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 Andrew Smith's novels always fill me with intense feeling of wonder and happiness; 100 Sideway Miles made me want to scream my love for it from the rooftops because it's just that good. This isn't your average coming-of-age story, it's so much better (but if you've read anything by Smith, this isn't news to you). 100 Sideway Miles is a wonderfully strange novel that will make readers laugh and fill them with so many raw, irrepressible emotions. 
 I'm not going to summarize this book because this is a book that you need to explore for yourself. There was something so satisfying about just delving into this novel and knowing so little about the plot. This is a book about a boy trying to find himself, while trying to escape from the constraints of his father. Finn Easton doesn't just want to be that boy from his father's book, he wants to be himself -- whoever that might be. 
 Andrew Smith channels his inner teenage boy and Finn's voice is so on point and authentic that it feels so familiar to my angsty, adolescent self. This is a story about a boy transitioning to adulthood, but Smith makes this book so approachable and real, he doesn't skip any of the awkward moments that novels and films usually gloss over. 100 Sideway Miles will remind older readers what it means to grow up, both the difficult and amazing aspects, and what it feels to fall in love for the first time. Smith has written a truly amazing coming-of-age tale, readers will feel the passion and sincerity of this book reverberating right off the page. 
 The characters that Andrew Smith has written in 100 Sideway Miles feel even more real and tangible than most people that I know. There aren't just blobs of ink; Finn, Cade and Julia are three of the most realistic characters that Smith has ever written about and it's not surprising that I felt a connection to this trio. Finn and Cade are true teeangers and they get into such ridiculously entertaining adventures that readers will wish they could join this duo on their road trip. 
 Finn feels that horrible feeling of being trapped in his adolescence and Smith makes this even more horrifying with the inclusion of Finn's father's novel. All those feelings that Finn feels throughout the novel are so perfectly bottled in this novel and this is a novel that all teenagers need to read to know that what they're feeling isn't exclusive -- that someone else is feeling those awkward growing pains. 
 I applaud Smith for writing a book about a character with a disability because finding books about disabled characters is extremely difficult. Finn has epilepsy and he's extremely prone to having seizures that make him black out and piss himself. Something that I found amazing was that Smith doesn't ever make Finn "special" or "different", he shows how normal epilepsy is and never tries to make readers feel bad for Finn because of the disease. 
 Andrew Smith always writes that book, the one you spend all night reading and that you can never stop talking about, even weeks after finishing. 100 Sideway Miles is the book to read; I found myself in this book and I have a feeling that countless readers will empathize with Finn's struggles. No author can capture the beauty and awkwardness that comes with adolescence like Andrew Smith does.