![]() Jake, Reinvented certainly marks a change of tone, for it is surprisingly, refreshingly cynical in its depiction of teenagers and high school life. Korman has written more than 40 novels for children and young adults, many of them benignly humorous, rambunctious school stories. What teenager, especially one who has felt himself stranded on the social periphery, has not been beguiled by the possibility of a makeover, a chance to rise to popularity and power? And what teenager isn’t an expert in unrequited love? But Korman has wisely seen that the whole notion of reinventing oneself has huge resonance with young readers. ![]() When I read The Great Gatsby in high school, it made almost no impression on me, its setting and concerns seemed so removed from my life. Rick, a friend of all the characters, is uniquely positioned to witness the ensuing drama. Now he has utterly reinvented himself, all in the hopes of winning Didi’s affections. This is no new craving: two years ago, Didi and Jake attended the same school, when Jake was but a geeky brainiac. What Jake’s really after, of course, is Todd’s girlfriend, the über-babe Didi. As one character puts it: “The guy is like a walking zone of happening, and everybody wants to breathe the rare air.” Story of my life.” But Todd’s Olympian position is threatened by Jake Garrett, a new student who manages to win a coveted position on the football team, and within days establish himself as the Zeus of Cool with his unrivalled house parties. Rick Paradis, the story’s dyspeptic narrator, succinctly defines his social ranking: “I was the kicker and backup QB. In Korman’s retelling, the beautiful people all play on the football team. Korman even opens the novel with a portentous epigraph from Gatsby, and playfully dedicates it “For Jay and Daisy.” Affluent Long Island in the 1920s has been relocated to a contemporary suburban high school called F. An ambitious teen analogue of The Great Gatsby, Gordon Korman’s new novel, Jake, Reinvented, makes explicit its literary antecedents: Jay and Daisy have been replaced by Jake and Didi Tom and Nick by Todd and Rick.
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