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aholeistodig's review
4.0
Terrific "it-was-the-summer-I-fell-in-love" novel, with some classism issues and a nice big dose of moral ambiguity.
situationnormal's review
2.0
Gentlehands would have been so much better if it was actually about Gentlehands, and not about Buddy. Buddy was boring. Skye got on my nerves. Everything annoyed me. And they had this whole, "HOLY SHIT!" thing going and then just basically ruined. The ending unfolded in like, five minutes. It pisses me offffff. I want the book, over again, from a different perspective. In fact, get rid of Buddy & Skye all together. They're boring and nobody cares. I want to hear about grandpa & the Italian cousin.
Oh, and the raccoon. We'll briefly discuss him.
Oh, and the raccoon. We'll briefly discuss him.
ereadsandreviews's review
5.0
Read this book in the 6th grade and I absolutely loved it. A couple of years later, I read Deliver Us From Evie and Gentlehands popped into my mind. The story is easy to follow and I never once wished it would speed up. Definitely a book to read if it's raining/thundering or if you just want a book to get you out of a reading slump.
sirlancereads's review
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
lunacat357's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
Moderate: Racism
peachykeenebooks's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
jenbsbooks's review
3.0
My son was reading this for his 8th grade English class. He asked if I might read it too, to discuss it with him and help a bit on his book report. It was short and a quick read (for me anyway, still took him a while). I didn't love it but could see how it has historical significance and points to ponder. It was just everything that lead up to that ... the "summer romance" between the poor kid and the rich girl would have been okay, but I just didn't care for Buddy much as a character, as he'd blow off his brother and lie to his family (and tell his mother to lie to his father).
Interesting to read some of the reviews that loved the book. Just okay for me ... complete struggle for my son! They had been given a list of books to choose from and I wish he'd enlisted my help at that point, as I think he would have found a book actually happening in the war time period more interesting (here it was the 1970s so all context was what had happened years ago).
Interesting to read some of the reviews that loved the book. Just okay for me ... complete struggle for my son! They had been given a list of books to choose from and I wish he'd enlisted my help at that point, as I think he would have found a book actually happening in the war time period more interesting (here it was the 1970s so all context was what had happened years ago).
sierrarain03's review
2.0
More like 1.5 stars.
**SPOILERS IF YOU CARE TO READ THIS BOOK DON'T READ THIS REVIEW CUZ IT MAY HAVE SPOILERSSSS**
Okay, so I had to read this for my ninth grade English class this year.... and... I absolutely HATED these characters.
Buddy: I think he is the most bland main character (character in general) I have ever encountered in reading. All I knew about him is that him and his family are low middle class, he works at Sweet Mouth Soda Shoppe, and that he desperate to be with a pretty rich girl who is Skye Pennington. I hardly know anything about his personality because I feel as if all that he is is his "love" for Skye. Skye is just aaaaaa (choice of words) that is pretty selfish, snobby, and led Buddy on when it could have been avoided all together if she had just stopped from agreeing on going on date.
Their relationship is incredibly boring in my opinion, there's hardly any connection, Skye just acts like it's a little game, not a FUN and a Flirty game but one that will just break Buddy's heart in the end because she clearly doesn't care about the relationship and was very casual and careless of them not being able to see each other when summer ends. Honestly Skye just pissed me off in general.
Grandpa Trenker was a really well developed character. He had passion, a past, a personality. He seemed like an actual real life human and not a robot unlike basically all of the rest of the characters. Sure he reveal of him being Gentlehands was extremely predictable to me, i still had me think quite a lot. More so on HOW THE ACTUAL F*** he changed so drastically from a sadistic young man with a Nazi ideaology, to a loving old man who cares about animals more then himself.
The story didn't begin until the last thirty pages tops with hardly any build up before the "climax".
I personally do not recommend reading this unless you want an extremely easy read.
**SPOILERS IF YOU CARE TO READ THIS BOOK DON'T READ THIS REVIEW CUZ IT MAY HAVE SPOILERSSSS**
Okay, so I had to read this for my ninth grade English class this year.... and... I absolutely HATED these characters.
Buddy: I think he is the most bland main character (character in general) I have ever encountered in reading. All I knew about him is that him and his family are low middle class, he works at Sweet Mouth Soda Shoppe, and that he desperate to be with a pretty rich girl who is Skye Pennington. I hardly know anything about his personality because I feel as if all that he is is his "love" for Skye. Skye is just aaaaaa (choice of words) that is pretty selfish, snobby, and led Buddy on when it could have been avoided all together if she had just stopped from agreeing on going on date.
Their relationship is incredibly boring in my opinion, there's hardly any connection, Skye just acts like it's a little game, not a FUN and a Flirty game but one that will just break Buddy's heart in the end because she clearly doesn't care about the relationship and was very casual and careless of them not being able to see each other when summer ends. Honestly Skye just pissed me off in general.
Grandpa Trenker was a really well developed character. He had passion, a past, a personality. He seemed like an actual real life human and not a robot unlike basically all of the rest of the characters. Sure he reveal of him being Gentlehands was extremely predictable to me, i still had me think quite a lot. More so on HOW THE ACTUAL F*** he changed so drastically from a sadistic young man with a Nazi ideaology, to a loving old man who cares about animals more then himself.
The story didn't begin until the last thirty pages tops with hardly any build up before the "climax".
I personally do not recommend reading this unless you want an extremely easy read.
amyl88's review
3.0
This book started out as a "poor town boy meets rich summer girl" story. There was a bit of class tension, but nothing really serious. Then it took a turn. Someone accuses Buddy's grandfather, who he only recently met, of having been a guard at Auschwitz in WWII. Buddy doesn't want to believe it, and he has to try to stand up for him against the rest of the town.