This Boy

Lauren Myracle brings her signature frank, funny, and insightful writing to this novel of a teenage boy’s coming-of-age.

Paul Walden is not an alpha lobster, the hypermasculine crustacean king who intimidates the other male lobsters, beds all the lady lobsters, and “wins” at life. At least not according to the ego-bursting feedback he’s given in his freshman seminar. But Paul finds a funny, faithful friend in Roby Smalls, and maybe — oh god, please — he’s beginning to catch the interest of smart, beautiful Natalia Gutierrez. Cruising through high school as a sauced-out, rap-loving beta lobster suits Paul fine, and if life ever gets him down? Smoke a little weed, crunch a few pills . . . it’s all good.

But in the treacherous currents of teenage culture, it’s easy to get pulled under. With perfect frankness, Lauren Myracle lays bare the life of one boy as he navigates friendship, love, loss, and addiction. It’s life at its most ordinary and most unforgettable.


Genre: Young Adult Fiction

"This is Lauren Myracle at her best! No punches pulled. A funny, true, rugged story about love and family and jealousy and chance: the chaotic mess that is teenage life. Paul, Roby, and Natalia could be — would be — your friends, and just like your friends, they soar with you and they break your heart." - Chris Crutcher

"Universal and molecular, tender and brutal-This Boy is just beautiful." - Andrew Smith