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abby_reads_books's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
theartolater's review against another edition
2.0
You remember that guy who was always the smartest dude in the room? I'm not talking about the people you know as adults, but the know-it-all kid that's the stereotypical dweeb you knew as a child? Do you want to read about that?
This is a book about two things - it's a great book about someone who spent his high school years on debate team, and it's a terrible memoir of someone growing up thinking he's the kid who's so much better than his peers. So much of the latter feels like the lament of the child who cannot associate with people his own age and knows too much for his own good, as well as the trouble he got himself into as a result. The reader is forced to slog through that in order to get to the meat - life as a debate club member. My high school didn't have a debate team when I went there, but the way it's presented here I would have loved it. It makes one of the nerdiest school-sponsored endeavors available seem cool, and that takes something.
I wish this was less memoir and more debate. Unfortunately, it's the other way around, and I'm not at all sure anyone would be picking this book up intending to read someone's high school memoirs. I know I didn't. All I want now is a book about debate club, and perhaps mostly/only about debate team.
This is a book about two things - it's a great book about someone who spent his high school years on debate team, and it's a terrible memoir of someone growing up thinking he's the kid who's so much better than his peers. So much of the latter feels like the lament of the child who cannot associate with people his own age and knows too much for his own good, as well as the trouble he got himself into as a result. The reader is forced to slog through that in order to get to the meat - life as a debate club member. My high school didn't have a debate team when I went there, but the way it's presented here I would have loved it. It makes one of the nerdiest school-sponsored endeavors available seem cool, and that takes something.
I wish this was less memoir and more debate. Unfortunately, it's the other way around, and I'm not at all sure anyone would be picking this book up intending to read someone's high school memoirs. I know I didn't. All I want now is a book about debate club, and perhaps mostly/only about debate team.
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