(Book) Growing Pains...A look at Chasing Shadows Everywhere

This book advertised itself as, 'Catcher in the Rye meets Fight Club.'

I'll be completely honest. I ate this book up.

As a young man, I identified with Holden Caulfield very much so. I had a hatred for things that were, 'phony' and I spent so much time trying to be real.

While I never identified with the characters of Fight Club, I understood how the status quo of society made the life seem pointless and repetitive and set up an expectation to exist rather than live.

In this mashup, we witness a young man named Jake trying to find his way in the world. He's a coward and a decent enough kid, but he wants to be more.

Enter his cousin Nick. To Jake, Nick is a guy who gets what he wants because he fights for it so savagely.

I found the stream of consciousness to be both informative and entertaining. Jake rarely makes light of the situations he ends up in, but his raw honesty is refreshing and makes it easy for you to identify with the character.

Observing Jake try to survive the status quo, the dreams he has and the anomalies that he faces can at times be jarring, but that's what makes the book so fascinating.

What I got from Chasing Shadows Everywhere is going out and getting what you want, instead of waiting around for future events to take place.

The book is worth reading and analysing. Finally, it is also worth rereading.

5 stars.