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jackiehorne's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 Another book from the Boston Bookfair panel on writing sex in fiction. Handler says he intended to publish this as a YA novel, but his publisher held it for a year then finally said they couldn't issue it for teens. Wow, pretty cowardly, I thought, especially as teens can get their hands on far more sexually explicit material with just a click of a mouse than anything that appears in this slim volume. And pretty unexpected, since Cole, the book's sex-crazed first-person narrator, gets his comeuppance with a vengeance by book's end, which I would have guessed might have appeased the literary children's book publisher & audience.
We need a better word to describe what Cole is: "man-slut" and "man-whore" all rely on negative images of women to make their point, while "sexually promiscuous" rings of judgmental finger-wagging. Suffice it to say, Cole likes sex—a lot. It's almost all he ever thinks about, and is a large part of how he occupies himself throughout the day. Having sex with lots of different girls (and fooling around with his best male friend when he's between girlfriends), watching online porn, daydreaming about touching and being touched.
Cole may be sexually informed, but emotionally he's pretty muddled. Early on, he has a fascinating conversation with his female friend Kristen, asking her what it means when a girl who he's been dating for a month but with whom he hasn't had sex yet moves his hand to her breast. Does she want it? Why is she closing her legs, then? Does that mean "no"? Or does it mean "yes, right there"? "You could ask her," Kristen tells him, but clearly communication is not a top priority for Cole. A later scene clearly shows Cole's modus operandi, when he picks up a freshman girl at a party and has sex with her. He's oblivious (but the author doesn't intend the reader to be, I think) to the girl's worries, her liking for a hot older high schooler, her reluctance to have sex overcome by her desire to be noticed, to be wanted.
But Cole gets his comeuppance when he falls for a European girl who is just as into casual sex as he is. And who is as well-versed in porn tropes as he is. She suggests that they each sleep with someone else, something Cole goes through with himself despite his reluctance. But when Grisaille does the same, Cole is devastated.
As in Handler's WHY WE BROKE UP, there's an underlying sense of "punish the bad guy" here, even if the bad guy is our first-person narrator. Which is distinctly unappealing.
Handler says he thinks the way to get teen boys reading more is to include more sex in their books. I'd like to see this book in the hands of teen girls, though, to give them an insight into the mind of a boy saturated in, as the flap copy describes it, "a culture of unrelenting explicitness and shunted conversation." ("I'm seventeen now, and no real girl has really told me to ejaculate on her face. Maybe it'll never happen" [23]).
We need a better word to describe what Cole is: "man-slut" and "man-whore" all rely on negative images of women to make their point, while "sexually promiscuous" rings of judgmental finger-wagging. Suffice it to say, Cole likes sex—a lot. It's almost all he ever thinks about, and is a large part of how he occupies himself throughout the day. Having sex with lots of different girls (and fooling around with his best male friend when he's between girlfriends), watching online porn, daydreaming about touching and being touched.
Cole may be sexually informed, but emotionally he's pretty muddled. Early on, he has a fascinating conversation with his female friend Kristen, asking her what it means when a girl who he's been dating for a month but with whom he hasn't had sex yet moves his hand to her breast. Does she want it? Why is she closing her legs, then? Does that mean "no"? Or does it mean "yes, right there"? "You could ask her," Kristen tells him, but clearly communication is not a top priority for Cole. A later scene clearly shows Cole's modus operandi, when he picks up a freshman girl at a party and has sex with her. He's oblivious (but the author doesn't intend the reader to be, I think) to the girl's worries, her liking for a hot older high schooler, her reluctance to have sex overcome by her desire to be noticed, to be wanted.
But Cole gets his comeuppance when he falls for a European girl who is just as into casual sex as he is. And who is as well-versed in porn tropes as he is. She suggests that they each sleep with someone else, something Cole goes through with himself despite his reluctance. But when Grisaille does the same, Cole is devastated.
As in Handler's WHY WE BROKE UP, there's an underlying sense of "punish the bad guy" here, even if the bad guy is our first-person narrator. Which is distinctly unappealing.
Handler says he thinks the way to get teen boys reading more is to include more sex in their books. I'd like to see this book in the hands of teen girls, though, to give them an insight into the mind of a boy saturated in, as the flap copy describes it, "a culture of unrelenting explicitness and shunted conversation." ("I'm seventeen now, and no real girl has really told me to ejaculate on her face. Maybe it'll never happen" [23]).
natahoochie's review against another edition
challenging
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Hot and skeezy and gross and wonderful. Loved it.
ktozz's review against another edition
2.0
This is a very quick read - only 144 pages - and thank goodness for that. The book completely lacks plot and its main purpose is to document the main character's sexual exploits. If the book had been any longer, I probably would have given up. The book is very well-written but the characters are very unlikeable. Alec is the only character who is somewhat likeable, but he disappears about halfway through the book.
Since the book is so short, I feel like more plot could have easily been added. Instead, it was more of a stream of consciousness of the main character, Cole. One of the more interesting parts of the book was also cut kind of short,. I feel like that could have been delved into more, or even came back to later on, but it wasn't touched on much again.
I don't know if I am being exceptionally harsh because I was really looking forward to this book, or if it really was that bad. But thank you to Bloomsbury, Daniel Handler, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Since the book is so short, I feel like more plot could have easily been added. Instead, it was more of a stream of consciousness of the main character, Cole. One of the more interesting parts of the book was also cut kind of short,
Spoiler
Cole's experimentation with AlecI don't know if I am being exceptionally harsh because I was really looking forward to this book, or if it really was that bad. But thank you to Bloomsbury, Daniel Handler, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
thaoeatworld's review against another edition
5.0
I don’t know why I liked this book, because in actuality it’s pretty terrible. I think it had terrible messages and really close-minded perspectives. Maybe I read it as a satire because young men really can’t be thinking like this? I enjoyed seeing the protagonist suffer to some degree. Hm, will re-read again.
lattelibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Those of you who know me will know that I hate porn. So when I read the first few pages of this, I felt hesitant? Do I feel any desire to follow a porn-obsessed teen's narrative? Normally, the answer would be no, but as it was written by Daniel Handler, I figured that there'd be a catch. And a catch, there was.
Told through vignettes, we learn that Cole has gotten an unsavory reputation as a boy who tricks girls into having sex with him and then discarding them without so much of an "I'm sorry." So when he meets Grisaille, a girl with as big of a sex drive as he has (or perhaps bigger), he learns just how those other girls might have felt. After all, he can't compete, he knows he's being used, and then later, he's discarded all by himself, having discarded his best friend, too.
Handler keeps true to himself--it's all the dirty parts, the nitty-gritty of Cole's brief fascination and totally not gay activities with Alex, and the harsh realities Cole realizes as he continues his smutty relationship. I'm actually surprised that this book wasn't up for the running for the Alex award, and heck, this is a pretty safe book to read on the bus, too, given how...intimate it can get.
Overall, I'm in the love camp for this book. It's short, quick, and to the point that boys know exactly what they're doing.
Review cross-listed here!
Told through vignettes, we learn that Cole has gotten an unsavory reputation as a boy who tricks girls into having sex with him and then discarding them without so much of an "I'm sorry." So when he meets Grisaille, a girl with as big of a sex drive as he has (or perhaps bigger), he learns just how those other girls might have felt. After all, he can't compete, he knows he's being used, and then later, he's discarded all by himself, having discarded his best friend, too.
Handler keeps true to himself--it's all the dirty parts, the nitty-gritty of Cole's brief fascination and totally not gay activities with Alex, and the harsh realities Cole realizes as he continues his smutty relationship. I'm actually surprised that this book wasn't up for the running for the Alex award, and heck, this is a pretty safe book to read on the bus, too, given how...intimate it can get.
Overall, I'm in the love camp for this book. It's short, quick, and to the point that boys know exactly what they're doing.
Review cross-listed here!
theangrystackrat's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
erincataldi's review against another edition
3.0
I was definitely intrigued by this book when I realized it was written by the author of the Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snicket) and it was all about sex and horny teenagers. I mean, obviously I had to give this book a shot. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. I didn't know what to expect honestly. It's a bunch of short passages about a horny teenage boy discussing his love and appreciation for the female body, pornography, and sex. Cole has bit of a reputation around his high school, he chases after the ladies, he can't help it. He just wants them all. When in between ladies, he watches porn with his best friend Alec. One day things get all hot and awkward and the two boys start fooling around. It's just innocent exploration. Until suddenly it's a little more and Cole is getting concerned. Is he gay? What does this mean? At the height of his existential crisis a new girl comes to school and the two start having crazy awesome sex, much to Alec's dismay. Is he bi? Is he in love? Is it just sex? All this book contains are the dirty parts. That and confusion. It's a quick read, and I'm not sure what I gained out of it, but I didn't hate it.
j_olip's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted this book to be as good as, "Why We Broke Up", but it just wasn't. The male lead has no real personality, he is simply obsessed with sex and the entire book is essentially sexual snippets. The explicit nature of the novel really didn't bother me, it bothered me more than I really didn't see where it was going.
michellemjeffers's review against another edition
4.0
What an odd little book. True to its name, it definitely was all the dirty parts. Charming yet deeply weird.