Last time I saw Russel Middlebrook he was at school,
hanging out with his friends in the so-called Geography
Club and meeting local freegans. Time moves on, and in
this
New Adult book he's now twenty-three, a young gay man in
Seattle. THE THING I DIDN'T KNOW I DIDN'T KNOW is - wait,
we'll get to that.
Gunnar the geek foreseeably made loadsadosh from some app
he developed, so he gives Russel and Min, who is studying
for her PhD, cheap rent on the houseboat he bought.
Compared to these two powerhouses, Russel isn't doing much
of anything. He got through college and found himself in a
more gay-friendly world, but work is bland and he has
occasional hookups he's embarrassed to mention to his
friends. One of Russel's jobs is lifeguard on an urban
lake, and another is serving in a small bakery. He's at
the
bakery one day when he spots Kevin, his first high-school
love affair. They broke it off when Kevin went away to
college. Should Russel try to meet him again, and if so,
would Kevin even be interested in someone who is going
nowhere?
There's strong language, adult activity and a discussion
of
anti-HIV drugs, which some gay men take to stop themselves
contracting the virus. Balancing this we get an expedition
to chase Gunnar's latest Bigfoot craze, with campfires in
the wilderness. Seattle sounds like a great place to live,
with a high-tech campus and houseboats on the lake, but
unspoilt forest a few hours' drive away where Bigfoot
might
yet lurk. Russel does something awesome and surprisingly,
he doesn't tell his parents until late in the tale. Our
reluctant hero also spends just as much time analysing
what
he thinks, what other people think of him, and how it's
different from what he used to think. So we can see that
he
hasn't matured beyond his self-absorption. Min has her own
problems, showing that being bi isn't easy, while Gunnar
the straight guy doesn't even look for relationships. The
world of dating is changing fast.
Anyone who has been following Brent Hartinger's story of
the Geography Club kids will want to know the latest,
though I didn't find it as funny as the earlier part of
the Russel Middlebrook series. Enjoy the Seattle
setting
of THE THING I DIDN'T KNOW I DIDN'T KNOW, because the next
book in the adventure will be set further south.
"I guess this was what they meant by a loss of innocence.
Who knew?"
Russel Middlebrook is twenty-three years old, gay, and
living in trendy Seattle, but life isn't keeping up with
the
hype. Most of his friends have a direction in life—either
ruthlessly pursuing their careers or passionately
embracing
their own aimlessness. But Russel is stuck in place. All
he
knows is that crappy jobs, horrible dates, and pointless
hook-ups just aren't cutting it anymore.
What's the secret? What does everyone else know that he
doesn't?
Enter Kevin, Russel's perfect high school boyfriend. Could
rekindling an old flame be the thing Russel needs to get
his
life back on track? Or maybe the answer lies in a new
friend, an eccentric screenwriter named Vernie Rose, who
seems plenty wise. Or what the hell? Maybe Russell will
find
some answers by joining his best friend Gunnar's crazy
search for the legendary Bigfoot!
One way or another, Russel is determined to learn the
all-important secret to life, even if it's a thing he
doesn't even know he doesn't know.
Author Brent Hartinger first made a splash writing books
for
teens. The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know, Hartinger's
first book for older readers, is just as much of a
page-turner as his earlier works, with plenty of his
trademark irreverent humor. But now his books have grown
up
along with his readers, exploring the issues of new
adults,
especially the complicated matter of love and sex.
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