Review: You

You
Charles Benoit
2010; HarperTeen; ISBN 978-0-06-194704-9

Summary:  Kyle Chase has made some bad choices, and now those choices have lead to disaster.  If he could go back, he wouldn't have blown off his smart friends, blown off his homework, blown off his parents.  But most of all, Kyle wouldn't have become friends with Zach.  Maybe if he hadn't, he would have gotten his act together.  He could have turned things around in school.  He might have even asked out Ashley, the girl of his dreams.  But none of that stuff happened, and now, it's too late for Kyle.

A common story is elevated by its style.  Charles Benoit, in his first YA novel, choose to use second person narration--a choice that breaks an unwritten rule of writing.  Yet this daring gives You its appeal.  It's like the reader is directing Kyle, but towards a conclusion that the reader doesn't suspect.  As a result, the reader is drawn even deeper into Kyle's story, into his feelings and thoughts.  An interesting look at a teen boy discovering his actions have consequences, You will be enjoyed by fans of Hate List.