Audio Review: Twisted

Title: Twisted
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Listening Time: 6 hrs 25 mins
Rating: 4/5

High school senior Tyler Miller used to be the kind of guy who faded into the background—average student, average looks, average dysfunctional family. But since he got busted for doing graffiti on the school, and spent the summer doing outdoor work to pay for it, he stands out like you wouldn't believe. His new physique attracts the attention of queen bee Bethany Milbury, who just so happens to be his father's boss's daughter, the sister of his biggest enemy—and Tyler's secret crush. And that sets off a string of events and changes that have Tyler questioning his place in the school, in his family, and in the world. In Twisted, the acclaimed Laurie Halse Anderson tackles a very controversial subject: what it means to be a man today. Fans and new readers alike will be captured by Tyler's pitchperfect, funny voice, the surprising narrative arc, and the thoughtful moral dilemmas that are at the heart of all of the author's award-winning, widely read work (penguingroup.com).


This was my first experience with audio books and I have to say I'm extremely pleased.  I was able to listen to this all day at work, and managed to finish a book in one day, and still got all my work done! 

Laurie Halse Anderson is quickly becoming one of my favorite young adult authors.  I finished Speak last week, and was completely blown away.  Twisted was almost as powerful.  The only reason why I didn't rate it quite as high as Speak was because I didn't connect with the main character as much as I did Melinda.  This was probably due to the fact that in Twisted, the main character was male, and being female some of the things didn't connect as well with me as they would a teenage boy.

Again, Anderson tackles some tough topics in Twisted including emotional abuse, bullying, and suicide.  One difference though, I feel, is that the issues where handled a bit more roughly in Twisted than they were in Speak.  This again, is mostly due to the difference in characters.  Also, the language and situations in Twisted are a bit more "vulgar," or rough around the edges.

My favorite character in the novel was Yoda, who is Tyler's best friend.  He's super obsessed with Star Wars, and has a habit of quoting Yoda and talking like a true Jedi Warrior.  I just thought he was cute...and a little dorky.  I've always had a bit of soft spot for guys like that :).

Audio book wise, I thought the narrator of this was amazing.  He was one of the reasons why I continued to listen to the book all day, rather than shutting it off here and there to listen to something else.  I felt he truly brought the characters and the situations to life.  I'm extremely glad I started with this particular novel as my first audio.    I look forward to see if I can find more audio books read by this same narrator.  I can see now why narrators can make all the difference in an audio book!

Next up for me is The Replacement.  I've heard great things about this particular book and I'm excited to see how it is for me :)