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Against the Grain

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Against the Grain

By: Phil M. Williams
Narrated by: Tristan Wright, Sarah Grace Wright, GraceWright Productions
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About this listen

A tyrannical high school principal. A young anarchist with nothing left to lose. One way or another, this place is going down.

Matt Moyer is an orphaned teen growing up on a primitive farm in the Pennsylvania coal region. He's homeschooled by his eccentric and philosophical great-uncle, who's a stickler for logic, reason, and intellectual honesty. Despite his uncle's reverence for veracity, inconsistencies arise regarding the old man's shady past and the teen's parents.

Through a harrowing sequence of events, Matt is forced to attend a public school. The feral teen finds it difficult to cope with the hypocrisy, propaganda, and misinformation that adults and children so readily accept. Faced with the possibility of expulsion, arrest, and ostracism, he must make a choice. Will he choose the easy lie or the hard truth?

Adult language and sexual content. Beware of spoilers in the reviews.

©2015 Phil M. Williams (P)2018 Phil M. Williams Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Political

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Another story that makes you think from Phil M Williams. For me, this is why I particularly enjoy this authors writing, I want to be made to think at the same time as being entertained. This book is about a great many things from greed to bullying to the idea that one person can make a change in the world. I won’t spoil the story by telling you if they do or not!. Having read and enjoyed so many of Phil M Williams books is fair to say that I’m a fan. This story is one of his very best. It’s hard, and heart wrenching at times, to see the things that happen to the main character, Matt Moyer. There are forces at work that have greatly influenced his life and are set to do so again but will he stand up to them or will he fall? Can he stand up to ‘the system’ and show the propaganda for what it really is? This book is a complex look at society woven into an enjoyable tale that is written with skill and confidence that showcases the authors view of how our world works. A great read that I thoroughly recommend.
Tristan Wright and Sarah Grace Wright do a wonderful job bringing this story to life. The sharing of the characters between them offers a different feel that you don’t get from one narrator. I’ve listened to a few of Phil M Williams audio-books that have all been narrated by them so they’ve come to be ‘the voices’ of his books for me and they do a truly great job each and every time. Overall, a highly recommended story with a first rate narration.

Another Phil M Williams story that makes you think

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Listener received this title free

Matt is a hardworking teen, helping his uncle on the farm and being encouraged to be freethinking through his homeschool education. Life isn't perfect, he is bullied by other teens, but it's livable.

Then he loses his uncle, the only parent he has ever known, in very dramatic circumstances and the farm.

With everything gone he has to join mainstream schooling, where he doesn't fit in and is astounded by the propaganda and falsehoods and unable to conform.

This is a woven tale with many strands, how does Matt cope, what becomes of him in a world he doesn't understand, does he succeed?

What happens when you have nothing left to lose?

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The book reminded me of Little Brother by Cory Doctorow and The ​Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I also liked the permaculture references. The plot brought back a lot of memories from highschool. Even thought I'm not from the US I could relate.

Refreshing anti-establishment story

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