It has more rave reviews in the press than most books including "impossibly brilliant". How do I know this? It is right on the front cover. I just didn't really get this book. I am not a teenage boy obsessed with rock 'n roll, guitars, b-jobs and girls, filled with angst at being the King Dork so maybe I am not the target audience. Duh. But still. It was a chore for me to read. I liked some of it. Tom Henderson, called Chi-Mo or Moe (derivations of child molester a nickname he got when it said clergy on his career planning aptitude test) is a huge loser with one friend who has had to sit next to due to alphabetical reasons for years. They have a "band". That is to say, they spend of a lot of time naming it, designing logos and album covers, and coming up with cool song names, but it is halfway through the book before either of them gets an instrument (or an electric one at least). Tom's dad died - in a mysterious fashion - and Tom has found his old copy of Catcher in the Rye (which Tom hates but knows all adults love and think it changed their lives) and a secret coded message and most of the book is focused on solving this code and the mystery of his father - who he was, what was the message about, how did he die. Some of his descriptions of school, and bullying and life in general are spot on and hilarious (especially the glossary at the back of the book) but some of it is so unbelievable (including the willingness of 2 different girls to give him (King of the Dorks (in his own mind anyway, most would think of him as an average total loser) b-jobs.) I think this is a book a lot of people will love but I wasn't one of them. It reminds me a bit of The Perks of Being a Wallflower in that people love that book and it just left me cold. I really did like the other two books listed below and I think they would be enjoyed a lot by fans of this book.