This book is about a young high school boy with a complicated yet exciting life. Jesse Alderman is a guy who can get anyone anything for a price. Essays, alcohol, answer sheets… anything you want, he can manage to get. Jesse also has a different outlook on life, he doesn’t have any emotions or hatred for it, in fact he feels nothing in the way he describes everything around him. However his pessimistic outlook starts to crumble when a known jock and bully pays Jesse to help him win a girl’s heart, a girl who Jesse is unwittingly starting to like.
The main thing I like about the book was the relationship between Jesse and Peter. Although Jesse is rude, ungrateful, and harsh, he often shows the reader of common human follies without the morality and bias that would normally obscure it. Also the battles between the two reminded me a bit about myself and a friend I have. Jesse and Peter’s friendship is quite complicated yet somehow at the same time very obvious and likable. I am not an avid romance novel reader, actually I have almost never read one, but Sway was different. It was more about human nature and the struggles of a teenager and love and romance.
One memorable thing in the book was when Carter was explaining the meaning of Sway to Peter. This moment defined Jesse in a nutshell and one is left to question why he doesn’t like the nickname Sway.
Reviewed by Jalaj, grade 10, Tuckahoe Area Library
HCPL TeenScene's Read + Review 