Very Memoir

Genderqueer by Maia Kobabe

[Saint Louis, Mo.] : The Lion Forge, LLC, 2019.

239 p. : chiefly col. ill. ; 21 cm. 

There's a lot to like and admire about Genderqueer.  This graphic novel memoir reveals with great honesty Kobabe's life of coming to terms with eir (Kobabe uses e/em/eir pronouns) gender identity. Assigned female gender at birth, this graphic novel follows Kobabe's intensely personal (often painful) struggle to figure out what eir gender/sexuality/identity is. 

The thing I like so much about this memoir is that it really opens up to the reader how intense and real the gender struggle can be for someone who does not fit into the more "normative" categories of gender and sexuality. Kobabe, a very sensitive person, is often tormented as e figures out what e thinks/feels about dating, coming out, pronoun use, clothing use, appearance, family dynamics, friendship, seeing the doctor, etc. A reader can learn so much about how many obstacles to self-realization exist in our society. However, the book is ultimately hopeful as Kobabe gets closer and closer to figuring out and embracing eir true self.

My only hesitancy about the book, is it's intense preoccupation with self. Of course, it's a memoir, but there were times when I just wanted the author to look beyond eirself and reflect on the lives of others who are in similar or even worse situations - but that's probably just me!

      

Powerful Debut

Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown

New York : Henry Holt and Co., 2020.

294 p. ; 22 cm.

This is a super creative and really well written debut YA novel.  The subtitle of Black Girl Unlimited is The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard, and it's back cover states, it is "Part memoir, part magic" - and these are two good clues to the power of this novel. This is no Harry Potter wizardry, but instead a kind of rare natural/supernatural inheritance of access to the power and mystery of the "in between zone." 

The novel deals head on with hard issues of sexual assault, drug addiction, poverty and crime - but does it in a way that is not despairing, but also not falsely optimistic. The hero of this novel is the main character, Echo Brown (see, there's the part memoir) who is academically talented and motivated. She only gradually realizes that she is a wizard and that her power as one is limited but can grow.  One of the coolest aspects is that as a wizard she can occasionally stop time and use that stopped time to try and influence others for the better.

The novel is a great story of the power of determination, bravery, family ties, intellectual curiosity and bravery in the face of addiction, poverty, racism and violence. 

My only hesitations with the novel (which I was surprised to not see brought up in reviews) are the heavy use of vernacular from characters in her poor neighborhood (including her Mom and brothers). And then there is an unfortunate description of one of the most powerful elderly women wizards as being "a quarter Cherokee on her mother's side" according to everyone in Echo's neighborhood, and who is also said to have "learned all her magic stuff from her grandmother." 

That said, it's a powerful novel about obstacles and triumphs facing a young black girl as she comes of age and gets in touch with her inner strength and power.

     

Tough and Tender

The Closest I've Come by Fred Aceves

New York, NY : HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]

310 p. ; 22 cm. 

I'm a sucker for a book with heart, and this novel had me pretty early on.  It's about a Latinx young man growing up poor in Tampa, Florida and struggling to find love, a way out of his impoverished neighborhood, and a way out of the restrictions of having to keep up a tough macho front.  He also is trying to survive a negligent alcoholic mother and her racist and abusive boyfriend who lives with and sponges off of them.

What are the things I especially liked about this book? I love that though Marcos, the main character, is smart and at times humorous, he is not constantly throwing out witty, hip comments and comebacks. In some YA books the protagonist feels like an attempt by the author to come up with a contemporary Holden Caulfield that doesn't ring true. In this novel, Marcos is so believable. He is also believable in his struggle to become a more authentic human being - we get glimpses of his true feelings through his inner thoughts and those feelings get expressed imperfectly (as they do with most people growing up).  I also love the romance (or desired romance) that forms a core of the novel.  It doesn't follow the conventional route in resolving itself and that is refreshing. I appreciated the portrayal of teachers in the book; they are not stereotyped as saviors or villains, but as people who have a tough job and can be really kind. The book also deals with race and cliques in ways that don't feel incredibly heavy handed or unrealistic.

I also love a book that bluntly reveals the struggles of being poor as just the matter of fact situation someone finds themselves in. Marcos just gets by with having to wear crummy shoes and just enough clean t-shirts to look good at school. One of his buddies - the academically most successful of the bunch - starts dealing drugs for an aunt in order to make more money - a decision that is treated realistically. Finally, I should mention that the book helpfully portrays the complicated situation a young person can find themselves  in when an adult in their household is physically and emotionally abusive.

Would I recommend The Closest I've Come? I definitely would. I think it would satisfy a lot of different kinds of readers.

Roadtripping the Past and the Present

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III

New York : Amulet Books, [2015]

165 p. : ill., map ; 21 cm. 

This is a little gem of a book! I love a brief, emotional and enlightening book.  Marshall succinctly retells the story of Lakota Indian and warrior, Ta-sunko-witko - known more commonly as Crazy Horse.   

Marshall embeds the story of Crazy Horse within the story of Jimmy, a contemporary eleven-year-old Lakota boy growing up in South Dakota.  This boy has light hair and blue eyes and so is teased and bullied by a couple of classmates.  During the summer his beloved grandpa takes him on a road trip through South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana - tracing places in the life of Crazy Horse which the grandpa fills in with storytelling.  As he teaches Jimmy about Crazy Horse's great character and courage,  he also notes that Crazy Horse also was known as "Light Hair" when he was young - something that connects him with Jimmy.

As they trace the places important in the life of Crazy Horse - Nebraska near Ash Hollow State Park, Forts Laramie and Reno in Wyoming, and battle sites like the Hundred in the Hands (Fetterman Fight) in Wyoming and the renowned Battle of the Little Bighorn (Battle of the Greasy Grass) in Montana. They even visit Fort Robinson in Nebraska where Crazy Horse surrendered and was murdered. 

Within all this history, is a lovely story of an elder passing on his knowledge to his grandson.  The grandfather, a Vietnam veteran, is clear-eyed about the cruel nature of war and battle, and also keenly aware that courage also means protecting the vulnerable and those you love.  By the end of the story, Jimmy is starting a new school year and - though fearful of the bullies - has a newfound strength in confronting them.

I definitely recommend this novel.

    

Dancing Free

Every Body Looking by Candace Iloh

New York : Dutton Books, [2020] 

403 p. ; 22 cm.

This is a book that gets better and better as you read it.  I wasn't really hooked at the beginning, but by the end I was turning the pages, and really rooting for college freshman, Ada, who is in her first year of college at the esteemed HBCU, Howard University.  Ada is a first generation Nigerian-American and has a devoted (but intensely religious) father who is divorced from her toxic mom. 

I really loved Ada's journey of embracing her real passion - to be a dancer - in the face of expectations from family to be a studious accounting major.  She also has to figure out her sexuality and what will make her life meaningful.

The book has received outstanding praise. It is a Michael Printz 2021 honor book and a 2020 National Book Award finalist! Like Elizabeth Acevedo's Poet X, it is written in verse, but it is organized in sections that have a staggered timeline - moving back and forth from high school, to college, to grade school. I liked Poet X better, but someone who likes dance, or a first year college experience, etc. might like this book as much or more. 

I would love to see how students respond to this book.  I will definitely recommend it to any student looking for a coming of age novel, a novel in verse, a book with a strong female lead, or just a read with a lot of heart.

Nothing About Everything

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

New York : Kokila, [2019]

323 p. : maps ; 22 cm. 

I know I ordered this book for the strong reviews it received, but what finally made me grab it off the shelf to look at one more time is the captivating cover.  So, yes, covers matter! But there is so much more to this book.  I think it is one of the best YA books I have read in a long time.

So what makes me hold this book such high regard? I think what I love is that it manages to do so many things at once and never condescends.  What is Patron Saints of Nothing about?  So many things: letting a friendship drop, family secrets, political violence, drug trafficking, the immigrant connecting with the home country, American naivete, the complexities of the truth, and growing up. Let me offer an example.

In the middle of the novel, the main character, high school senior Jay confronts his reactionary, violent uncle about the situation in the Philippines. The confrontation between them rings so true.  The uncle who knows so much more about the Philippines than Jay, cuts him down to size as nothing but a spoiled, arrogant American coming back to the country he left as a baby.  Jay knows the moral truth he is committed to, but is no match against the harsh and cynical adult and loses that argument.  I've never read such a well conveyed interchange that captures this dynamic. 

There is so much more.  The novel is a coming of age novel, it's a murder mystery, it's a family conflict drama, it's a bit of a romance - and yet it manages to weave all these strands together without feeling forced.  

I will recommend this book to our students and hope I can find someone who likes it as much as I did.

  

Like Horses at Rush Hour

Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri
Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2011.
218 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.    

I really got a kick out of this book.  The plot seems so ludicrous that I at first thought, this Neri has one crazy imagination.  I mean a wayward Detroit African-American kid sent by his mom to Philadelphia so he can straighten up with the father he has never known - who just happens to be a skilled horseman/cowboy living in the run down, inner city of Philly.  The thing is, it's based on real-life African-American, urban cowboys who have carried on this city tradition for nearly 100 years.

If you don't believe it, go over to G. Neri's website and brush up on your history - and get ready for a film version of the novel.

The novel is a touching coming of age story, involving the almost-teen Cole who has driven his mom to the edge with his growing misbehavior and bad attitude.  So she packs him in the car at night and takes him to Philadelphia where she literally dumps him with his father who he doesn't even know. After a rough start, the two start to bond and Cole - by working with horses - starts to figure out what the important things in life really are.  One of those values is taking a stand for tradition and culture against the greed of developers. 

There's a lot to recommend this story.  It angles a little young for high-schoolers, but I'll still recommend it, using the unreal situation of horses in the inner city as a selling point.

A Short and Wild Adventure

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
New York : A Tom Doherty Associates book, 2015.
90 p. ; 20 cm.

Yes, that is 90 p. as in only ninety pages!  But short can be sweet and this little book is captivating.  It's a wildly imaginative science fiction novella that bridges a non-industrial village tribe with an off planet university where the most brilliant  minds of the galaxy go to study.

It fuses a simple coming of age-journey (albeit to a distant planet!) with a shocking massacre and tense intergalactic diplomacy.

I enjoyed it, and it's brevity was refreshing. My hope is that a short book like this might be inviting to those students intimidated by the heftier science fiction/fantasy books that are so common.  I think once tempted, a reader will want more of the same, and with Okorafor there are many more works to sample.

Perfectly Not Perfect

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, [2017]
344 p. ; 22 cm.

I added this book to the library this school year after seeing it highly recommended in a review, and then seeing that it was a finalist for The National Book Award, I figured I had to read it.  I am very glad that I did. 

This book was great.  I was afraid that it would be a bit of a sentimentalizing or romanticizing look at a Mexican American family, but instead it was a book about the complex and difficult pains of loving and hating your family, of feeling trapped, of being poor, and of not fitting in.  It's not only a family drama, but is also a mystery of a death and unraveling the secret life of someone you think you know (or maybe I should say unraveling the secret lives of several people you think you know).  At its heart it's a thoughtful book about love.  It is a very tender book, but unlike Canales' The Tequila Worm, it has a lot of edge to it. 

The book follows the main character, high-schooler Julia, as she tries to grapple with several challenges: who really was her older, "perfect," recently deceased sister, how can she escape the limits of family and neighborhood to become the writer and intellectual she hopes to be, and how can she deal with the oppressive love of her grief stricken and overly strict parents?  Julia's trials over the course of the novel are interesting, sometimes surprising, often funny and worth the read.   Will I recommend this book? Absolutely



     

Fists and Crosses

Saints by Gene Luen Yang
New York : First Second, 2013.
170 p. : chiefly col. ill. ; 21 cm.  

After reading Boxers, I had to read this companion to it - which tells the same story, but from the point of view of a young Chinese, Christian convert who find herself on the opposite side of the violent Boxer Rebellion as the hero of Boxers.

All that I wrote in my review of Boxers below, applies to this book as well.  It's a great read and has the same captivating mix of history, supernatural, familial and social conflict, etc.

I'd definitely recommend reading Boxers first, it sets the stage well and makes it satisfying when the narrative exactly overlaps in several key scenes.

A Righteous and Harmonious Fist Bump

Boxers by Gene Luen Yang
New York : First Second, 2013.  
328 p. : chiefly col. ill. ; 21 cm.

Yang's American Born Chinese continues to circulate well with readers at our high school, and I hope that Boxers will do the same. With both fiction and graphic novels, the challenge of having historical events as the subject is finding the heart and power of that event and translating it to the genre being used.  I think it is a difficult challenge for any author, but especially for author's of young adult readers - where the desire to get lost in a book is a powerful appeal for readers already surrounded by informational text.  But it can be done, and I think Boxers proves it!

One never forgets that the power of Yang's book is the story and the characters involved in it. There is romance, danger, humor, wistfulness, longing, justice and magic propelling the story forward.  The comic artwork is clear, powerful, and interesting to look at.  Not convinced?  Take a look at some sample pages provide by Macmillian Publishers.

I was struck, after reading Boxers, at how cleverly the story made me want to know more about the actual history - and - at how pathetically little I know of Chinese history.  I had heard of the Boxer Rebellion, but knew little about it.  Furthermore, in reading some of the history that preceded it, I came across references to the Taiping Rebellion - a 14 year civil war that killed an estimate 20 million people!   And this is history that I knew nothing about.

So do I recommend this book? Absolutely.  It is a wonderful work of literary and visual art, and for teachers who might want to include it in a history class, there is even an extensive online teacher's guide to accompany the book.

Floats Like a Butterfly

Bed-stuy Setting of When I was the Greatest

When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds
New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2014]
231 p. ; 22 cm.  

This is one of those books that really exceeds expectations!  I read it because I saw that it had won the John Steptoe - New Talent / Coretta Scott King Award for 2015 and had received numerous positive reviews (e.g. Publishers Weekly and Kirkus), and I wanted to see for myself if it was a book I could recommend.  Also, I'm always on the lookout for diverse authors - our school is a very diverse school - and Jason Reynolds, a young African-American writer living in Brooklyn, interested me.

Would I recommend this book?  The answer is a definite Yes!  I loved this book.  One of the reviewers on Goodreads writes, "Jason Reynolds just slays the voice in this book.  Slays it," and I have to agree.  His voice reminded me a lot of Christopher Paul Curtis, the wonderful author of Bud not Buddy. But, where Bud not Buddy is aimed at middle school readers, Reynolds book hits right at the high school age reader.

What I loved about Reynolds book is that it deals with the rough life of the urban working poor and unemployed - and does so with humor, a light touch and a lot of heart.  There is action in this book, a bit of sex (or almost sex), physical violence, lawbreaking, and cussing, but the heart of the book is about loyalty, friendship, acceptance, and - dare one say it? - love.

It's funny to me that the cover, seen here,

was actually controversial!  I was disappointed with the cover, but not for it being too provocative.  On the contrary, I think it's a weak cover that doesn't grab the attention of a high school reader.  A stunning portrait of a kid in a fight, or shadows on a Brooklyn street, or hustlers on a street corner would have been far more compelling.  Honestly, when I first saw the book, I thought "Oh, cool it's a new LGBT book!" For the record, it's not.

Cover aside, I will definitely recommend this book to any student looking for an all-around good read or a fresh take on urban life, drama, and growing up.

Two Squared

Girls Like Us by Gail Giles
Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2015.
210 p. ; 20 cm.

This was a daring book for Gail Giles to write and a rewarding book to read.  In a helpful interview with School Library Journal, Giles says, "I was told by a publisher that I would be 'flayed' if I attempted this. I think trying to get into a mental impairment that you do not have is tricky."

When I first started reading the book, I wasn't sure she was going to pull it off successfully - one character, Quincy, is - as she puts it - "mixed race" and the other, Biddy, has an intellectual disability.  Each chapter is written in the voice of either Quincy or Biddy and features their particular slang and grammatical errors.  But as the novel goes on - and the smarts, courage and strengths of each of the girls is revealed - the dialect begins to feel both natural and respectful.

There is a lot that is touched on in this short, gritty and uplifting novel - prejudice, rape, friendship, race, bullying, sexual abuse, pregnancy, work, and becoming independent.  In spite of this there is a calm and lovely pace to the book and it doesn't usually feel forced.

I'm pleased to see that the book has been well reviewed, was long-listed for the National Book Award, and won the Schneider Family Book Award in 2015.  A teacher here at the UHS recommended the book to me and I'll definitely recommend it to students.


     

Fled is that Music

Wake by Lisa McMann
New York : Simon Pulse, 2009, c2008.
210 p. ; 21 cm.

I finally read Wake because it is popular with students and has been reissued  (along with its companion books) by Simon & Schuster.  It was an easy read, but a bit uneven.

McMann creates a very clever plot - a girl, Janie, who finds that she is uncontrollably drawn into other people's dreams.  As she comes of age, she gradually learns to control this condition and even learns that she can shape content and direction of the dream she enters.

A lot of the novel revolves around her growing attraction to a male friend Cabel - a relationship that moves from friendship to a sweet romance.

I found the writing to be uneven at times, occasionally feeling very choppy and disjointed.  I found myself wondering why the editor didn't take a more active role in shaping the final production of the novel.  I also felt that the introduction of spirituality (a dead person visits Janie in her dreams and it is clear that the spirit is real) undercuts the understated realism of Janie's dreamworld powers.  Finally, I found some of the plot twists toward the end to be more like TV show plotting instead of good fiction.

Overall, a strong start, but a vision that fades (and so the title of this post).  Problems aside, Wake is a fun read and one that clearly appeals to young readers, so I'll give it a thumbs up with some qualifications.

Predators and Prey

Knockout Games by G. Neri
Minneapolis, MN : Carolrhoda Lab, [2014]
293 p. ; 20 cm.

In spite of the generally positive reviews for this book, I've got to give this novel a mixed review. I appreciate what G. Neri is trying to do - get inside the minds and hearts of kids involved in "knockout games" - the brutal crime of attacking a random stranger with the idea of knocking them out with one vicious blow. He tries this through the main character, Erica, who has landed in a rough area St. Louis after her parents split up.  She has a talent for video editing and ends up involved with  the group of high school/middle school kids who are victimizing strangers in her neighborhood with their random assaults.  She especially gets in deep emotionally with Kalvin, the charismatic leader and "Knockout King" of the group.

The novel is set in St. Louis and closely parallels the real knockout game story that transpired there. Neri does a pretty good job of showing how peer pressure, boredom, and machismo create a lure for the "game" but I just never found myself drawn in to the main character's motivations.  Frankly, she's kind of a repulsive character, getting off on editing videos of the attacks and even assaulting one of the victims herself.

Neri seems to want to just tell the story, and not preach a lot, which is fine.  But I think what he really fails to convey is the absolute terror and life altering experience that being a victim of the knockout game would be.  He tries to in the one case that goes horrifically wrong, resulting in a murder - but that is it.

I will say that the pace of the novel picks up as it goes on, especially as all of Erica's really bad decisions and actions begin to have consequences for her and those around her.

I won't be recommending it to students, but I will be curious to see and hear what students think of it if they do read it.

Potty Mouth Powerhouse is a Four-wheel Force of Nature

Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw
New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2014.
250 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.

What's not to like about this rollicking, bawdy and well-written memoir by 21-year old Shane Burcaw who has SMA - Spinal Muscular Atrophy - a degenerative muscular disease which is likely to kill him?

Burcaw's book has been positively reviewed, and rightfully so.  Publisher's Weekly states: "His honesty, tempered by mordant humor and a defiant acceptance, is refreshing, even as he thumbs his nose at the disease that is slowly stripping him of the basics." Booklist notes, "Burcaw's smart, gracious, and funny take on his life is an object lesson in positivity, and this eloquently written and moving memoir would easily find a home in both adult and youth collections."

The thing I love about Burcaw's book is his ability to be both positive and life affirming, but also angry, cynical and unsparingly honest.  He also is really funny and at times raunchy in describing many situations he has found himself in.  He is not afraid to be blunt about his fears, his dislikes, and the painful and humiliating ways his disease has affected his life.

I would definitely recommend this book to students.  There is a lot to admire in this book and so much to learn.  

King Ick

King Dork by Frank Portman
New York : Delacorte Press, c2006.
344 p. ; 22 cm.

Some books work for me and some don't.  This one just didn't, which surprised me since it received a lot of very positive reviews.

As someone who has been working in public schools for over a decade, I found what Booklist calls "a humorous, scathing indictment of the current public education system" to be instead a cynical, crass and deeply dishonest portrayal of public school life.  The high school of Dorkworld is a vicious place where faculty gladly and frequently bully students, where bullying by students is completely accepted and condoned, and where the academics are non-existent.  That would all be ok, if the intention of hte book was to create a exaggerated parody of public high schools.  Additionally, the teachers in Dorkworld are a bunch of imbeciles, bullies, fools, and/or pornographic criminals - and the academic world they preside over is one where even the AP classes offer little more than inane fluff.

Finally, the main "hero" of Dorkworld is supposedly an unappealing outsider subject to bullying, ridicule and insults - but as the novel ends it becomes apparent that he's really as crass as any of the pathological normals that he hates, considers himself better than everyone else, and somehow ends up as the sensual boy-toy of two rather attractive girls.

The writing is pretty good.  Dialogue is well done.  But for me this book just lacks heart.

Horse Fatigue

The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
New York : Vintage Books, 1995, c1994.
425 p. ; 21 cm.

I liked the beginnings of this novel a lot.  The main character Billy, a young man, gets involved in the trapping of a wolf and his attempt to return it to its range, a quest which leads him on a coming of age journey as he wrestles with the ferocious forces of nature and the sometimes kind and sometimes dangerous/savage forces of the human world.

This second novel of the "Border Trilogy" moves from being a powerful story of a young man and his quest to release a she wolf - into a repetitive and gloomier repeat of his All the Pretty Horses, the first book in the is "Border Trilogy." His next quest involves he and his younger brother seeking the horses stolen from his murdered family and the subsequent sufferings and tragedies they experience.

I enjoy the high style of McCarthy, but after a while I just started to grow weary with it.

If you love McCarthy, you will probably enjoy the novel, but I felt like it could have been far shorter and would have been more powerful if it had been.

More Than a Pretty Horse

All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
New York : Knopf, c1992.
301 p. ; 22 cm.

I first read this book about fifteen years ago. I read it then because it had won the National Book Award and for the first few pages, I was not impressed. It almost seemed like a parody of Hemingway with its short, sparse sentences - but then, wow! it grabbed me with its lush romantic beauty and gorgeous descriptions and never let go.  Cormac McCarthy has become something of a major literary figure in American fiction, and so I wanted to revisit his novel ( I had planned to read all three of his "Border Trilogy" works, but only made it through the second one, The Crossing.)

All the Pretty Horses works as a love story, a coming of age novel, a quest novel, and and ode to the end of the horseback riders era in the Texas-Mexico borderlands.

The book is in many ways a tale of moralities.  What are the bonds of loyalty, friendship, family, and, of course, love?  It is a tale of integrity, of human-animal interdependence, of the beauty of the land and of the powers of goodness and evil.

I would definitely recommend this book to a student looking for a literary, but very readable and compelling novel.

Hallucinating Iowa & Genetically Modified Obessions

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
New York, N.Y. : Dutton Books, 2014.
388 p. ; 22 cm.  

Grasshopper Jungle is a wild ride.  It has been critically acclaimed - from the New York Times to making the 2015 Printz honor list.  I found it a compelling read - exciting, clever, funny, sometimes gruesome, and sometimes brilliant.  However, I ultimately found myself disappointed with the near-manic, writerly wittiness of the main character combined with his obsessive fixation on his (and others' testicles).

Before going further, I should just recap that the novel centers around Austin, a young man in a dinky Iowa town who accidentally unleashes a genetically manipulated plague that turns people into grizzly bear-sized, unstoppable, deadly, exponentially-reproductive mantids.  Caught at the center of this apocalyptic nightmare are Austin, his beloved girl friend, Shann, and his best friend Robby - a smart and striking gay young man for whom Austin has more than just feelings of friendship.  Austin is in a constant state of being turned on and attracted to practically all females - and confused about his love and attraction to Robby.

There is a great deal of wit, humor, history, politics and pop culture to round out this novel.  But I couldn't help getting weary of Austin's fixation on his testicles and the testicles of practically every male that's mentioned in the novel.  The novel has a middle school fixation on things bodily and sexual and I found it tiresome.

I would have loved the novel more if the locker room humor had been cut by about half.  It still would be a funny, and bawdy story, but it just wouldn't seem like it was trying SO hard to be edgy.  I also just find humor about testicles to be kind of boring - something I have felt watching the Daily Show and The Colbert Report.  As I read it, I kept trying to imagine a woman writing anything remotely similar...maybe.

Would I recommend the book?  Yes, to a mature student looking for a rollicking send-up of the end-of-the-world genre.  It is a fun read.  Also the ending was really great...no compromise there and pleasantly surprising.