Submarine, by Joe Dunthorne is one of those books that if you're a teenager, you'll completely understand.

It tells the story of fifteen year old Oliver Tate. A boy who, like so many, wants to understand the complicated lives of other people, as well as being a protagonist. As Oliver says himself, "I am likely to use the word protagonist, and moments later, words like twonk."

In his first novel, Joe Dunthorne manages to cram in a Welsh teenage boy with a sarcasm complex, a bully who can make Religious Education teachers cry, parents who's love life is monitored by the dimmer switch in their bedroom and also manages to identify the one and only time in life when there is absolutely no time for vowels.

Submarine is a very witty and at some points very poignant account of the life of a typical teenager and throughout the book you grow to like Oliver as if he were right there, talking to you. I found myself laughing on every page, which is a definate rarity for an 18-year-old reader of today. So, I have one thing to say to everyone - the book is genius!