Shy

For some a coming-of-age can feel more like a coming-of-rage when feeling overpowered in the struggle to process the maelstrom of emotions seething through us in a world that feels uninviting. Beleaguered by condemnations of bad behavior often worsens the feelings of isolation and shame, such as is......more

5★ “Adults tease him better, almost a form of kindness. The boys just rip and rip at each other, endless patterns of attack and response, like flirting’s grim twin.” Shy is one of the teens at the Last Chance School, where staff and teachers are no doubt trying their best with a difficult cohort of st......more

Absolutely spectacular. Max Porter knocks it out of the park again, with this stunning little novel about one night in the life of Shy, a young lad with numerous problems, who has reached yet another tipping point. As the novel opens, Shy sneaks out in the dead of night from Last Chance, a school for......more

What a remarkable book. I cannot imagine a more personal, intimate, emotional and accurate description of a very troubled teenage boy. I’ve certainly never read one in the past. It is one of those rare books that, once I’d started reading it, I couldn’t put down until I’d finished it. Brilliant!......more

So when Porter first appeared on the scene way back in 2015 and was all the rage with his faux-novel about Grief, I read it, but thought it a rather trite, unfathomable (unless one had a Ph.D. in Ted Hughes), and chilly, instantly forgettable experiment, and one I wouldn't ever have to repeat. Then......more