Carson Phillips is a jerk. He’s arrogant, condescending, and frankly, he treats his classmates like they’re props in a movie he hasn't even filmed yet. But that’s exactly why the Struck By Lightning book works so well. Written by Chris Colfer—best known for playing Kurt Hummel on Glee—this story isn't your typical "inspirational" teen drama. It’s cynical. It’s biting. Honestly, it’s a little mean, which makes its eventual punch to the gut feel way more earned than the sanitized YA novels we usually see on the shelves.
Most people actually saw the movie first. It came out in 2012, starring Colfer himself alongside Allison Janney and Rebel Wilson. But the book? That’s where you get the raw, unfiltered internal monologue of a kid who is desperate to leave his small town before he rots. Carson lives in Clover, a place where ambition goes to die, and he’s decided that the only way out is to get into Northwestern University. The problem is, his extracurriculars are a mess, and his classmates are about as motivated as a sloth on a Sunday.
His solution? Blackmail. It’s a bold choice for a protagonist.
The Struck By Lightning Book and the Anti-Hero We Deserve
Let’s be real: Carson Phillips isn’t a "likable" character in the traditional sense. He spends a significant portion of the narrative looking down his nose at literally everyone. His mother is an alcoholic. His grandmother has Alzheimer’s. His father has basically started a second, better family and left Carson in the dust. You'd think this would make him sympathetic, and it does, but Colfer doesn't let Carson off the hook for being a bit of a tyrant.
The Struck By Lightning book is structured as Carson's journal, which he starts writing as a way to document his rise to fame. The tragedy, which is spoiled right in the title and the very first page, is that he’s already dead when the story starts. We are reading the words of a boy who was killed by a literal bolt of lightning in a high school parking lot. This "dead man walking" perspective gives the whole thing a layer of irony. You’re watching him hustle, scheme, and manipulate people for a future you already know he’s never going to have. It’s dark. It’s really dark.
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Why the Blackmail Plot Actually Makes Sense
Carson needs a literary magazine to boost his college application. Nobody wants to write for it. So, he digs up dirt. He catches the popular kids doing things they shouldn't be doing—standard high school scandals involving cheating, secret relationships, and petty theft—and he uses that leverage to force them to submit poetry and short stories.
It sounds like a villain origin story. But as the book progresses, something weird happens. These kids, forced into creativity against their will, actually start to express themselves. They find a voice they didn't know they had. Carson, in his pursuit of a selfish goal, accidentally creates a community. He’d hate that description, by the way. He’d probably call it "unintentional byproduct of superior intellect."
Chris Colfer’s Writing Style: More Than Just a Glee Star
When this book first dropped, a lot of critics were ready to dismiss it as a celebrity vanity project. They were wrong. Colfer has a specific, sharp-tongued voice that feels authentic to a specific kind of "gifted kid burnout." If you were the kid in high school who felt like you were surrounded by idiots and just wanted to get to the "real world," this book is going to trigger some memories.
The prose is fast. It doesn't linger on flowery descriptions. Instead, it hits you with dialogue that feels like a tennis match. The relationship between Carson and his mother, played by Janney in the film, is particularly brutal in the book. There’s a scene where they’re just sitting in the car, and the sheer weight of their shared disappointment is almost suffocating.
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Colfer doesn't shy away from the ugliness of small-town life. He captures the boredom. The way the walls start to feel like they're closing in when you realize your life might just be a repeat of your parents' mistakes. It’s a "lifestyle" of stagnation that Carson is terrified of.
The Impact of the Ending
We have to talk about the lightning. It’s not a metaphor—well, it is, but it’s also a literal event. The suddenness of it is what sticks with you. In most YA books, if a character is going to die, there’s a long, drawn-out goodbye. There’s a terminal illness or a heroic sacrifice. Not here. Carson is just... gone.
It forces the reader to look at the "dash" between the dates. What did he actually accomplish? Did the blackmail matter? Did the literary magazine change anything? The Struck By Lightning book suggests that maybe the "doing" was the point, even if the "getting" never happened. It’s a tough pill to swallow for anyone who is currently grinding for a future goal. It’s a reminder that the parking lot might be as far as you get.
Comparison: The Book vs. The Movie
While the movie is great, the book adds layers that a 90-minute runtime just can't catch.
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- Internal Monologue: In the book, Carson’s thoughts are much meaner, which actually makes his rare moments of vulnerability feel more significant.
- The Supporting Cast: The "blackmailed" students get a bit more internal life in the prose. You understand their fear more clearly.
- The Pacing: The book feels like a countdown. Even though you know the end, the way Colfer builds the tension of college acceptance letters makes the finality of the lightning strike feel like a personal insult from the universe.
Is It Still Relevant?
Honestly, yeah. Maybe even more so now. We live in a culture obsessed with "the grind" and "main character energy." Carson Phillips is the patron saint of main character energy, for better or worse. He’s the personification of the idea that if you just work hard enough and manipulate the variables correctly, you can escape your circumstances.
The Struck By Lightning book is a necessary reality check. It’s a story about the frustration of being young and ambitious in a world that feels indifferent to your existence. It’s about the fact that you can be the smartest person in the room and still get taken out by a random weather event.
What You Can Learn From Carson Phillips (The Hard Way)
If you’re a writer, a student, or just someone feeling stuck, there are actually some "actionable" things to take away from this tragedy, believe it or not.
- Ambition is a double-edged sword. It can drive you to create something amazing, like a literary magazine in a town that hates reading, but it can also blind you to the people around you. Carson didn't realize he liked his peers until he was literally forcing them to be his friends.
- The "Future" isn't guaranteed. This is the big one. Carson spent his whole life living for the day he’d leave Clover. He never actually lived in Clover.
- Legacy is weird. After Carson dies, he becomes a bit of a legend. People project their own feelings onto him. It’s a reminder that you don't get to control how people remember you, so you might as well be a little kinder while you’re here.
Moving Forward with the Story
If you haven't read the Struck By Lightning book yet, find a copy. Don't just watch the movie clips on YouTube. The book is where the heart—and the bile—is. It’s a quick read, maybe a weekend if you’re fast, but it stays with you. It makes you want to go do something, even if it’s just to spite the universe.
After you finish, check out Chris Colfer’s other work. He pivoted from this gritty teen realism to the Land of Stories series, which is total fantasy. It’s a wild shift, but you can see the same wit and the same themes of wanting to belong somewhere else.
Next Steps:
Go to your local library or a used bookstore and find the 2012 hardback edition. Read the prologue, then put it down and think about what you’d want people to find in your journal if you got hit by lightning tomorrow. Then, go write something. Just maybe don't blackmail anyone to get it published. It's a lot of paperwork.