Starred Review ALA Booklist (Fri May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

Starred Review After a long career in science fiction, Barnes has taken a heroic stab at the Great American Novel. Set over the span of just six days in 1973 t weighing in at more than 500 pages rnes' coming-of-age epic is overlong, tangled with tangents, and takes a kitchen-sink approach when it comes to teenage trauma. Yet rarely will you read something so lovingly vulgar, so fiercely warmhearted, and so exuberantly expansive that even its long-windedness becomes part of its rogue charm. It's the story of Karl Shoemaker, a senior starting the first week of classes in his blue-collar Ohio town. This year he's determined to execute Operation Be Fucking Normal, but that isn't easy when he is working five jobs to pay the bills of his drunkard, star-child mother; wakes up early to clean up the poop from their zillions of cats (and bury the dead ones in their backyard Cat Arlington); and is deeply connected to the other kids forced to take school therapy a the Madman Underground. The plot is slight, but Karl's fellow madmen revel in their wild tales of survival and revenge, and the culmination comes off like a high-school One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Always ambitious, often caustic, and frequently moving.

School Library Journal Starred Review (Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

Gr 9 Up-Karl Shoemaker, in group therapy at school since fourth grade, turns a new leaf on the first day of senior year, 1973. His goal is to be normal and avoid therapy while still keeping his friends, who are all part of the Madman Underground. Karls widowed mother is an alcoholic, hippie, conspiracy-theorist slut who steals his earnings (he has five jobs) for benders. At one time or another, most Madmen are locked out of their houses by drunk or absent parents, or dont go home to avoid getting beaten, or felt up. They depend on one anothers hospitality by way of empty basements, open windows, and unlocked cars. Barnes writes with amazing ease and clarity. He has a light, immediate feel for character, and the ensemble of Madmen, teachers, parents, and crotchety townspeople is distinct and fully formed. Dialogue between Karl and this motley crew is mostly hilarious, expletive laden, and consistently flawless. Karls conversations with Marti, the newest Madman, are among the most heart-melting in teen literature. Barness descriptions of small-town Ohio defy the usual pitfalls of the back-when-the-author-was-a-teen settingLightsburg is so believably backward it seems timeless. While a moral dilemma may seem an underwhelming plot device, Karls psychological journey is consistently gripping. His narration is so easy and engaging, so sweet and funny, so astonishingly truthful that teens will rip through these 500-plus pages and want more. Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library

Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

Karl Shoemaker relates his heroic efforts to be "normal" over the first six days of the school year; as his narrative meanders into flashbacks, the difficulty becomes clear. Karl is part of a long-running high school therapy group called the Madman Underground. These eclectic, eccentric, and endearing characters navigate their troubled lives with youthful insouciance and gallows humor.

Kirkus Reviews

With excruciating, mind-numbing detail and a lot of swear words, 17-year-old Karl chronicles the first six days of his senior year. Karl's biggest antagonist is his mother, a crazy cat lady who drinks like a fish, acts like a teenager and talks like a second grader. Because of his mother, Karl works four jobs and squirrels away his money in jars around the house. His friends at school enjoy equally dysfunctional lives. In less than a week, Karl redefines his friendships and almost loses his virginity twice. At its high points, the story moves swiftly through witty dialogue and heartbreaking observations of parental cruelty. At its low points, which far outnumber the high ones, Karl is obnoxious, even terrifying in his antisocial behavior, and his friends are unbelievable in their ridiculousness. Due to its length and the frustration of waiting some 100 pages between the start and continuation of some story lines, only the most stubborn of readers will stay past the 37 dead cats to the tiresome, if very tidy, ending. (Historical fiction. 14 & up)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

High school senior Karl Shoemaker just wants to be normal. Since fourth grade, Karl has been unable to escape the stigma of the Madman Underground, a school therapy group for screwed-up kids (he earned the nickname “Psycho” after cutting up a classmate's rabbit in seventh grade). But with a drunken, hippie mom who believes that Nixon is in cahoots with aliens and who steals Karl's hard-earned money, a horde of pet cats that leave droppings everywhere and a claustrophobic hometown that still worships his deceased father (the former mayor), Karl's quest for normalcy seems doomed. In his YA debut, Barnes masterfully turns what should be a depressing tale about teenage misfits who are regularly abused, molested or neglected into a strangely heartwarming story about a kid who refuses to suck the lemons life keeps handing him, the bonds of friendship and the lengths a son will go to protect his mother. The language is R-rated, but with <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Breakfast Club–like realism, Barnes delivers scenes from which, like a car wreck, readers will be unable to look away. Ages 14–up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(June)

Voice of Youth Advocates (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

When asked what message he would like readers to take from his work, science fiction writer Barnes responded to the Web interview question, "Don't be lonely. There's love someplace, especially for the hopelessly odd (http://www.hardsciencefiction.rogerdeforest.com/?mode=8&id=7). And you are carrying around the love someone else needs. Better get that delivered. Look for someone odd." BarnesÆ first foray into young adult fiction brings his response to life in Karl Shoemaker, a young man who attempts to put together a normal senior year, one hour at a time. First step: avoid life-long friend Paul and other fellow members of the Madman Underground, a tight-knit group who share weekly therapy sessions to overcome severely dysfunctional situations. KarlÆs problems arise from the death of his father, former beloved mayor of the small Ohio town where Paul lives. Karl loves and misses his father, but he struggles to become something other than ôDoug ShoemakerÆs kid.ö Of more immediate concern is his alcoholic, firebrand mom, Beth, who steals KarlÆs caches of savings for her nightly jags. Teens initially turned off by BarnesÆs liberal use of profanities and the bookÆs length will be captured by the sharp, funny dialogue and crisp personalities of the Madmen. Even minor characters are distinctive. Readers can understand KarlÆs love for his mom who, despite horrific failings, retains lovable qualities. Barnes lets his story play out; pacing is excellent and despite its length, the story flies to a satisfying conclusion. BarnesÆs YA debut is an excellent selection for book clubs of older teens that like sinking their teeth into longer stories with substance.ùLauri Vaughan