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Byuck
At one of the most conservative colleges in the country — Brigham Young University, where both angst and premarital sex are verboten — returned missionary David Them and his flamboyantly Texan roommate Curses Olai set out to pen a rock opera about the ultimate quest for the twentysomething Mormon male: avoiding matrimony. There’s just one problem. Dave’s best friend since age five, lacrosse player Martha “Referee” Plantree, is a girl — and Ref is on a quest of her own ...
Full of delightful absurdities at every turn, Byuck also offers surprisingly tender and insightful meditations on love, lust, friendship, and marriage ... and in the process, provides definitive proof that men and women can be friends, as long as the woman holds a lacrosse stick.
“If you ever wanted to know what would have happened if Godot had shown up, read Byuck, wherein coffee tables are transgressive and Billy Joel claims to be innocent. I LOL’d. For real. Not like you do online where you just kind of huff with a mouth twitch. No, I totally LOL’d. Woke up the cat.” — Moriah Jovan, author of The Proviso and Magdalene
Full of delightful absurdities at every turn, Byuck also offers surprisingly tender and insightful meditations on love, lust, friendship, and marriage ... and in the process, provides definitive proof that men and women can be friends, as long as the woman holds a lacrosse stick.
“If you ever wanted to know what would have happened if Godot had shown up, read Byuck, wherein coffee tables are transgressive and Billy Joel claims to be innocent. I LOL’d. For real. Not like you do online where you just kind of huff with a mouth twitch. No, I totally LOL’d. Woke up the cat.” — Moriah Jovan, author of The Proviso and Magdalene
240 pages, Paperback
First published December 4, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 27, 2013
Mormons. Dating. BYU. Billy Joel. Bad puns. What's not to love?
My initial read-through of Byuck today was full of near-constant interruptions from my children, which kept me from really being fully immersed in the novel, and thus I only managed a few giggles. I suspect that if I manage an uninterrupted re-read over a couple of nights, there will be a lot more outright laughing. The characters are familiar and largely likeable, the setting is comfortable. I felt both nostalgic for BYU and incredibly grateful that I am graduated and moved away and married now. I think Theric nailed it with his depiction of (at least a portion of) the BYU dating scene.
The book is refreshingly, unapologetically Mormon, with no explanations of terminology or culture, either of which would have completely derailed the novel.
I'm looking forward to a re-read.
My initial read-through of Byuck today was full of near-constant interruptions from my children, which kept me from really being fully immersed in the novel, and thus I only managed a few giggles. I suspect that if I manage an uninterrupted re-read over a couple of nights, there will be a lot more outright laughing. The characters are familiar and largely likeable, the setting is comfortable. I felt both nostalgic for BYU and incredibly grateful that I am graduated and moved away and married now. I think Theric nailed it with his depiction of (at least a portion of) the BYU dating scene.
The book is refreshingly, unapologetically Mormon, with no explanations of terminology or culture, either of which would have completely derailed the novel.
I'm looking forward to a re-read.
December 31, 2022
Do you ever buy a book from your friend, then somehow lose it, and then buy another one right from him at his house and bike home with it and put it on your shelf, and then not read it for 10 years? Well, as an end-of-year resolution, I have finally done it.
I finally got around to reading Byuck. I started it yesterday while waiting for my teen to have their hair done and got 3/4 of the way through in a couple of hours. So, quick read. Would definitely appeal to a certain Mormon-ish BYU-attending crowd. It definitely brought back memories I had buried years ago and probably should stay buried. We can skip those 3 years, tyvm.
And it's your basic friends-realizing-they-actually-want-more-from-their-relationship story. A romantic comedy for writers who went to BYU. Very cute. Would read more Jepson in the future.
I finally got around to reading Byuck. I started it yesterday while waiting for my teen to have their hair done and got 3/4 of the way through in a couple of hours. So, quick read. Would definitely appeal to a certain Mormon-ish BYU-attending crowd. It definitely brought back memories I had buried years ago and probably should stay buried. We can skip those 3 years, tyvm.
And it's your basic friends-realizing-they-actually-want-more-from-their-relationship story. A romantic comedy for writers who went to BYU. Very cute. Would read more Jepson in the future.
August 16, 2023
A fun book, I enjoyed spending time with the characters, and I enjoyed the games the author did with writing style, voice, etc. Even accepting the premise, it was hard to accept how clueless and largely libido-less the male protagonist was. But lots of laughs, especially for those of us with some BYU experience.
August 2023:
Reread in anticipation of the publication of the kind-of sequel, "Just Julie's Fine". I found it even funnier this time. So many great lines of dry humor. I found Dave, the protagonist, less libido-less and more humorously clueless. Bumped it up to 5 stars.
August 2023:
Reread in anticipation of the publication of the kind-of sequel, "Just Julie's Fine". I found it even funnier this time. So many great lines of dry humor. I found Dave, the protagonist, less libido-less and more humorously clueless. Bumped it up to 5 stars.
January 2, 2013
Byuck completely surprised me with it's complex/real guy main characters and their sarcastic and hilarious views about dating and the BYU culture. It reminded me so much of my own college days. There were tons of LOL moments that I shared with my hubby. Such a fabulous, awesome book. A definitely must read!
June 4, 2013
This was a little hard to get into, and in some spots I felt the humor was a little strained. However, anywhere the book deals with family or roommate dynamics or with the relationship between the two main characters the writing is funny and rings true. I also felt that the religious experiences the main character has are handled well. I would enjoy reading something else by this author.
March 15, 2013
If Dave Eggers had gone to BYU, this is what he would have written. A pitch perfect voice and a lot of very funny lines.
January 9, 2015
Theric Jepson’s Byuck is like no other book I’ve ever read. And I mean that in a good way. I’d love to see more fiction books written about the wackiness of Mormon dating, though I’m not sure any will be as quirky and original as this, the one about students Curses, Ref and Dave, who write a rock opera at BYU.
The marriage fever at “the Lord’s university” is ripe for skewering, and Jepson does it with unique aplomb. I both shuddered and smirked as Byuck brought back my own memories of awkward dating and other adventures at the Y (does every freshman watch Rubin and Ed?). It was all deeply relatable.
The dialogue is snappy and the characters are flawed, real and endearing. Dave is clueless but sweet and matter-of-factly committed to his religion (but neither he nor the author make a big deal of it). Dave’s best friend Ref is assertive, athletic and smart—an excellent example of a young, single Mormon woman.
An issue with Mormon books is that the authors tend to carefully explain all the jargon, so I appreciated Jepson’s nonchalant use of Mormon lingo without any explanation.
I did wish there had been a little less reliance on the silly jokes and a little more fleshing out of the characters’ lives. The story felt rather thin in places.
That being said, Byuck takes an unflinching look at the often challenging world of modern Mormon dating while still managing to be entertaining and hopeful. I’m curious how much it parallels Jepson’s own dating experiences!
The marriage fever at “the Lord’s university” is ripe for skewering, and Jepson does it with unique aplomb. I both shuddered and smirked as Byuck brought back my own memories of awkward dating and other adventures at the Y (does every freshman watch Rubin and Ed?). It was all deeply relatable.
The dialogue is snappy and the characters are flawed, real and endearing. Dave is clueless but sweet and matter-of-factly committed to his religion (but neither he nor the author make a big deal of it). Dave’s best friend Ref is assertive, athletic and smart—an excellent example of a young, single Mormon woman.
An issue with Mormon books is that the authors tend to carefully explain all the jargon, so I appreciated Jepson’s nonchalant use of Mormon lingo without any explanation.
I did wish there had been a little less reliance on the silly jokes and a little more fleshing out of the characters’ lives. The story felt rather thin in places.
That being said, Byuck takes an unflinching look at the often challenging world of modern Mormon dating while still managing to be entertaining and hopeful. I’m curious how much it parallels Jepson’s own dating experiences!
August 22, 2018
A classic love story dressed up with delightful insights into some of the quirks of BYU & Mormon dating. The relationship and interactions between Dave and Curses felt real and like a great reflection of interactions I had with friends. It took me awhile to really get into this book, but there's some witty humor and delightful details--the sections of text from Dave's journal, friend book, excerpts from the play, etc etc are wonderful and I would have loved to see more of them or at least to see them more fully integrated into the novel. Dave felt frustratingly clueless about the connection he shared with Ref (though in thinking on it & seeing another review refer to his libido-less quality, it'd be interesting to read Dave as ace and that could have been fruitful ground for exploration, but I digress) and it was inevitable from fairly early on that Dave and Ref were going to end up together, which is somewhat a feature of the genre (or at least one of the sub-genres) at work here, but not what I was expecting, which threw me off.
Anyway, an interesting experiment and some fun BYU commentary, fully realized characters, & great witty asides and details hiding in plain sight. Also, I'm really glad for the commentary on some of the more insidious iterations of BYU's dating culture.
Anyway, an interesting experiment and some fun BYU commentary, fully realized characters, & great witty asides and details hiding in plain sight. Also, I'm really glad for the commentary on some of the more insidious iterations of BYU's dating culture.
February 22, 2013
Let me just start off by saying that I feel bad giving this book only two stars. I recently received this book on a goodread's First Reads giveaway and was very excited to read it. I didn't enjoy reading it that much however for several reasons, mainly because I didn't feel related to the plot. I have to feel somehow involved emotionally with a plot to read the book, and I have to say I couldn't feel that involved with the book, for reasons completely my own. However, this book reminded me a lot in its style of Will Grayson, Will Grayson, which I didn't enjoy either. So please don't take this review too seriously if you're considering buying it. You might enjoy it a lot. Will Grayson, Will Grayson was a great book for many people, I just couldn't enjoy it, and I feel like with this book, it might also be something I can't get into. It definitely seems like a lively, funny read especially for a young readership that many people may enjoy. Also a very quick read.
January 18, 2013
I received this book as a first-reads-giveaway - Thank you, I really enjoyed it.
Basically this is a great almost classical lovestory set in a modern yet traditional world.
For me an German atheist this Mormon-American-World was a very new one I found very intersting to discover. I think it's a bit like 19th and 21th century clashing togehter with lots of smirks and ouches.
I've got to confess that I missed probably a lot of linguistic wit due to my deficiency of language.
(So where does byuck come from? I've got an idea but that's not a decent one I want to query here.)
Theric Jepson writes very descriptiv so I often imagined a really good movie.
I liked very much the way he intercepted the story by adding some of the main character's own work. By doing so Mr. Jepson increased the suspense but also gave an better understanding of our hero's character and feelings.
Basically this is a great almost classical lovestory set in a modern yet traditional world.
For me an German atheist this Mormon-American-World was a very new one I found very intersting to discover. I think it's a bit like 19th and 21th century clashing togehter with lots of smirks and ouches.
I've got to confess that I missed probably a lot of linguistic wit due to my deficiency of language.
(So where does byuck come from? I've got an idea but that's not a decent one I want to query here.)
Theric Jepson writes very descriptiv so I often imagined a really good movie.
I liked very much the way he intercepted the story by adding some of the main character's own work. By doing so Mr. Jepson increased the suspense but also gave an better understanding of our hero's character and feelings.
November 10, 2017
Guys. I really liked this one. I loved the characters, quirky yet deep. I really liked Jepson's wandering style. Yes, it was predictable, but he let the characters arrive at the end in their own appointed time. Jepson writes about BYU culture from the beautiful perspective of having lived it. Now BYU has changed since 2001, but many of the same challenges and peculiarities continue today. It seems to be the perfect novel summarizing my view of early aughts BYU. Overall, very lovely and humorous and on point.
September 10, 2023
A delightful little book! This is a sweet coming-of-age story, mixed with a little awkward romance and a lot of strange, entertaining ramblings of the young adult mind. It took me right back to my college days.
October 3, 2023
This is a very very strange book. Even I didn't get it, and I go to BYU and interact with the Dave Thems of the world. Sometimes painfully accurate but it made me giggle so much so 5 stars.
April 9, 2013
It took about a third of the book to really grow on me, but since I'd bought it already on someone's advice, I wasn't about to just stop reading it. I didn't like it because it read like something I would have written in college. In fact, it sounded like something I DID write in college--a play for a friend, written in six days, based loosely on my own experiences in dating my freshman year. But this author went ahead and fleshed it out into a whole book which, in the end, proved enjoyable enough to read and more polished than anything I ever produced. Though I don't know whether I would buy it given the choice again, I'd read it again.
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December 19, 2012Hi there, future readers (and non-readers) of BYUCK. I'm Therese Doucet, founder of Strange Violin Editions, the book's publisher. Since I have a financial interest in BYUCK's success, it would be inappropriate for me to give it a rating. However, you can deduce from the fact that I published it that I both read and liked it quite a bit. And if anyone has any questions about the book or the author or my press, please let me know in the comments to the post, and I'm happy to answer them as best I can! Happy reading!
July 6, 2014
This was a cute book about Mormons, dating, and marriage. Also about BYU and theater and whatnot. It's witty in unexpected ways; a lot of the jokes can be lost if you're not reading carefully. This is not a particularly weighty or literary book, but if all Mormon popular fiction were like this, Deseret Book would be a much better place.
January 3, 2013
2.5 stars.
This was a pretty silly story, but if you are a BYU fan or really into theater, you will probably get a kick out of it.
i liked Ref and Dave's story-the whole best friends and realizing there might be more thing.
This was a pretty silly story, but if you are a BYU fan or really into theater, you will probably get a kick out of it.
i liked Ref and Dave's story-the whole best friends and realizing there might be more thing.
February 20, 2013
I won this book from a blog contest, and I didn't really know a lot about it going in. I have no idea how to pronounce the title, but did laugh out loud several times. I will be passing this book onto my sister in law who went to the Y and I'm sure she will think it is funny too.
November 13, 2014
Quirky and fun. Spoke very much to my experience at the Y, but I don't think that makes it exclusive. Plus if you ever fantasized about the rich jerk in the singles ward getting his comeuppance, this both fulfills that and makes you regret those thoughts.
March 29, 2013
Perfectly captures the earnest goofiness of the unique creatures known as "BYU co-eds"
January 31, 2013
Even though I'm not super into Mormon stuff, it wasn't such a big part of the book that it deterred me from finishing. I thought it was pretty well-written and engaging.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews