Audiobook Review: The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle

---

The Great American Whatever
Author: Tim Federle
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: March 29th 2016
Review Source: Simon & Schuster Audio

From the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Five, Six, Seven, Nate! and Better Nate Than Ever comes a laugh-out-loud sad YA debut that’s a wry and winning testament to the power of old movies and new memories—one unscripted moment at a time.

Quinn Roberts is a sixteen-year-old smart aleck and Hollywood hopeful whose only worry used to be writing convincing dialogue for the movies he made with his sister Annabeth. Of course, that was all before—before Quinn stopped going to school, before his mom started sleeping on the sofa…and before Annabeth was killed in a car accident.

Enter Geoff, Quinn’s best friend who insists it’s time that Quinn came out—at least from hibernation. One haircut later, Geoff drags Quinn to his first college party, where instead of nursing his pain, he meets a guy—a hot one—and falls hard. What follows is an upside-down week in which Quinn begins imagining his future as a screenplay that might actually have a happily-ever-after ending—if, that is, he can finally step back into the starring role of his own life story.

The Great American Whatever follows high school student Quinn Roberts as he navigates life after the death of his sister and the absence of his father. Cue the best friend, Geoff, who refuses to let Quinn become a recluse and forces him to shower, get a haircut, and get out of the house, maybe even to a party.

From the very beginning we’re painted a vivid picture of where Quinn is in life. He hasn't showered in close to a month, delivery drivers are coming to his bedroom instead of the front door and he's avoiding anyone and everyone (except for the ones that coming with pizza). Quinn’s life use to revolve around movies, writing screenplays, something him and his sister had always done together. Ever since her passing Quinn hasn't been up to doing much of anything, especially screenplays. Geoff comes to help him out of the cave he's buried himself in and have a better summer, a summer worth remembering. Cue the cute boy, the kissing, the lessons, the grief, and the anger.

So I did this book on audio and it was flippin’ epic! It was read by the author himself, so he obviously knew the perfect inflections and how the story should be told. It reminded me a lot of when I did Me Earl and the Dying Girl on audio;  not the story per say but the voice and the storyteller and the person telling me the story. I just had a blast listening and there's a lot of humor in it, so it was basically stand up comedy at times. But no matter what you have to check this book out! Either audio or physical or ebook or is there anything else I'm missing? Listen to Nike and just do it.