Reviews

Going Nowhere Faster by Sean Beaudoin

kelleemoye's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 probably.

Stan is a genius. He can list all of Sylvester Stallone's movies in backwards alphabetical order, he can do any math problem in his head and he can tell you where any movie is in the video store he works in. Yes. He is a genius and he works at a video store. And Stan is more than aware that this makes him quite far from being cool. However, his dreams do not include college and brilliance which is what everyone else wants him to do; his dream includes screen writing.

Going Nowhere Faster was quite funny at times and Stan's rough draft screen plays throughout are hilarious. Stan narrates and I did have a hard time getting used to his voice and him in general; however, once I got into it, it no longer bothered me.

I received a signed copy of this book from Misty after winning a contest on her blog- THANKS MISTY!!

ablotial's review against another edition

3.0

This was one of the very first books I ever added on Goodreads, back in 2007 -- apparently even before it was published. I don't remember how I learned about it -- it's completely random. But however I learned about it, I remember noticing the author's name was the same as someone I knew growing up. It's not the same person, which I found interesting because it's not like "John Smith" or something, where you expect multiples. Anyway, that's what got it added to my list. When I joined PaperbackSwap, I added it to my wishlist there, and in 2013 my wish was granted and I received a copy in the mail. And it sat on my bookshelf ever since. So in that respect, I'm glad I finally crossed it off my list.

But the book itself wasn't great. It wasn't awful, either. It just... was. Parts of it were pretty funny. Other parts were quite dumb... like all of the failed scripts. The scriptwriting

Spoiler

really didn't add a single thing to the story. Like, at all

I knew "whodunnit" very early on. The plot was mediocre, the characters were not compelling and overblown (seriously, his whole family, including Fred/Prarash... wtf... and his friends, his boss, his therapist, his gifted/talented teachers...
the only remotely believable person in this entire book was his kid sister).

I did enjoy the movie recommendations at the end. Even though I don't watch many movies -- maybe I'll find time for that to change during this covid-19 quarantine stuff we're all doing.

One thing I found really interesting though was the treatment of the bully and the end of the story.

Spoiler

In the end, he runs into the bully guy, who barely even remembers who he is. And he's just ... a guy. Not scary. Doesn't remember even threatening him.

This mirrors my experience with my own bully, and I have to say it's really almost disappointing and anti-climactic. How is it that these people make such a big impression in OUR lives, but we are so insignificant to them? I harbored so much hatred for so long, and ... yeah.

The relationship with the girl felt all too familiar to me also...

Spoiler

being fake-dated to get to someone else

. Can you tell middle/high school were not my favorite points in life?

So yeah, I think the author got some things right. And it was a fast, funny read. But nothing special.

lrhoads10's review against another edition

2.0

I didn't feel like there was really a point to the book. Stan had "typical" teenage problems, but really didn't seem to have any storyline.

Updated. So I didn’t even remember reading this the first time. Normally I donate books after reading unless I absolutely loved it. Still not an enjoyable book. Moved down from 3 to 2 stars.

lawnis04's review against another edition

2.0

I thought it was very cute... especially with all the zaniness and randomness. It was quite funny and an overall entertaining read. It's not often I find myself actually laughing aloud to a book.

booksandbosox's review

4.0

This was a truly bizarre book. Stan Smith is working at Happy Video the summer after high school ends. He's a genius, but he's going nowhere. He fears for his life at the hands of Chad Chilton, whose girlfriend he lusts after, and he just doesn't understand his hippie mom and inventor dad. At times, this was hard to follow, simply because it was so unusual. I didn't like how the mystery of the slashed tires and red dolls was solved - it didn't seem very likely to happen in real life. However, Stan is an interesting character and I did like the end. At times, I was annoyed by him because it was clear that he knew what he was doing and simply pretended to be clueless. Frenetic is a good word for this one I think.