Just a few months shy of his 13th birthday, native New Yorker Evan Goldman is doing pretty well, he thinks. (Note, though, that I do admit that my sometimes-wannabe-Jewishness could make me slightly biased/more open-minded than I think.) I ached for Evan as he fought to reconcile the part of himself that just wanted to fit in with the part of himself that wanted to man up and do what is right, and I wanted to hug him when it was all over.Īlthough the book obviously has a focus on a Jewish theme, I truly believe that people of all faiths will love it as I did. Being Jewish, his struggle to settle into in this new life happens to coincide with his preparations for his upcoming bar mitzvah (which, for those who don’t know, is a Jewish ceremony celebrating “becoming a man”, to put it simply). The book is about Evan, tween-ish boy whose Mom moves him out of Manhattan and into a small town in Indiana mere months before his thirteenth birthday. I read it in one evening after work, and when I got to the end, I literally bawled out of pride and love for the main character. Thirteen is the last from this month’s stack of YA books I got from Harper Collins, and I have to say I loved it. Mostly they blend together and fade from the mind quickly.Of the three (albeit very different) books I've most recently read, Thirteen is, hands down, my favorite. Strong choreography by Adam Santelli helps a few songs, like the opening number “13” and the ensemble showcase “Bad Bad News,” gain a bit of life.

Everyone is talented, but no child performer stands out except for Golden. There is some tension around holding onto his nerdier friends while still staying in with the “cool kids.” But all of the kids, cool or not, kind of blend together. Stuck in a new school in the middle of nowhere, Evan must make new friends quickly, lest his bar mitzvah end up the lamest party in town.īut then Evan makes friends pretty easily. As the story begins, his mother Jessica ( Debra Messing) is moving Evan from New York City back into her mother’s home on Wyoming, after Evan’s father cheated and their marriage collapsed. Technically, Evan does hit some speed bumps. Trying to build an engaging story around such an un-hassled group of characters proves a central flaw this film cannot overcome. It’s much the same story with the other kids Evan meets along the way - they all seem like a really nice, pleasant bunch. But the oddest thing about this protagonist, Evan Goldman, is the 13 year old’s near-total absence of flaws or inner conflict. He has to seem likable and just generally pretty chill, which he does.

Golden must sing and dance impeccably, which he does.

13 by jason robert brown