God of Beer is compelling and freakishly realistic

"High school kids in Salmon Falls are much the same as high school students anywhere: always restless, often bored. In the far reaches of northeastern Vermont, in the dead of winter, even being young can start to get old. But when Kyle and a handful of his friends decide to make life more interesting by rebelling against the status quo, they soon discover how life can become almost too interesting to bear."

Garret Keizer's God of Beer portrays this reality shockingly well. The narrator, Kyle Nelson, sees himself as average but finds friends with amazing personality traits. "Quaker Oats," Kyle's best friend, is a spunky, outgoing teen out to better the world through his outrageous pacifist plans. David "Mountain Man" Logan is a 21-year-old red-neck with a real sense of the world around him. Beautiful and intelligent six-foot-four Diana LaValley, the best basketball player in the state, is the object of Kyle's secret affection. The only thing stopping Kyle from confessing his love to Diana is Condor Christy, a short tempered California teen, who also has his eye on Diana.

Their lives are changed one day when a class discussion about Gandhi sparks the topic of teenage drinking. The senior social studies teacher, in an attempt to interest the class, stated that Mahatma Gandhi believed that if God was going to come to manifest in India, it would have to be as bread, because that is the only way people would understand him. The teacher then asked the class,"If God came to [their high school], he'd have to come as what?"

Kyle jokingly answers "beer," but his classmates back him up. The class discusses the nation's status quo for the drinking age. Kyle and his friends form SUDS, Students Undermining a Drunk Society, a protest through civil disobedience to lower the drinking age. Quaker Oats quickly becomes the leader of the group and organizes events through which they can be civilly disobedient. For example, SUDS holds a party in which teens must choose a random cup, containing either soda or beer, and drink whatever is given. While the party is going full blast, Kyle calls the police to get their idea publicized.

Just when their civil disobedience protests seem to be making a difference, the group suffers a turn for the worse. The change unites all the students in their school. A lesson is learned for all involved, and the acceptance of change is brought about in the end.

The characters in God of Beer are well-developed and realistic. While laughing and crying with them, one understands their situation and empathizes.

God of Beer is structured nicely, the plot evolving throughout the novel to grow and change along with its main characters. The novel is a realistic look at what happens when five teens try to grow up too fast and find themselves in a predicament none of them saw coming.

Prevalent themes throughout the novel are the changing of times and accepting reality's fate. Some parallels can be drawn between God of Beer and Paul Fleischer's Whirligig. Both novels focus on a teen boy narrator on a quest to self-discovery and enlightenment. God of Beer will hit home for many teenagers, as well as adults who remember their high school days.

God of Beer was released March 2002.