Youth in Revolt

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Youth in Revolt: the Journals of Nick Twisp is a 1993 novel by C.D. Payne. The story is told in a picaresque fashion and makes heavy use of black humor and camp. The book was met with controversy because of its overt portrayals of teen sexuality. In March 2004 a film adaptation of the book was announced.

100 Girls, a 2001 comedy film written and directed by Michael Davis, directly lifts many plot elements and jokes from Youth In Revolt.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The book's protagonist is Nick Twisp, a young boy of above-average intelligence going through puberty. He is naturally obsessed with girls and sex but has had little experience with either. His life continues like a normal teenager's with his best friend Leroy, a.k.a. Lefty, and his divorced parents. His mother is dating a truck driver named Jerry, who sells a group of sailors a Chevy Jeep that dies soon after the sailors get it. In response, the sailors go for revenge. After outsmarting them, Jerry strategically decides to take a vacation, so they all go to a religious mobile home camp.

It is there that Nick meets Sheridan "Sheeni" Saunders and his life is turned completely upside down. Through plots to get Sheeni closer to him he ends up with several crimes on his hands and is forced to run from the cops. He tricks everyone into thinking he went to India, thereby escaping the police. Nick hides out with his sister and returns with help from his friend in Ukiah, Frank "Fuzzy" DeFalco. He dresses in Fuzzy's late grandmother's clothes, adopting the name Carlotta and a conservative disposition, so that Nick may enter the public. As he does so, he befriends Sheeni and several other people who Nick knew before. While spending the night with Sheeni on Christmas Eve, she reveals to him that she knows it is him, not Carlotta. He then gets "The best Christmas present a boy could receive," starting a secret relationship with Sheeni.

Faced with homelessness from the loss of the house he had been squatting in, he becomes rich beyond belief when an idea of his, a wart watch, makes it big. His wealth grows further when an elderly neighbor of his Nick's older sister takes a liking to Nick and decides to put him in her will. When she dies Nick is left $10,000 dollars richer.

This book also has three sequels. The first is "Revolting Youth: The Further Journals of Nick Twisp" a book that is roughly the size of one of the three books that make up Youth In Revolt. The second sequel is Young and Revolting: The Continental Journeys of Nick Twisp, and the last book in the series is Revoltingly Young: The journals of Nick Twisp's younger brother, which picks up thirteen years after the events in Young and Revolting. Additionally, there is Cut to the Twisp: The Lost Parts of Youth In Revolt and Other Stories, which features all of the material that was edited out of the first three volumes that make up Youth In Revolt, as well as additionally short works by Payne.

It has been rumored since 2002 that a full movie adaptation of this book was planning to be made, as of August 2006 the books Young and Revolting and Revoltingly Young feature the text "Watch for the new Nick Twisp movie, coming soon from Dimension Films on the back cover.

[edit] Characters

Nick Twisp - The-fourteen-year-old protagonist. The novel is told through his journal entries. Nick is a cynical and sex-obsessed teenager who pines for Sheeni Saunders. He creates throughout the story two alter egos: Francois and Carlotta. Francois is the "bad side" and Carlotta is the relatively "good side"
Sheeni Saunders - A hyper-intelligent fourteen year old girl who is the object of Nick's desire
Lefty - Nick's best friend who sexually advances faster than Nick. His penis, although more than seven inches in length, is crooked.
George Twisp - Nick's greedy, sex-obsessed father. He is quick to anger and fond of status symbols such as his BMW.
Estelle Twisp - Nick's neurotic mother, an employee of the DMV.
Lacey - Nick's father's curvaceous but dim-witted 19-year-old girlfriend
Paul Saunders - Sheeni's older brother. He has the amazing talent of reading Nick's life like a book, as if he knows all the answers; Nick's "oracle." Much of this knowledge perhaps comes from his extensive use of psychadelic drugs including psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
Jerry - Nick's mother's boyfriend as the story opens, whom Nick dislikes. He drives trucks professionally.
Wally Rumpkin - Estelle's second boyfriend, a tall shy truck driver with encyclopedic trivia knowledge. Despite his Jerry-like career he is liked by Nick.
Lance Wescott - Third and final man Estelle has "shanghaid into her bed;" a fascist member of the Oakland PD.
Fuzzy Defalco - A hairy friend of Nick's in Ukiah whose actual name is "Frank Sinatra Defalco," named after the late lounge singer. His mother is attractive despite her advanced age and attempts to seduce Nick in a trailer.
Vijay Joshi - Republican Indian who Nick befriends and also gets stabbed in the back by (sister's name is Apurva)
Bernice Lynch - One of the girls that attends the French-speaking-only school with Sheeni (used by Nick in his plot to win her back)
Trent Preston - Nick Twisp's arch nemesis, former boyfriend/current friend of Sheeni (with whom she is still in love)