You Don't Know Me

David Klass

Apr 2007 · Sold by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

About this ebook

Moving, wholly involving, original, and emotionally true, You Don't Know Me is a multilayered young adult novel that presents a winning portrait of an understandably angst-ridden adolescent.

John ("My father named me after a toilet!") wrestles with the certainty that no one really knows him -- not in his miserable home, and certainly not at school. It's true that no one can guess his hidden thoughts, which are hilarious, razor-sharp observations about lust, love, tubas, algebra, everything. And then there's his home: his father ran off years ago, so he's being raised by his mother, who works long hours, and by her boyfriend, whom John calls "the man who is not and never will be my father." This man is his enemy, an abusive disciplinarian who seems to want to kill John and, in a horrible final confrontation, nearly succeeds.

Ratings and reviews

I first read this in high school and related to it on so many different levels. This of all the things that stuck with me from hs is the one thing I've been trying to find again. This is the first time I've seen it since then, I wish it were cheaper, but it's reasonable. Love this book!

In about glory hallelujah she's the prettiest girl in school but but he tells himself and she's ugly just in case you won't go out this is a great book

i got this book from my public library,i finished reading it today,it made me cry :(

About the author

David Klass is the author of many young adult novels, including You Don't Know Me, Losers Take All, and Grandmaster. He is also a Hollywood screenwriter, having written more than twenty-five action screenplays, including Kiss the Girls, starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd; Walking Tall, starring The Rock; and Desperate Measures, starring Michael Keaton and Andy Garcia.