Submarine (2008) by Joe Dunthorpe.

This is the book and subsequent film that gives us fellow abcers hope. I don’t know why it should, but in an adolescent way, it does. And that what 15 year old Oliver Tate is. It’s his story told in bite sized chunks, easy to read, put down and pick up again. It’s a holiday book you can leave it in the sand, or you can pick it up and read it, or all in one go if you want. If I were making the movie it would be Oliver’s voice narrating. He would also be in almost every scene, as he is in the book. He keeps a diary so that would be one way of moving the action forward. Not that very much happens. His mum nearly has an affair. He has sex then splits up with his girlfriend. He’s taken for a ride by the fat kid at school his gang have bullied, only it doesn’t happen. We’ve all been 15. These things happen. Oliver lives with it, but he has a unique persona and voice that carries the reader through.