One to see (if it ever gets made)

I just read a 2000 novel by K.M. Soehnlein, The World of Normal Boys, that I thought would make a wonderful film. I looked it up on IMDB and found nothing, then laughed at myself. What about the parts where the 13-year-old protagonist has sex with other boys? Impossible. Well, it turns out that Telling Pictures (Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's company, which did The Times of Harvey Milk) has optioned the book for a movie and the author is writing a screenplay.

I guess L.I.E. and Kids got made....

Anyway, if this project ever gets off the ground, I'm anxious to see it. I almost gave up on Normal Boys because of some clunky exposition, dialog and descriptions. But after a key event took place, early in the book, the story took off and there was no turning back. Under those surface flaws is a refreshingly true book about the chaos of adolescence. It tells the story of Robin, who enters high school in suburban New Jersey in 1978. He suffers not only being a freshman, but being a year younger than his classmates and liking disco and show tunes. And that's just for starters. The book is suspenseful, dramatic, touching, and sometimes funny. Every character and every relationship is complex. Even though he doesn't write in first person, Soehnlein has a way of making us see through Robin's eyes but then suddenly revealing things Robin can't acknowledge or understand. I have high hopes for a good screenplay because Soehnlein writes scenes with a strong sense of visuals and sound, capturing key moments in ways we can see. I just hope he can find a way to catch the meaning of those sex scenes in some other way, and get this project off the ground.