RaveThe Independent (UK)The \'cool teacher who opens minds\' narrative is now looking a little tattier round the seams than any garment such a teacher would wear. But Alexander Maksik has given it a mesmerising reboot here ... At first, it all seems terribly French ... But the three parallel narratives are so delicately, hypnotically paced that it is not long before cracks start to appear. And what cracks they are ... what Maksik has created with You Deserve Nothing is a story that is as fresh as it is old; a story of complicated emotions, simply told. It deftly conjures the very best of dazzling teen inspiration as well as the very worst of crippling teen alienation, while remaining a very adult novel. It reminds the reader how powerful ideas and literature can be – not just by creating a memorably complex character in Will, but with some stunning prose of its own as well.
