17-year-old Arman Dukoff is struggling with severe anxiety and a history of self-loathing when he arrives at an expensive self-help retreat in the remote hills of Big Sur. He’s taken a huge risk—and two-thousand dollars from his meth-head stepfather—for a chance to "evolve," as Beau, the retreat leader, says.
Beau is complicated. A father figure? A cult leader? A con man? Arman's not sure, but more than anyone he's ever met, Beau makes Arman feel something other than what he usually feels—worthless.
The retreat compound is secluded in coastal California mountains among towering redwoods, and when the iron gates close behind him, Arman believes for a moment that he can get better. But the program is a blur of jargon, bizarre rituals, and incomprehensible encounters with a beautiful girl. Arman is certain he's failing everything. But Beau disagrees; he thinks Arman has a bright future—though he never says at what.
And then, in an instant Arman can't believe or totally recall, Beau is gone. Suicide? Or murder? Arman was the only witness and now the compound is getting tense. And maybe dangerous.
As the mysteries and paradoxes multiply and the hints become accusations, Arman must rely on the person he's always trusted the least: himself. @goodreads
MY REVIEW:
3 STARS
Holy crap on a cracker! What did I just read? This book is off the chain. I don't even know what the end of the book meant! Lol, someone else read it and tell me what happened!
There is this poor dude named Arman who is taken in by a man named Beau. He talks him into coming on some retreat thing along with some other kids. They end up at this bizarre place where there are more bizarre people. Young, old, naked, clothed.
Arman tries to leave and some weird stuff goes down and he thinks Beau is dead. Well, they can't find a body and then some other weird stuff happens.
Then they find Beau and some other weird stuff happens.
Arman seems to be a nice kid, but I'm just as confused as he is and I feel like I have been on the crazy train.
I really like the idea of the book, hence the three stars, but I have no clue what really happened in the end. Maybe I got lost in translation, but the whole book to me seemed like some crazy drugged up dream.
Okay, some of my crazy GR friends need to read this and tell me what is going on, what went on, an what happened at the end. I feel like I just dreamed this book!
*I would like to thank Penguin Random House and the First To Read program for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for my crazy review.*
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1688726188
AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:
https://www.amazon.com/Smaller-Evil-Stephanie-Kuehn/dp/1101994703/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467735063&sr=1-1&keywords=the+smaller+evil+in+books
You had me at "crazy", lol. I'll have to track down a copy.
ReplyDeleteBark's Book Nonsense
Yes, and explain it to me :-D
Delete