Review: THE OUT CROWD by Michael A. Kirby

 

Graphic Image designed by Sandra Lopez

Hallie Flynn was ready for the perfect senior year, but everything changes at Homecoming when petty rumors spiral out of control. The In Crowd was always who everybody in the Out Crowd dreamed of being. The Out Crowd consisted of everybody else. Isaiah was also expecting a normal senior year. His biggest concern was earning a scholarship for college, but then all the norms evaporated. Gossip piles on top of itself, overwhelming his social life, and everyone else's. Friendships are ruined. People from all walks of Gates High School life no longer know who to trust.

Determined, Hallie makes it her mission to set the record straight. But by the time the gossip desperately needed to be stopped, it was already too late. Gates High could never be the same as it was again, because rumors and gossip are not toys to be played around with. What appears simple and straightforward becomes more confusing. Eventually the rumors take on a life of their own and truth and untruth merge into an unrecognizable blur. Both the In Crowd and the Out Crowd learn to live with their new fate in different ways. Inevitably, lessons are learned, but only after the damage is already done.

Available on Amazon


My review:

In high school, everyone was split into two groups: the in crowd and the out crowd.

The first chapter kicks off with a kid named Isaiah—part of the out crowd—frantically wanting to find a phone so that he could buy his homecoming tickets. Of course, as luck would have it, he had trouble signing in, setting up a password, etc. All that wasn’t very interesting.

Story features a bunch of kids from the in crowd and the out crowd. It would seem that this whole thing starts with a break-up blog post and all these kids couldn’t stop talking about it. This then results in other flaky topics.

This seemed like a decent YA read where you are literally traipsing through the world of high school. For me, I think there were just too many characters to keep track of. I think it would’ve been better to focus on one character(Isaiah) instead or, at the very least, a small group (in this case, the out crowd, which, ironically, would be the large group, wouldn’t it?) Isaiah was the everyday Joe that you could relate to the most, making him a good feature candidate for the story. There was just a lot of stuff going on that, honestly, it felt like an auditorium full of kids all shouting different things at once, making it hard to single out a thought or subject. It would seem that there was this battle between the in and the out crowd. The reader seems to get the perspectives of both groups.

This wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but it does get into the “in crowd” of teenagers. Story is a good indicator of the pitter-patter of high school life.

My rating: 3 stars

 Excerpt

 

"We're far past that point," Shelly told him. "It was needless of you to start a second school newspaper when we already had a perfectly good one."

            "If you're so perfect, why are you so afraid of the idea of another school newspaper?" Tyler asked.

Shelly took a deep breath. "Fact check. This isn't just 'a few kids saying some mean things about a few other kids'. This is a toxic, toxic environment caused by you and your gossip columns. It's so toxic. You are toxic, the symbol of true toxicity and all that is wrong and toxic here at Gates."

            "Easy, Shelly," said Tyler. "You're supposed to be a writer, so you might want to work on your word variation a little. Just a suggestion."  Although the room had still been loud moments earlier, it was now quieter as everyone listened to Tyler and Shelly's banter. Hardly anyone had ever seen the two of them in the same place at the same time before, despite all their back-and-forth between the Gates Sentinel and the Gates Times. At last the gossip columns and rival gossip columns had flown off the newspaper pages, manifested and come to life before their eyes. "Fact check. You started your gossip columns first."

From the background, Isaiah glanced aside at Everett, Craig and Karen. He then went back to watching Tyler and Shelly with the rest of the audience. As the two school newspaper editors sparred, Isaiah pondered what he would say if he were a part of the dialogue himself. Bitterness crept through his veins as he held his tongue. Somehow Isaiah felt like it was wrong to restrain himself during the action. On the other hand, since Tyler was already out in the fray, there was no need to put himself out there. He would be risking his reputation if he did. Tyler was winning on his own, so Isaiah risking himself would just be stupid.

            "Yeah, Tyler’s got this handled," Isaiah mumbled under his breath. Laying low was the right call.

            "Huh?" said Karen.

            "What did you say Isaiah?" Everett asked him.

            "Nothing."  Isaiah could not help but wonder, though. If standing back really was the right call, why did something feel so wrong about it?

"We're far past that point," Shelly told him. "It was needless of you to start a second school newspaper when we already had a perfectly good one."

            "If you're so perfect, why are you so afraid of the idea of another school newspaper?" Tyler asked.

Shelly took a deep breath. "Fact check. This isn't just 'a few kids saying some mean things about a few other kids'. This is a toxic, toxic environment caused by you and your gossip columns. It's so toxic. You are toxic, the symbol of true toxicity and all that is wrong and toxic here at Gates."

            "Easy, Shelly," said Tyler. "You're supposed to be a writer, so you might want to work on your word variation a little. Just a suggestion."  Although the room had still been loud moments earlier, it was now quieter as everyone listened to Tyler and Shelly's banter. Hardly anyone had ever seen the two of them in the same place at the same time before, despite all their back-and-forth between the Gates Sentinel and the Gates Times. At last the gossip columns and rival gossip columns had flown off the newspaper pages, manifested and come to life before their eyes. "Fact check. You started your gossip columns first."

From the background, Isaiah glanced aside at Everett, Craig and Karen. He then went back to watching Tyler and Shelly with the rest of the audience. As the two school newspaper editors sparred, Isaiah pondered what he would say if he were a part of the dialogue himself. Bitterness crept through his veins as he held his tongue. Somehow Isaiah felt like it was wrong to restrain himself during the action. On the other hand, since Tyler was already out in the fray, there was no need to put himself out there. He would be risking his reputation if he did. Tyler was winning on his own, so Isaiah risking himself would just be stupid.

            "Yeah, Tyler’s got this handled," Isaiah mumbled under his breath. Laying low was the right call.

            "Huh?" said Karen.

            "What did you say Isaiah?" Everett asked him.

            "Nothing."  Isaiah could not help but wonder, though. If standing back really was the right call, why did something feel so wrong about it?