A victim of the barbarous social scene at Shiawassee High School, Riley Matthew dreams only of a normal home life, a decent mile race, and perhaps a date. Instead, Riley’s final semester is marked by a mom on the brink of a breakdown, a school stunned by the bloodthirsty Kult of Fatality, and a collection of the scariest misfits in the school: mutant halfwit wrestlers, jailbirds, emo porn girls, slashers... not to mention his usual assortment of geekish friends. Can he make it to the finish line in one piece?
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By Donna Kendall
Aug 9, 2009
"Fire, Barbed Wire, and Tacks: The Shakra of High School" Fire, Barbed Wire, and Tacks by Jeff Hollobaugh From the time we enter the halls of academia with our Power Rangers or Hello Kitty backpacks, new shoes, and freshly polished faces, the ultimate goal or finish line that looms ahead is high school graduation. The baffling world of school greets our high hopes and eagerness to experience what everyone else is talking about with disorientation and the dawning realization that the curriculum has nothing to do with learning. Jeff Hollobaugh’s hilarious book, “Fire, Barbed Wire and Tacks” draws the reader into the highly volatile, pedantic world of the average high school adventurer – the Senior. We find ourselves on the last lap of the scholastic journey with Riley Matthew and the friends, family, and teachers that color his life with shades of anxiety, stress, excitement, angst, and an armload of laughter. The powerfully underlying theme that grips the vibrant characters... More > in this novel is the kaleidoscope of haps and mishaps that underscore the meaning of the finish line, death, mortality, and the end of life as we’ve known it since we were five. Any reader that has taught high school or at least been to high school will recall with certain tremulous delight the experiences that burst through the crackling speakers of our own memories. Chinese Class became my favorite period of the day with its simple and pragmatic metaphor for life. Trying to learn things we can’t understand from those who are muddling through as bewildered as we are, while watching others disappear along our journey through life, and ultimately finding that we’re the only ones left standing when we reach our private finish line brings a fresh perspective to the whole journey. You will laugh, and you will laugh some more, and the only time you’ll cry is when your ribs begin to ache from laughing once you’ve been burned, pierced and jabbed by Fire, Barbed Wire and Tacks. Jeff Hollobaugh has captured the very essence of the American high school experience with his wit and bird’s eye view from having lived life on both sides of the desk. I highly recommend this book for the couple hundred pages of stark honesty and unrelenting humor with a powerful reminder that discovering what lies within each of us, personally, is what helps us make it to the finish line in one piece.< Less
