Carter Finally Gets It

4/5 stars

Carter Finally Gets It is a funny book.  It's about a freshman struggling to find his way through high school -- sports, ADD, virginity and popularity, the battles every high schooler faces.

I did have some struggles with this book.  Carter singleminded focus on losing his virginity wasn't always the most enjoyable thing for me to read.  Yes it's funny, but for me it's hard to listen to his continual objectifying comments about women. I get the point! Really I do!  Throughout the book Carter has to learn to think about himself and the opposite sex differently.  My question is, are high school guys truly this focused on sex?  I'm no idiot.  I know they think about it.  But at times Carter thinks about it SO MUCH that he can barely focus on anything else.

But I really like this book.  I just wanted to be upfront about that one issue.  Part of me wants to call this book Ruby Oliver for dudes.  Not because it's an excellent teenage feminist book hidden behind what seems like a cute fluffy story (Oh E. Lockhart! You are so tricky!).  A good chunk of this book is about Carter's quest to lose his virginity, but that's just a clever disguise to the real story.  This book is really about Carter accepting himself, not who the world, his friends or his sister tells him to be, but who Carter wants to be.

In the beginning Carter just wants to fit in.  He does all the same extracurricular activities and join the same sports team as his friends.  By the end of the book Carter is okay with being different, okay with doing his own thing and beginning to realize that girls aren't just walking vaginas and maybe he should care about the girl, not the just the sex potential.

This book is fun, extremely well narrated and very enjoyable.  I got a little scared inside the sex-driven mind of a teenage boy but overall I felt like the journey was worth it by the end of the book.  It's not as deep as Ruby Oliver, but I feel like the story is a good subliminal message for teenage boys.