My Life, The Theater, and Other Tragedies

My Life, The Theater, and Other Tragedies by Allen Zadoff
Egmont, 2011
288 pages
YA; Contemporary
4/5 stars

Source: Received an ARC through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

After enjoying Zadoff's Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have, I kept this on my radar once I heard about it.  I love high school theater stories and Zadoff's writing so I knew this would be a win.

There were two main threads to the story that eventually intersected.  The sadder, more emotional thread was Adam missing his father who had died the previous year.  His father painted and proved an inspiration to him and he felt lost.  Furthermore because his father died alone in the dark, Adam seeks the light and struggles with sleep.  Obviously this section is not as fun but I thought it was well-done with enough punch, especially for younger readers.

The other segment is the war between actors and techies (think Romeo and Juliet) that is threatening in many ways.  The student director is an arrogant control-freak who might jeopardize Adam's future prospects in the high school theater.  The actors think the techies (especially Adam) want to jeopardize the show and their director is suffering from a mid-life crisis.  Lastly Adam has a crush on an actress which could send the two sides spiraling completely out of control.  In general these were the humorous sections; although Adam does not see the humor, they were fantastic to read.

Overall: Another great read from Zadoff!

Cover: I knew it was a theater story so the lights make sense but since Adam is also the light guy, it actually makes even more sense.