The Kidney Hypothetical: or How to Ruin Your Life in Seven Days

High-school senior Higgs Boson Bing loses his girlfriend, his best friend, his popularity, and his future at Harvard all in one week. Higgs wins readers over with his genuine surprise at discovering he's a self-centered jerk; flashbacks hint that deep down he's a decent guy. The satisfying ending, in which Higgs quickly makes amends, is a fitting whirlwind of a conclusion.

High school senior Higgs Boson Bing manages to ruin his life, losing his prom-queen girlfriend, his best friend, his popularity, and his future at Harvard all in one week. In her second YA novel, Yee (Absolutely Maybe, rev. 3/09), in an unusual move, presents an unlikable protagonist who discovers that he’s only popular because everyone’s afraid to cross him: he’s actually a self-centered jerk who’s made a lot of enemies clawing his way to the top. Narrator Higgs somehow wins readers over with his genuine surprise at this discovery and with hints (through flashbacks) that deep down he’s a decent guy -- whose personality has been completely warped by his attempt to be as perfect as everyone thinks his deceased older brother was. Higgs meets a free spirit (“You can call me Monarch”) whose apparent independence helps persuade him to live his own life and not his brother’s (who, he learns, was unhappily following their Harvard-educated dentist-father’s expectations of him); the fact that Monarch (in actuality a conventional girl named Mindy, headed to Yale) was only taking a temporary stand against her own parents’ expectations is a nice bit of irony. The satisfying, expeditious ending, in which Higgs quickly makes amends to all he’s offended or ignored (including the school janitor, his ex, his sister, and his best friend) is a fitting whirlwind of a conclusion for someone who managed to “ruin” his life in a matter of days. jennifer m. brabander