Rex Ogle's 'When We Ride' is a novel-in-verse about a best friendship under pressure

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4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Seventeen-year-old Benny is studying hard and working as a busboy, hoping to attend college. Meanwhile, his childhood best friend, Lawson, is on a different path, dealing drugs – and is always in need of a ride. Rex Ogle's When We Ride is a novel-in-verse about their relationship, which becomes strained as differences between the two young men come into focus. In today's episode, Ogle joins NPR's Ayesha Rascoe for a conversation about the book. They discuss friendship breakups, what we owe our oldest relationships and an unlikely high school romance between the author's own best friends.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. What do we owe our childhood friends?
0:08.3	It's easy to be a kid and say, oh, this is my best friends. We're going to be thick as thieves forever.
0:14.2	Now, anyone who's grown up knows that that's not necessarily true, but that doesn't mean there
0:19.4	isn't a strong bond there.
0:21.8	These are questions explored in the new novel When We Ride by Rex Ogle.
0:26.3	In this interview, he talks to NPR's Aisha Roscoe about his own best friend growing up
0:30.3	and how their diverging paths in life meant certain boundaries had to be put up,
0:36.2	which, as he says, is hard to do when you love someone.
0:39.7	That's after the break.
0:41.4	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:46.2	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources and methods.
0:52.8	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
0:56.5	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:00.1	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:05.9	17-year-old Diego Miguel Benavides or Benny is studying hard and working a low-paying job as a bus boy.
1:14.9	He's trying to graduate high school, go to college, and make his mother proud.
1:20.0	He's also got a childhood friend named Lawson, who's taking a different path.
1:25.6	Lawson says, I need a ride.
1:28.3	He always needs a ride.
1:30.3	I don't mind because I've never had a brother.
1:32.8	But if I did, I'd want him to be just like Lawson.
1:36.2	He's my ride or die, though preferably without the dine.
	...

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