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onceandfuturereads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I will read anything Andrew Smith writes - or Patrick Ness, for that matter. Many of these stories stood out for their tenderness and honesty. Some people can just write teenagers so well.
library_brandy's review
4.0
Bit of a mixed bag, but overall a good anthology with an interesting theme.
jessicaz's review against another edition
I read this to see if I should by it for the library - I wanted to make sure it wasn't total smut...Some of it was fairly sexy, but it was more thoughtful than anything else.
nightshade_novels's review against another edition
3.0
Having read ‘Next’ another collection of short stories edited by Keith Gray I was intrigued to read this one. I was especially interested when I saw that Patrick Ness had written one of the stories, and also Anne Fine and Mary Hooper.
I enjoyed the first story ‘Scoring’ by Keith Gray, but really wanted to know what Jason decided to do, so was annoyed that it ended where it did.
Jenny Valentine’s story ‘The Age of Consent’ was really funny and enjoyable, but came with a good message to make sure your first is a nice person.
‘Chat-up Lines’ by Melvin Burgess was a bit weird and just annoying really. It tells of a boy that gets the best girl (and a pop star) in town by reciting poetry to her, but she ditches him the moment she discovers that he is three years younger than her.
Patrick Ness’ ‘Different For Boys’ looked at what counts as losing your virginity (particularly in the context of two gay boys). I quite liked this story as even though it was just as short as the others it somehow managed to involved more characters and build up a history for each one of them and more complex interrelationships.
‘Charlotte’ by Mary Hooper tells of a young girl in Victorian times who ends up selling herself to feed her brothers after her mother’s death. It is explained that there are three levels of society; the rich the poor and those that are outcast for spoiling themselves before marriage.
‘The Way It Is’ by Sophie McKenzie was interesting in that it showed the different ways in which boys and girls view losing their virginity and how this can make things confusing in relationships. It also showed how people view each other differently; Sam loves the way Katya looks and fell for her straight away, but Katya is very critical of her own appearance.
Bali Rai’s ‘The White Towel’ was easily the most emotional of the stories. It tells of the way that a young woman in Asia must be pure and innocent, saved for marriage. That she will be cast out if it is discovered that she has sullied herself. In this case it was not true and the girl was wrongly accused, tormented and left for dead.
I liked ‘Finding It’ by Anne Fine. It was told by a teacher who is teaching a class their sex education lesson. She reminisces about her teenage years and losing her virginity. Thinking about how ridiculous the sex ed. lessons are because the students already know far more about sex than she did at that age.
This was an interesting collection of stories; each made you think about the different situations in different cultures or time periods.
I enjoyed the first story ‘Scoring’ by Keith Gray, but really wanted to know what Jason decided to do, so was annoyed that it ended where it did.
Jenny Valentine’s story ‘The Age of Consent’ was really funny and enjoyable, but came with a good message to make sure your first is a nice person.
‘Chat-up Lines’ by Melvin Burgess was a bit weird and just annoying really. It tells of a boy that gets the best girl (and a pop star) in town by reciting poetry to her, but she ditches him the moment she discovers that he is three years younger than her.
Patrick Ness’ ‘Different For Boys’ looked at what counts as losing your virginity (particularly in the context of two gay boys). I quite liked this story as even though it was just as short as the others it somehow managed to involved more characters and build up a history for each one of them and more complex interrelationships.
‘Charlotte’ by Mary Hooper tells of a young girl in Victorian times who ends up selling herself to feed her brothers after her mother’s death. It is explained that there are three levels of society; the rich the poor and those that are outcast for spoiling themselves before marriage.
‘The Way It Is’ by Sophie McKenzie was interesting in that it showed the different ways in which boys and girls view losing their virginity and how this can make things confusing in relationships. It also showed how people view each other differently; Sam loves the way Katya looks and fell for her straight away, but Katya is very critical of her own appearance.
Bali Rai’s ‘The White Towel’ was easily the most emotional of the stories. It tells of the way that a young woman in Asia must be pure and innocent, saved for marriage. That she will be cast out if it is discovered that she has sullied herself. In this case it was not true and the girl was wrongly accused, tormented and left for dead.
I liked ‘Finding It’ by Anne Fine. It was told by a teacher who is teaching a class their sex education lesson. She reminisces about her teenage years and losing her virginity. Thinking about how ridiculous the sex ed. lessons are because the students already know far more about sex than she did at that age.
This was an interesting collection of stories; each made you think about the different situations in different cultures or time periods.
pauline's review against another edition
2.0
I don't really know how to rate this one? I started it yesterday and honestly don't remember what some of the short stories in it are about.
From those i do remember Patrick Ness, Bali Rai and Jenny Valentine's were my favorites, i think they really showed an interesting perspective on the subject of virginity and dating as a teen as a whole, especially Bali Rai's story.
Amongst the other stories, none of them were bad, i just didn't enjoy them as much and they didn't resonate with me the way the three mentioned before did. The last story was a good way to close the anthology, really rounding out every work and making a positive point about sex beyond the subject of virginity only.
From those i do remember Patrick Ness, Bali Rai and Jenny Valentine's were my favorites, i think they really showed an interesting perspective on the subject of virginity and dating as a teen as a whole, especially Bali Rai's story.
Amongst the other stories, none of them were bad, i just didn't enjoy them as much and they didn't resonate with me the way the three mentioned before did. The last story was a good way to close the anthology, really rounding out every work and making a positive point about sex beyond the subject of virginity only.
theaknitter's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked Different for Boys and The White Towel but really did not like the last story Finding It. I pretty much liked the rest of them equally.
herlifewithbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I haven't read a YA short story collection in years! What is wrong with me?
Also, I think this was my very first Patrick Ness story. Don't tell Elena.
Also, I think this was my very first Patrick Ness story. Don't tell Elena.
nalaban's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Favourite quotes:
“Take sorte zgodba je, nekatere besede so potrebne, ker gre za resnično življenje, ampak jih ne smeš pokazat, ker smo premladi, da bi brali o stvareh, ki jih dejansko počnemo, a štekaš?” (Patrick Ness)
“Ker poanta seksa in drog - se opravičujem, zdravstvene vzgoje - je to, da 1. b odvrnemo od obojega. Nočemo, da imajo spolne odnose. Nočemo, da se drogirajo. Hočemo jih obdržati tu, v razredu, kar se da neraztresene in prisebne. Hočemo, da naredijo izpite. Potem lahko odbluzijo vsak po svoje in izgubijo nedolžnost, kakorkoli hočejo in s komerkoli hočejo.” (Anne Fine)
“Take sorte zgodba je, nekatere besede so potrebne, ker gre za resnično življenje, ampak jih ne smeš pokazat, ker smo premladi, da bi brali o stvareh, ki jih dejansko počnemo, a štekaš?” (Patrick Ness)
“Ker poanta seksa in drog - se opravičujem, zdravstvene vzgoje - je to, da 1. b odvrnemo od obojega. Nočemo, da imajo spolne odnose. Nočemo, da se drogirajo. Hočemo jih obdržati tu, v razredu, kar se da neraztresene in prisebne. Hočemo, da naredijo izpite. Potem lahko odbluzijo vsak po svoje in izgubijo nedolžnost, kakorkoli hočejo in s komerkoli hočejo.” (Anne Fine)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Child abuse
Minor: Rape