A YA novel that’s more didactic than entertaining.
This debut YA novel follows the exploits of an imaginary breed of creature called “Humirrels,” a cross between squirrels and humans that lives on a cloud in the middle of the sea.
The story mainly follows the adventures of two young Humirrels: Ishmael, who, like many preteen and teenage boys, is impulsive and occasionally thoughtless, and Eveowna, who is more mature and rather prim. The two go to school together and, after Ishmael finds a trap door to another land in his backyard, travel to a new land. Interspersed with these episodes are scenes of Ishmael at home, usually locking horns with his mother, who’s doing her best to raise him to be a good little Humirrel. Meanwhile, there are typical childhood occurrences—getting in trouble for talking out of turn during class, fighting with a close friend, tension between parent and child. Kids and adults would find the corresponding lessons more palatable if they were coated with a bit more plot as opposed to being presented as plainly as a plate of undressed kale. Although the title implies that the novel will be of interest to teens up to 16 years old, in both style and content it seems aimed at a much younger audience. Much of the novel concerns itself with imparting the kinds of life lessons and appropriate behaviors instilled in children: obey one’s elders; going to school is important; be considerate toward others’ feelings; etc. Also, the text needs to be cleaned up, since commas are rather sorely abused: “At least they didn’t have to swim any more, for a long while at least, they could just relax.” With a lively imagination, George has clearly put a lot of time and care into crafting the Humirrel breed—for instance, when Humirrels blush, “their foreheads go a weird purple colour”—but these details are frequently inserted almost at random and not integrated into the overall narrative.
A YA novel that’s more didactic than entertaining.Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-1491802830
Page Count: 228
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: April 22, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Aspiring filmmaker/first-novelist Chbosky adds an upbeat ending to a tale of teenaged angst—the right combination of realism and uplift to allow it on high school reading lists, though some might object to the sexuality, drinking, and dope-smoking. More sophisticated readers might object to the rip-off of Salinger, though Chbosky pays homage by having his protagonist read Catcher in the Rye. Like Holden, Charlie oozes sincerity, rails against celebrity phoniness, and feels an extraliterary bond with his favorite writers (Harper Lee, Fitzgerald, Kerouac, Ayn Rand, etc.). But Charlie’s no rich kid: the third child in a middle-class family, he attends public school in western Pennsylvania, has an older brother who plays football at Penn State, and an older sister who worries about boys a lot. An epistolary novel addressed to an anonymous “friend,” Charlie’s letters cover his first year in high school, a time haunted by the recent suicide of his best friend. Always quick to shed tears, Charlie also feels guilty about the death of his Aunt Helen, a troubled woman who lived with Charlie’s family at the time of her fatal car wreck. Though he begins as a friendless observer, Charlie is soon pals with seniors Patrick and Sam (for Samantha), stepsiblings who include Charlie in their circle, where he smokes pot for the first time, drops acid, and falls madly in love with the inaccessible Sam. His first relationship ends miserably because Charlie remains compulsively honest, though he proves a loyal friend (to Patrick when he’s gay-bashed) and brother (when his sister needs an abortion). Depressed when all his friends prepare for college, Charlie has a catatonic breakdown, which resolves itself neatly and reveals a long-repressed truth about Aunt Helen. A plain-written narrative suggesting that passivity, and thinking too much, lead to confusion and anxiety. Perhaps the folks at (co-publisher) MTV see the synergy here with Daria or any number of videos by the sensitive singer-songwriters they feature.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 1999
ISBN: 0-671-02734-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: MTV Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes...
In a riveting novel from Myers (At Her Majesty’s Request, 1999, etc.), a teenager who dreams of being a filmmaker writes the story of his trial for felony murder in the form of a movie script, with journal entries after each day’s action.
Steve is accused of being an accomplice in the robbery and murder of a drug store owner. As he goes through his trial, returning each night to a prison where most nights he can hear other inmates being beaten and raped, he reviews the events leading to this point in his life. Although Steve is eventually acquitted, Myers leaves it up to readers to decide for themselves on his protagonist’s guilt or innocence.
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes written entirely in dialogue alternate with thoughtful, introspective journal entries that offer a sense of Steve’s terror and confusion, and that deftly demonstrate Myers’s point: the road from innocence to trouble is comprised of small, almost invisible steps, each involving an experience in which a “positive moral decision” was not made. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-028077-8
Page Count: 280
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1999
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