Audio Review: Swim The Fly by Don Calame

Swim The Fly By Don Calame

Release Date: April 13, 2010
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Pages: 352
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: Library
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Fifteen-year-old Matt Gratton and his two best friends, Coop and Sean, always set themselves a summertime goal. This year's? To see a real-live naked girl for the first time — quite a challenge, given that none of the guys has the nerve to even ask a girl out on a date. But catching a girl in the buff starts to look easy compared to Matt's other summertime aspiration: to swim the 100-yard butterfly (the hardest stroke known to God or man) as a way to impress Kelly West, the sizzling new star of the swim team. In the spirit of Hollywood’s blockbuster comedies, screenwriter-turned-YA-novelist Don Calame unleashes a true ode to the adolescent male: characters who are side-splittingly funny, sometimes crude, yet always full of heart.

ADD TO GOODREADS

The narrator, Nick Podehl, did a brilliant job on this audiobook. I think a big reason why I loved this was that he had me giggling on my way to and from work. This book was hilarious and his voices made it all the better. Matt, Sean, and Coop make a goal every summer and this summer they decide to make a goal that many 15 year old boys have, to see a real live girl naked. LOL Also Matt wants to impress Kelly so he volunteers to swim the butterfly for their swimming team. Problem is that Matt can't even swim the fly for one lap. Thus ensues lots of disastrous yet hilarious plans and workouts.

I don't read many books from male authors with a male POV so this was a nice change. Getting a look inside a guys head. Matt and his friends were always up to some nefarious plan that ended in a disaster. I could kind of relate since usually when my friends and I had crazy plans at that age they usually did blow up in our faces. The guys attempt dressing up like girls to get into the girls locker room, they try to get into a party with non alcoholic O'Doul's, they try to hide in a closet to see a naked girl, Matt tries to get out of swimming the fly by faking an appendicitis, and it goes on and on. Matt also way over does his workouts and tries to drink a ton of protein powder. He becomes so sore he can't lift his arms. LMAO Like me after my kickboxing class...

So Matt and his friends are rather immature and make a lot of very bad choices but they do slowly grow throughout the book. Matt wants to impress Kelly but it is her friend Valerie that befriends him. He grows a conscience and wants to protect her and doesn't let his friends sneak a peak at her. It was a sweet and unexpected romance. Matt learns to be less shallow. He also works out and trains with a new coach to learn to swim butterfly. He puts in a lot of hard work when he could give up and get out of it. There are some great moments with his brother and family as well. You can see where Matt gets his ways from his grandfather who is also always coming up with ridiculous plans. Even though the three boys fight sometimes you can really see they care about each other. I had so much fun listening to this one I already got my hands on the next two books in the series that are narrated by the same guy. Each book will be from a different guys POV so I'm looking forward to seeing what Sean and Coop get up to in the next two books. I also got the audio of Will Grayson, Will Grayson since one of the narrators is the same as this book.



"...The things we do not want to speak about are the very things we need to speak about most"

"Excuses are like male nipples. They're completely useless."

"Oh, by the way," Coop announces as he weaves his DeathBot ship through a barrage of space debris on his laptop screen. "In case you didn't know. It's national 'That's What She Said' Day."
I give him a thumbs-up. "I like it."
Sean enters the tent carrying his Xbox. "I don't think there are enough sockets for all of these."
I waggle my eyebrows at Coop. "That's what she said."
Coop busts up. Sean stands there, looking confused. "I don't get it."
"That's what she says," Coop says, sending him and me into hysterics. Sean sighs and puts the Xbox down. "I can see this is going to be a long night."
"That's what she said," me and Coop howl in chorus.

Rating: 4/5