Margin Notes

The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay by Ryan Douglass may be one of my new favourite books. The book is beautifully written with plenty of unexpected twists, and it just so happens to be a crazy spin-off of The Great Gatsby. The book follows the story of 17-year-old Nick Corrington, an aspiring writer, and his struggle to overcome the loss of his father and the destruction of his community He brainstorms plans to address and put a stop to racism. The book also explores Nick coming to terms with his sexuality.

The story starts out with Nick living with his father in Greenwood, Oklahoma, and working with his mentor, Mr. Wallace, but when the police department massacres Nick’s community, he loses these important people. This results in Nick fleeing to Harlem, New York, to live with his Aunt Lorraine, Uncle Beat, and cousin Daisy. Nick hasn’t been to school in years, but in Harlem, he discovers a school that accepts boys of colour (West Egg Academy), run by Jay Gatsby Sr. and business partner Tom Buchanan.

During Nick’s short time at West Egg, he meets Jay Gatsby Jr., son of Jay Gatsby Sr., who Nick develops a close relationship with through writing letters to each other. Jay and Nick have very different personalities. Unlike Nick, Jay comes from a rather wealthy family; all Jay has ever known is a wealthy life. Jay’s father is White and his mother was Black, so Jay often feels displaced within both communities. Despite how Jay feels inside, he acts very confident wherever he goes. He lets everything roll off his back and pretty much attracts conversation wherever he goes, unlike Nick, who tends to hide in the shadows.

As if enough things hadn’t already happened to Nick, his life now literally goes up in flames. Nick comes back to his room ransacked and discovers items stolen, and then the blue dorm house is burned down, leaving the residents with no place to go. Nick doesn’t seem to think this was an accident and spends time investigating the incident with friend Zihan, Jay, and his cousin Daisy to find out what or who actually started the fire and why there has been no action to rebuild.

I truly love this book. It’s one of those books that I felt like I never wanted to end. It was heartwarming and heart-wrenching. I truly would love to read this book forever. I really enjoyed the slow burn between Nick and Jay. The whole time I was reading parts with Jay and Nick, I was on the edge of my seat praying for something to happen between them.

Even though the slow burn had me feeling wickedly impatient, I was still very much consumed in the book. There were points when I was actually upset when class was over because I wanted to keep reading, and I often had to hide my face so my classmates couldn’t see me reacting with tears or my goofy smile. In my opinion, I think this was an excellent writing strategy on the author’s part. It really made me want to keep reading and see what was going to happen next.

I would recommend this book to high school students and young adults who are into historical fiction books. I haven’t read any books like this one before, but another book by Ryan Douglass is The Taking of Jake Livingston, which has really good reviews from what I’ve seen. If you’re looking for more historical fiction, a book I really enjoyed was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which was recommended to me by my Grade 8 English teacher, and it was so good! Another good historical fiction book is Iceberg by Jennifer A. Nielsen.

The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Joy is a wonderfully written book, and I hope I convinced you to read it because it really is fantastic. The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Joy is probably the best spin-off of a book I’ve ever read. It is based off The Great Gatsby, and it has lots of similarities, but it is wildly different as well. The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Joy will leave you longing for more. If you’re a book lover like me and are looking for a bit of a different read, this is the book for you.

Claire Mullin is currently 16 years old. She has always loved reading from a young age and still enjoys books to this day. Claire lives with her mom, dad, younger sister, and two cats, Cleo and Ruby, who she can’t imagine her life without. Another passion of Claire’s is cheerleading, for which she has been competing competitively for four years and, with the help of her amazing team, has won multiple competitions, including first place and the Golden Buzzer in Montreal. During this past year, Claire has also discovered a love of writing. She enjoyed writing a book review for her English class and her first-ever essay for Civics, and now writes for fun in her spare time. Claire just attended her first ever concert, Machine Gun Kelly, and will now be making it her whole personality.

Influencer, by Adam Cesare, is a horror/thriller novel that lets you inside the mind of a killer and the people around him. It has the classic high school friend group dynamic, with some added drama and suspense that makes for nothing less than a very fun read.

The story follows the two main characters. Aaron is the new kid at school who is trying to blend in but has a head full of demented thoughts and a murderous past. He also has an anonymous online, cultlike following, where he is known as the mysterious “Speaker” which he keeps secret from his new school friends. We also have Crystal, a teenage girl living in a low-income household, with some serious self-esteem issues. Quiet, but more intelligent than she may present herself, Crystal seems to be the only one who doesn’t quite buy into Aaron’s act.

What made Influencer stand out in my opinion, was the alternating perspectives. Chapter by chapter, the book alternates first person perspectives from the two main characters, letting you experience both sides of the story. I found this worked especially well with the complex characters, letting you see their thoughts and opinions, instead of having to rely on only one character or a narrator’s biases.

Overall, Influencer was a fun read that kept me engaged, with a classic thriller ending. I thought it was a great example of how unique characters can really improve a book. I would recommend the book for older teenagers who like a dramatic journey and a thrill. If you want to uncover Aaron’s sinister plans alongside Crystal, you will have a good time reading Influencer

Holden Boyer was born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick where he grew up in a house full of brothers, dogs, and lots of books too. He enjoys writing in school and has put effort into his work since a young age. He spends most of his time playing music, any instrument he can get his hands on. This usually takes place in his room, his creative getaway spot where he can watch his pet fish and get inspired by his favourite musicians, who are hung as posters on his wall. He loves sunset walks with his dog, and sharing philosophical thoughts with friends. And Costco hotdogs.

I Don’t Wish You Well, by Jumata Emill, is one of those books that really gets someone back into reading. I picked this book thinking, “It’s just some boring book for a boring project.” I really underestimated this book because it got me, a person who hated reading, back into reading! But let’s talk more about the book…

Our story begins in the world of Pryce Cummings. He’s Black, gay, and trying to get a major in journalism. It’s getting close to summer, so he decides to do a podcast but doesn’t know what about until he remembers an incident five years ago in his hometown, Moss Pointe, a football-loving and gay-people-hating town. The “Trojan Masked Murders” happened there, where five well-known football players were murdered and the accused murderer was Deuce Beals.

Deuce was gay, and after the murders, many people in town began stereotyping gay people as crazed maniacs, which created more hatred toward the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in town. Pryce was set on proving Deuce’s innocence and restoring the reputation of people like him in his hometown. To do all of this while making a podcast, over the summer he interviews witnesses, survivors, and parents of the victims to see what truly happened. Along the way, Izzy, who was Deuce’s boyfriend, comes along to help find the true killer. Soon they get into hot water with old rivals, new enemies, corrupt police, and maybe even the true killer…

Also, can’t forget the writing style because it’s mwah, chef’s kiss. I love how it switches from a normal story told in third person to making the podcast sections look like you’re reading lyrics off Spotify. It also changes the style of the pages to look like news articles, police files, and text messages. I’ve never seen any book do this, and it’s 100 times better than making it look like regular text.

As a person who hated reading, this is an amazing book to get back into reading. Whether you’re setting a goal for yourself or doing a school project, this has something for everyone. I’d say this book is for high school freshmen and older as it does contain some strong language and mature themes.

This book recommendation must come to an end so y’all who are reading can go have a wonderful day. This book is amazing and you don’t have to take my word for it. But if you want to decide whether this book is good or not, you have to read it yourself. I highly recommend reading it. It has been a game changer for me, and I feel it can also be one for you. If you hate reading like I did, you have to read it. “It’s just some boring book…” Oh, was I so wrong.

Hayden Macdonald has been adding humour and comedy to his writing for five years now, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to stop. He’s no Shakespeare, but he really cares about entertaining his audience. His proudest accomplishment as a writer was making his Grade 6 teacher, who was known for being very strict, burst into laughter while reading one of his assignments. Hayden does his best writing while listening to music. He is also the tallest member of his family at six feet tall, with his brother coming in second place. Pretty short family! Heh.