A Way of Life, Like Any Other by Darcy O’Brien
I typically hate coming of age novels. Why would I want to relive the angst of adolescence, even through the pages of a book? But A Way of Life, Like Any Other is not the typical COA novel.
The unnamed hero-narrator of Darcy O’Brien’s novel enjoys a pampered life as the only child of movie star parents living in splendor on their ranch, Casa Fiesta. But all too soon, the money runs out, the ranch is sold, and the parents’ divorce.
Shorn of their protective cloak of money and fame, the boy’s parents are exposed as manipulative, selfish, and rather tedious individuals. Their son is shuttled between the pair occasionally bunking with a friend’s only slightly less dysfunctional family. Despite his bizarre life, he still has time for the major preoccupation of all teenage boys-sex and girls.
On the eve of his departure for college, having survived his upbringing with his sanity and a wry sense of humor mostly intact, boy-hero declares in a typically deadpan manner, “I went into the world well-armed.” Indeed.
Lean, poignant, clever, and infinitely superior to other B(oy)COA novels such as Catcher in the Rye. (yuck!)