, he has a darker side, which becomes more apparent as the year progresses.
Charlie endures his trials with wry determination and ultimately emerges with a renewed sense of purpose. This is a heartrending but hopeful story of one boy’s journey toward manhood in the American South.
Innocence never lasts forever.
Mr. Cullen had a smooth writing style that I deeply enjoyed reading. He seemed to intuitively know precisely how many details to share about a scene to make it come alive in my imagination without ever slowing down the pacing of the plot in the process. I especially enjoyed his descriptions of the various locations in Richmond, Virginia where Charlie and his friends experienced their final year of high school. They were as vivid as they were achingly honest.
One of the things that puzzled me about Charlie for the first half or so of this novel involved his muted reactions to things like his father’s death or his traumatic experiences at summer camp that I would have expected him to have much strong feelings about. Figuring out why these scenes were written this was what propelled this to a five-star read for me. The author knew exactly what he was doing here, and a few twists later on in the storyline not only explained why Charlie behaved the way he did but gave me an opportunity to get to know this character on a much deeper level than I previously had.
I also loved the complex friendship between Charlie and Beau, especially as it related to Beau’s character flaws impacted both of these teenagers. One of the most challenging parts of growing up can be seeing how childhood friendships permanently change as everyone involved in them transitions into adulthood and begins making choices that cannot always be undone. These were the moments that made me wonder if this was a memoir in disguise due to how skillfully Charlie’s mixed emotions about his oldest and closest friend were woven into the storyline. They genuinely felt real to me.
Charlie-Man made me yearn for more.
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