The King of the Screwups (Grace Szydziak)

Title: The King of the Screwups
Author: K.L.Going.
Ppublisher is Houghton Mifflin.
Pages: 310

I found the book by asking Ms. Mazur which book she would recommend for me in the library.

The book was about a popular boy named Liam, whose whole entire life he was traveling the world with his mother. His mother was a supermodel, and his dad was a very successful business man. Liam grew up thinking he was the biggest screwup in everything he did because that is what his father told him. Liam’s dad kicked him out of the house because he was drunk and messing around with a girl. Liam’s mother sent him off with his father’s gay brother, which they called “Aunt Pete”. It was there that Liam learned that he can be loved and not everything he did was wrong. After a few incidents in Liam’s new school, his father decided to enroll Liam into the army. By this time, Liam learned from his Aunt Pete to stick up for himself and told his father that he was not going into the army and that he wanted to be a model and have his own runway shows.

The audience for this book would be for young adults because of the sexual content and language.

The book was written in first person. On page 173, the author writes, “I would have to say that the one thing I truly excel at is screwing up.”

Three passages that really struck me were on page 27, Liam and his dad are fighting, and his dad says, “you never cease to disappoint me, do you?” This struck me because I could never imagine one of my parents saying that to me. On page 8, Liam and his dad were fighting again, and his dad says to him, “you are nothing I ever wanted in a son, and I don’t say that lightly.” I would absolutely hate my dad if he ever said that to me. I would not be able to live my entire life with my father putting me down. On page 304, Liam’s mother says, “he deserves him another chance, cause god knows we haven’t given it to him.” I like this quote and it kind of struck me because she is finally going against what the father wants, and she is realizing that she hasn’t given Liam the best life a kid could have.

I think I interacted with the book well. I felt like I could relate to the book because my mom always tells me how her father always put her down and called her fat her entrie life. Liam’s dad never called him fat, but he told him that he wasn’t the son that he wanted and that Liam always disappointed him. I could not even imagine what it would be like if one of my parents put me down my entrie life. And looking at my mom now, she hates her father, and I don’t blame her. I don’t know if I would be able to go through that.