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megandukebooks's review
5.0
What really caught my attention about this book, wasn't the secret that Sprout was trying (or not trying) to tell. It was all the other things. I guess that was the point of the book. His secret wasn't really a secret. It was something, as he states towards the end of the book, that everyone knew but him.
I loved the truth behind this book. The way it's written, allowed me as the reader to be placed directly into Sprout's shoes. This wasn't just because it was told in first person. Going back and forth between the current story and the essays that told about his past is what helped me to fully understand him as a person. It comes down to the basic idea that Sprout new who is was, but was afraid that other people would judge him for it. How could he not think this way? His father judged him by not caring, his teacher judged him by caring too much, and his best friend judged him merely out of jealousy. The one thing that really defined him became something of a ball and chain. So he fixated on other aspects of himself - more physical ones to be more exact - such as dying his hair green.
To me, his green hair gave the other kids a more tangible thing to make fun of versus the other, more personal thing that would have actually hurt a lot more. Being gay wasn't his "secret", but really it was the thing that formed his problem: not being able to say, "I love you".
I loved the truth behind this book. The way it's written, allowed me as the reader to be placed directly into Sprout's shoes. This wasn't just because it was told in first person. Going back and forth between the current story and the essays that told about his past is what helped me to fully understand him as a person. It comes down to the basic idea that Sprout new who is was, but was afraid that other people would judge him for it. How could he not think this way? His father judged him by not caring, his teacher judged him by caring too much, and his best friend judged him merely out of jealousy. The one thing that really defined him became something of a ball and chain. So he fixated on other aspects of himself - more physical ones to be more exact - such as dying his hair green.
To me, his green hair gave the other kids a more tangible thing to make fun of versus the other, more personal thing that would have actually hurt a lot more. Being gay wasn't his "secret", but really it was the thing that formed his problem: not being able to say, "I love you".
beecheralyson's review
4.0
Slow start but enjoyed Daniel/Sprout's transformation over time and what he learned. Really a 3.5 but no half stars so I bumped up to a 4.
book_nut's review
3.0
I would have liked it better if the author had actually gotten Hutchinson "right" as opposed to making Kansas out to be a bass-ackwards (which it can be at times, I admit), hickville. He needed someplace "rural" to juxtapose the confusion of the main character with his mother's death and his search for (gay) love and the conservative bureaucracy around him. Why not set it in Mississippi? Anyway. It grated.
teatales's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
Okay I thought this was going to be a straight-forward, generally positive review but the last half of the book idk made me question things. I loved the beginning of the book, particularly since it's quite old I was surprised how it held up (although there is one use of the r-word quite near the beginning that put me off). Really liked Sprout's character, and in general the book was weird in the way that I really enjoy. Kinda of like Patrick Ness. I was disappointed by how Ruthie's character was treated - both by the author and Sprout. I couldn't really get a read on it since they were really close in the beginning and then she just disappeared. and the pregnancy? was that a joke? . Also I did Not get the ending, particularly in terms of Ty. IDEK. Maybe I'll get more perspective if I read it again. But also I was reading some things about the author that did not seem cool at all
amynbell's review
4.0
It shouldn't take too long for this to make teen banned book lists across America. It's well-written, so it's probably going to be passed around high school friends quite quickly. However, it has more innuedo to profanity and sex than any novel I've read in a while. Yes, I said "innuendo". Sometimes double entendre and allusion gives you enough of a picture to not have to be reading the actual thing. And this was the author's intention. The back cover says that "Sprout has a secret. It's not what you think -- he'll tell you he's gay." I assumed this meant that his sexuality wasn't going to be a focus of the book. I was wrong.
I have to say that I fell in love with the writer's ideas for eccentric characters in this book. Daniel (a.k.a. Sprout) is a talented writer with green hair. He loves word play. I love word play. Thus, Sprout was instantly cast in my mind as a character who could have been my high school best friend (except that my real best friend in high school wasn't gay). Sprout's dad has moved them from Long Island to Kansas to deal with his newly found widowdom. Dad's idea of landscaping includes planting vines to cover their small trailer and planting rows upon rows of dead trees with their roots up in the air instead of in the ground. Sprout's English teacher invites Sprout over to her house to practice his essay-writing and serves him alcohol and profanity (both of which he declines). It seems, however, that she's really invited him over to get closer to one of the subjects of his writing (and it's not Sprout).
The author has a real talent for creating memorable and distinct characters and has a real talent for using words in the most effective way possible. Even though the storyline of the book doesn't pick up intensity until the last half of the book, I barely noticed because I was so busy absorbing the nice words. While the novel is basically a "coming of age story" about a gay teenage boy, it's not as generic and cliche as it sounds. It's also about love found and love lost, but that, too, seems to not do justice to the writing and characters which bring this novel to life.
Note: While I critique both purchased and free books in the same way, I'm legally obligated to tell you I received this book free through the Amazon Vine program in return for my review. Blah blah blah.
I have to say that I fell in love with the writer's ideas for eccentric characters in this book. Daniel (a.k.a. Sprout) is a talented writer with green hair. He loves word play. I love word play. Thus, Sprout was instantly cast in my mind as a character who could have been my high school best friend (except that my real best friend in high school wasn't gay). Sprout's dad has moved them from Long Island to Kansas to deal with his newly found widowdom. Dad's idea of landscaping includes planting vines to cover their small trailer and planting rows upon rows of dead trees with their roots up in the air instead of in the ground. Sprout's English teacher invites Sprout over to her house to practice his essay-writing and serves him alcohol and profanity (both of which he declines). It seems, however, that she's really invited him over to get closer to one of the subjects of his writing (and it's not Sprout).
The author has a real talent for creating memorable and distinct characters and has a real talent for using words in the most effective way possible. Even though the storyline of the book doesn't pick up intensity until the last half of the book, I barely noticed because I was so busy absorbing the nice words. While the novel is basically a "coming of age story" about a gay teenage boy, it's not as generic and cliche as it sounds. It's also about love found and love lost, but that, too, seems to not do justice to the writing and characters which bring this novel to life.
Note: While I critique both purchased and free books in the same way, I'm legally obligated to tell you I received this book free through the Amazon Vine program in return for my review. Blah blah blah.
darby15's review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Bullying, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Violence, Religious bigotry, Blood, and Homophobia
Minor: Cancer, Pregnancy, and Animal death
heykellyjensen's review
So I had to quit this one. I liked it well enough and Sprout was very funny, but it just didn't grab me enough to read it all. I know this will reach a good audience though, and the humor is perfectly suited to the audience.
margaretann84's review
5.0
After I finished this book, I was faced with the inexplicable urge to start crying. Since I'm at school with a class coming in in the next ten minutes and I'm one of the ugliest criers, I decided to write a review in order to compose myself.
This is a beautiful book. It's witty, clever, sarcastic, lush, poignant, and I'm sure the eponymous character would have several dozen more adjectives to describe it. It breaks the rules, then creates its own from the shards. And among the snark are glistenings of truth. Between the pages, I find myself.
5/5 on here, 10/10 for myself
This is a beautiful book. It's witty, clever, sarcastic, lush, poignant, and I'm sure the eponymous character would have several dozen more adjectives to describe it. It breaks the rules, then creates its own from the shards. And among the snark are glistenings of truth. Between the pages, I find myself.
5/5 on here, 10/10 for myself
sireno8's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent book. At first, it reminded me of SOME DAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU (which I also loved), but it soon became clear that the narrator had a voice and style all his own. He's just discovered his love of language so this style is full of word gymnastics which as a word-nerd myself I appreciated. The construction is brilliant. I was very aware of it at first but it became highly entertaining and ultimately realistic--this is how people think when they're writing something out. Our narrator never becomes precious though. The story doesn't get caught up in its own quirkiness. In fact, it doesn't preach quirkiness without consequences. The characters live in a real and dangerous world where it's not okay to be different and not just in high school (and not just in Kansas). The whole thing is brilliantly written and put together but the last 70 pages are amazing and the ending is perfect. I'm still turning the whole thing around in my head. In short, I loved it!
mandelb's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
well.... another formative reread crossed off the list. I enjoyed this but I didn't find it to be a particularly emotional experience, maybe because my favorite/most effective part is the writing style. and that's what I really thought about on this reread, how sprout is such an unreliable narrator, how he constructs the story - the whole thing is told in past tense, but it almost seems like he wrote the whole first part at once (in those sessions with Mrs Miller?) and then once Ty is introduced he's writing as he goes. but also, he occasionally has perspective on the whole story, or uses anachronisms of his own life - the reference to throwing cell phones in one of his first scenes with Ruthie, when they're still in 7th grade, or the fuzzy timeline of how and when he started dying his hair and hooking up with Ian. in this way I think the narrative invokes memory really well, because sprout is mixing what he knows at the end with what he knew in the moment, and misremembering, and backtracking, taking tangents, generally being an unreliable narrator not because he wants to mislead us, but because he's human. it's so well constructed but I also feel it might be why the book was never that successful; it's not inviting to say the least. so funny, though. a huge influence on my style for sure. apart from that - I love ty so much, and I love how obscured he is because of how little sprout knew parts of him. Mrs Miller, his dad, Ruthie, Ian, too - sprout thinks he knows everything about them but each surprises him and us. and that heartbreaking last scene with ty will never leave me. he screamed yes! I like to believe they found each other again but maybe they didn't. I really should read other dale peck books.