Author: Gary Schmidt
Genre: YA Fiction, Standalone
Published: 2011
Personal Rating: 3.5/5 (good)
Format/Narrator: Audiobook/Lincoln Hoppe
Yearly Count: 15
When 14-year-old Doug Swieteck's dad loses his job, the family moves to a remote city in upstate New York, and everybody needs to make adjustments to their new life.
I have jumbled feelings about this book, because the main character, Doug, had a mixed bag of qualities -- some endearing, some unbelievably annoying. The annoying ones are what caused me to not enjoy it as much as I could have. Doug has the irritating habit of saying many phrases over and over again (sometimes with a little variation), but for the most part there were two phrases that I wanted to scream if I heard again. UGH! The endearing qualities of this 14-year-old ended up taking a back seat by the end of the book.
The storyline was good, but it didn't grab me as stellar either. There are a lot of topics to discuss, though, so it would probably make a great YA book club choice.
I liked this one more than you did.
ReplyDeleteBermudaonion ~ Too much repetition for me!!!
DeleteThis is one that I've been wanting to read!!
ReplyDeleteStaci ~ I think you'll enjoy it.
DeleteI tried this on audio and couldn't get interested. I think I have the ARC somewhere, but now I'm not sure if I want to bother.
ReplyDeleteLes ~ I think it took me a bit to get interested, but once I did, the repetition began.
DeleteI HATE when the same phrases get used over and over. When it's used too much it really can spoil the whole book.
ReplyDeleteStacybuckeye ~ You would hate this one then! Repetition galore. Maybe reading it would work, instead of audio.
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