{"product_id":"when-i-was-a-loser-true-stories-of-barely-surviving-high-school-paperback","title":"When I Was a Loser: True Stories of (Barely) Surviving High School - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJohn McNally\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor Anyone Who's Ever Been a Teenager\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Who's teenage years \u003ci\u003eweren't\u003c\/i\u003e terrible? Remember the scary older kids? The sadistic gym teacher? The smelly kid who sat next to you in science class? Your first fumbling kiss? That time you threw up in the cafeteria? Your first attempt at putting on a condom? The period that arrived unexpectedly? That awful fight with your parents? The first time you got drunk? That note you wrote that you shouldn't have written? The day you forgot to zip your fly? That monster zit? When, you wondered, would it all end? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eWhen I Was a Loser\u003c\/i\u003e, John McNally, author of the novel \u003ci\u003eAmerica's Report Card\u003c\/i\u003e, assembles twenty-five original essays--often hilarious, sometimes tenderhearted, always evocative--about defining moments of high school loserdom. Brad Land, Julianna Baggott, Owen King, Johanna Edwards, and many more fresh, talented writers explore their own angst, humiliation, heartache, and other staples of teen life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e These essays perfectly capture what it was like to be in high school: to experience so many things for the first time, to assert independence while desperately trying to fit in, to feel misunderstood and unable to articulate the wild swings between heartbreak, anger, and euphoria. One writer recalls how his grandmother helped him with his home perm in preparation for the Senior Class picture; another recounts her discovery, sometime after hitting puberty, of the power she held over boys and men, while at the same time she felt herself at their mercy; a third remembers the casual cruelties visited on him by the cooler kids, and the cruelties he, in turn, inflicted on kids below him on the social ladder. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Utterly candid and compulsively readable, these essays conjure up and untangle those raw and formative years. The writers cringe and laugh at the teenagers they were, but at the same time, they honor their adolescence and the way it shaped their lives. Because, in truth, beneath the layers of adult respectability, we all still carry a little bit of our teenage selves around with us.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn McNally\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of two novels, \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Ralph\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAmerica's Report Card\u003c\/i\u003e, and a short story collection, \u003ci\u003eTroublemakers\u003c\/i\u003e. His next book, \u003ci\u003eGhosts of Chicago\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of short stories, will be published this fall. A native of Chicago, he lives with his wife, Amy, in North Carolina, where he is associate professor of English at Wake Forest University. The first word he ever spoke was \"Batman,\" who has remained, in his darker incarnations, his favorite superhero. John's first creative work, a play written in the fourth grade, featured an overweight superhero who gets stuck inside a phone booth while changing into his costume. He is happy to return to the genre, albeit thirty-four years later.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 304\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.77 x 8.42 x 5.53 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 06, 2007\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48041687318776,"sku":"9781416532446","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0698\/5629\/7208\/files\/CLc-5YHeub9781416532446.webp?v=1783201300","url":"https:\/\/barneysbooksellers.com\/products\/when-i-was-a-loser-true-stories-of-barely-surviving-high-school-paperback","provider":"Barney's Book Sellers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}