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essja7's review
3.0
There were things I loved about this book and things I didn't!!
I loved the main characters, their descriptions and explanations of things. I loved the quotes and phrases used by the author for example: simultaneous extreme opposites! I loved the idea of fresh starts, acceptance and resilience.
I didn't love the repetitive overuse of certain words and phrases - frack!!! Ergo!!! My leaky mug!!! Distracting and unnecessary. I didn't love the blind following of YA structure - misfits, find each other, fall in love etc etc... I know this is YA formula but...
Overall I enjoyed the read but wouldn't want a sequel
I loved the main characters, their descriptions and explanations of things. I loved the quotes and phrases used by the author for example: simultaneous extreme opposites! I loved the idea of fresh starts, acceptance and resilience.
I didn't love the repetitive overuse of certain words and phrases - frack!!! Ergo!!! My leaky mug!!! Distracting and unnecessary. I didn't love the blind following of YA structure - misfits, find each other, fall in love etc etc... I know this is YA formula but...
Overall I enjoyed the read but wouldn't want a sequel
marcquesh32's review against another edition
4.0
This story really tugs at your heart strings. Arnold takes you on an adventure that makes you feel everything that each of the characters are feeling. Very poetic. It’s a very unique book in the Young Adult Literature genre that makes you stop and think critically about the multiple different things from making friends to coping with the loss of a loved one. It’s written in a way that even if you cannot directly empathize with the events of the story, you are still able to think about times that you felt a similar way and then make connections to the story that way. For students, this book could be really beneficial to them trying to develop a meaningful relationship with literature. There is something in this story that almost any student in middle or high school have experienced in some way and this story has some redemptive or empowering moments in it that can truly move a student. I think that this is a book that all students should read at some point, because it really helps re-shape the way you think about traumatic events, but I would definitely only suggest it to students who ~14 or older.
djc16's review against another edition
3.0
Originally posted at
https://derekcarneyhasathingforbooks.wordpress.com/2016/08/12/kids-of-appetite-by-david-arnold/
David Arnold’s YA debut, Mosquitoland, was a great tale with a well thought-out narrative and memorable characters, with the added bonus of an epic road trip. With Kids of Appetite, Arnold sets up an even more electic cast of characters and an intriguing narrative, meta and self-referential in its execution.
The story is told from two parallel perspectives, Mad and Vic. We begin at the end, as the blurb suggests, with each of our protagonists being held in some sort of police interrogation room, the detectives patiently listening to each side of the story. The Kids of Appetite themselves are the group that Mad is a fully-fledged member of, and Vic enters this world at the beginning of his story.
It becomes apparent that the author is unabashedly paying homage to The Outsiders, the cast of kids establishing themselves as social outcasts who don’t fit into mainstream society. Mad reads the classic book obsessively, no dount relating to it, while each of the kids has their own outlandish quirk or background. Zuz, seemingly a mute who clicks fingers to communicate; Coco, a young, foul-mouthed firecracker; Mad, with a deep secret she keeps to herself; Baz, the leader of the group with a frightening war-torn backstory; and Vic, a young man with insecurities arising from a neurological condition that causes facial paralysis and his own personal trauma. Whether or not you like this book depends partly on how you connect with these characters.
The narrative itself is a series of vignettes with an overarching goal, related to Vic which I won’t spoil. We meet more and more of the characters these kids have come into contact with, and it becomes apparent that these kids do live up to their title. They are kids hungry to do something with their lives, to achieve something, but also to dream. Most of all, the author shows them as kids who are honest, and loyal.
‘They usually said out loud what most adults only thought, which part of me admired.’
I enjoyed Kids of Appetite, mainly because of the character Mad, who I found interesting and I could empathise with her. The plot is a little slight in places but picks up momentum past the halfway point. Parts of the story are sweet in their depiction of friendship and love also, and it’s an interesting situation to put kids in, where they’re more or less in charage of their own destiny, and not aimless. Fans of David Arnold’s debut will enjoy Kids of Appetite, which is really a spiritual sequel in a way, sharing as it does themes and atmosphere.
https://derekcarneyhasathingforbooks.wordpress.com/2016/08/12/kids-of-appetite-by-david-arnold/
David Arnold’s YA debut, Mosquitoland, was a great tale with a well thought-out narrative and memorable characters, with the added bonus of an epic road trip. With Kids of Appetite, Arnold sets up an even more electic cast of characters and an intriguing narrative, meta and self-referential in its execution.
The story is told from two parallel perspectives, Mad and Vic. We begin at the end, as the blurb suggests, with each of our protagonists being held in some sort of police interrogation room, the detectives patiently listening to each side of the story. The Kids of Appetite themselves are the group that Mad is a fully-fledged member of, and Vic enters this world at the beginning of his story.
It becomes apparent that the author is unabashedly paying homage to The Outsiders, the cast of kids establishing themselves as social outcasts who don’t fit into mainstream society. Mad reads the classic book obsessively, no dount relating to it, while each of the kids has their own outlandish quirk or background. Zuz, seemingly a mute who clicks fingers to communicate; Coco, a young, foul-mouthed firecracker; Mad, with a deep secret she keeps to herself; Baz, the leader of the group with a frightening war-torn backstory; and Vic, a young man with insecurities arising from a neurological condition that causes facial paralysis and his own personal trauma. Whether or not you like this book depends partly on how you connect with these characters.
The narrative itself is a series of vignettes with an overarching goal, related to Vic which I won’t spoil. We meet more and more of the characters these kids have come into contact with, and it becomes apparent that these kids do live up to their title. They are kids hungry to do something with their lives, to achieve something, but also to dream. Most of all, the author shows them as kids who are honest, and loyal.
‘They usually said out loud what most adults only thought, which part of me admired.’
I enjoyed Kids of Appetite, mainly because of the character Mad, who I found interesting and I could empathise with her. The plot is a little slight in places but picks up momentum past the halfway point. Parts of the story are sweet in their depiction of friendship and love also, and it’s an interesting situation to put kids in, where they’re more or less in charage of their own destiny, and not aimless. Fans of David Arnold’s debut will enjoy Kids of Appetite, which is really a spiritual sequel in a way, sharing as it does themes and atmosphere.
bluebeereads's review against another edition
5.0
Quite The Novel Idea ~ Words from the Clouds
4.5 stars
WELL THAT WAS JUST ALL KINDS OF AMAZING. I am a very happy human right now people. Very happy indeed. Because I just read this fabulous book that I loved to bits and honestly that's just one of the best feelings in the world, is it not? Of course it is. I read Mosquitoland either last year or the year before, I'm not sure, but I do know that I loved it and wanted more from that author. And now I got more and GUESS WHAT? I loved this book too! Huzzah! *flings confetti in your faces* But now I have to put all this love into a somewhat coherent review and ahahahaha I'm gonna fail so hard at this. But I'll try my best. I am a professional, after all. *cough*
KIDS OF APPETITE tells the story of Vic and Mad. But mostly Vic. They're currently in the police station with a story to tell. One that starts with the death of Vic's death. And ends with the murder of Mad's uncle. And of course the police would love to hear that amazing tale. But to tell the story right Mad and Vic must tell all the chapters inbetween those two points. And what a story it is.
I don't even know where to start with my gushing about this book. So my attempts to make this review a bit coherent and all professional-like are failing already. Perhaps I should start by applauding how immensely diverse this book is. YES, that's a great plan. *pats self on the back* So yes, this book is amazingly diverse and I love it. Because diversity is awesome. Of course there are POC, but our main character Vic has Moebius Syndrome, which, I'll admit, I was not familiar with going into this book. I also didn't know it would be featured. But it was and I love that because I found out about it and was educated about it and that's the power of books for you. Always teaching me stuff. WHO NEEDS SCHOOL ANYMORE HONESTLY? Nobody, that's who. Just read all the books and you know everything you need to know. Ahem. (Stay in school kids.) So yes, I was educated about Moebius Syndrome in a very awesome and non-preachy or info-dumpy way. Huzzah! Yay, diversity!
And from that I'll move on to tell you that the writing was frakking fantastic. It's so engaging and it hooked me right from the start. It was told in a non-linear style where we switch out between the interrogations at the police station to the story their telling. And I loved that because it kept me on my toes. It made me curious and want to read more and find out what happened. It never bored me once and there was humor in it and you guys know I love funny books. But great writing won't do you much good if the story is stupid. Luckily the story itself was amazing too. It was unique and interesting and diverse and hit me in the feels so many times. And I loved how it kind of built up the whole time and then the twist at the end had me like "WHAT THE WHAT???" And when I finished I was smiling so hard my jaws still hurts. So yeah. Great writing. Great story. Let's move on to the most important part, the characters.
I'll start off by saying that I loved all the characters. And before I go a bit more in depth about the most important ones, I want to quickly mention that I loved the detectives interrogating Mad and Vic and also Vic's family, however brief they were in the story. I loved how well I got to know Vic's dad and his beautiful relationship with Vic's mom even though he's not actually IN the story. Beautifully done, sir. I applaud you. Also, I very much love Vic's dad. He was one hell of a guy. But now on to the main five, our "kids of appetite".
♦ Vic is the most important character of the story. By all means the protagonist. He's still mourning his dad and he does not like his mom's new boyfriend. So when the guy asks his mom to marry him, he takes off with his dad's urn and runs into Mad. He's so sad and he has Moebius Syndrome so people tend to think he's stupid but he's not. He's actually really smart and he loves opera and paintings. I loved his voice and I just wanted to hug him, really.
♦ Mad is a really cool and colorful person. And by that I mean she dresses very colorful. She always carries around the same book, like it's an extra limb and it's her favorite book and occasionally she gushes about it. But she's also a bit sad because she lost her parents and her uncle is a douche. She very loyal though and she has this thing with Venn diagrams and she tends to put situations she's in in one of those. She's awesome and I want to hug her too.
♦ Coco is the awesomest. She's eleven and from Queens and she raps and she loves ice cream and she curses up a storm and she's adorable. But she's also an orphan and a bit tragic so I basically want to hug her too.
♦ Baz & Zuz are two brothers and they're kind of a bit mysterious. Especially Zuz who doesn't talk and just snaps his fingers instead but he's still adorable and he's loyal. They're both so kind and protective. Baz sleeps with a baseball bat like it's a security blanket and he has nightmares. So basically I want to wrap them both in warm blankets because omg their past is so sad. All the love for these two.
I feel like this review is very long... OH WELL. I think I'm done now? Maybe? OH but I do want to mention that while I liked the romance, I wasn't the hugest fan of it and it maybe went a teensy tiny bit too fast for me? But I still liked it? So yeah. NOW I'm done.
Overall, it is very obvious that I have much love for this book and obviously you should get a copy and read it so we can gush together. Especially about Vic, who is my precious little munchkin. But basically all of the KOA are on my favorite characters list and they alone are reason enough for you to read it. So go forth and do the thing while I cuddle them all. GO!
4.5 stars
WELL THAT WAS JUST ALL KINDS OF AMAZING. I am a very happy human right now people. Very happy indeed. Because I just read this fabulous book that I loved to bits and honestly that's just one of the best feelings in the world, is it not? Of course it is. I read Mosquitoland either last year or the year before, I'm not sure, but I do know that I loved it and wanted more from that author. And now I got more and GUESS WHAT? I loved this book too! Huzzah! *flings confetti in your faces* But now I have to put all this love into a somewhat coherent review and ahahahaha I'm gonna fail so hard at this. But I'll try my best. I am a professional, after all. *cough*
KIDS OF APPETITE tells the story of Vic and Mad. But mostly Vic. They're currently in the police station with a story to tell. One that starts with the death of Vic's death. And ends with the murder of Mad's uncle. And of course the police would love to hear that amazing tale. But to tell the story right Mad and Vic must tell all the chapters inbetween those two points. And what a story it is.
I don't even know where to start with my gushing about this book. So my attempts to make this review a bit coherent and all professional-like are failing already. Perhaps I should start by applauding how immensely diverse this book is. YES, that's a great plan. *pats self on the back* So yes, this book is amazingly diverse and I love it. Because diversity is awesome. Of course there are POC, but our main character Vic has Moebius Syndrome, which, I'll admit, I was not familiar with going into this book. I also didn't know it would be featured. But it was and I love that because I found out about it and was educated about it and that's the power of books for you. Always teaching me stuff. WHO NEEDS SCHOOL ANYMORE HONESTLY? Nobody, that's who. Just read all the books and you know everything you need to know. Ahem. (Stay in school kids.) So yes, I was educated about Moebius Syndrome in a very awesome and non-preachy or info-dumpy way. Huzzah! Yay, diversity!
And from that I'll move on to tell you that the writing was frakking fantastic. It's so engaging and it hooked me right from the start. It was told in a non-linear style where we switch out between the interrogations at the police station to the story their telling. And I loved that because it kept me on my toes. It made me curious and want to read more and find out what happened. It never bored me once and there was humor in it and you guys know I love funny books. But great writing won't do you much good if the story is stupid. Luckily the story itself was amazing too. It was unique and interesting and diverse and hit me in the feels so many times. And I loved how it kind of built up the whole time and then the twist at the end had me like "WHAT THE WHAT???" And when I finished I was smiling so hard my jaws still hurts. So yeah. Great writing. Great story. Let's move on to the most important part, the characters.
I'll start off by saying that I loved all the characters. And before I go a bit more in depth about the most important ones, I want to quickly mention that I loved the detectives interrogating Mad and Vic and also Vic's family, however brief they were in the story. I loved how well I got to know Vic's dad and his beautiful relationship with Vic's mom even though he's not actually IN the story. Beautifully done, sir. I applaud you. Also, I very much love Vic's dad. He was one hell of a guy. But now on to the main five, our "kids of appetite".
♦ Vic is the most important character of the story. By all means the protagonist. He's still mourning his dad and he does not like his mom's new boyfriend. So when the guy asks his mom to marry him, he takes off with his dad's urn and runs into Mad. He's so sad and he has Moebius Syndrome so people tend to think he's stupid but he's not. He's actually really smart and he loves opera and paintings. I loved his voice and I just wanted to hug him, really.
♦ Mad is a really cool and colorful person. And by that I mean she dresses very colorful. She always carries around the same book, like it's an extra limb and it's her favorite book and occasionally she gushes about it. But she's also a bit sad because she lost her parents and her uncle is a douche. She very loyal though and she has this thing with Venn diagrams and she tends to put situations she's in in one of those. She's awesome and I want to hug her too.
♦ Coco is the awesomest. She's eleven and from Queens and she raps and she loves ice cream and she curses up a storm and she's adorable. But she's also an orphan and a bit tragic so I basically want to hug her too.
♦ Baz & Zuz are two brothers and they're kind of a bit mysterious. Especially Zuz who doesn't talk and just snaps his fingers instead but he's still adorable and he's loyal. They're both so kind and protective. Baz sleeps with a baseball bat like it's a security blanket and he has nightmares. So basically I want to wrap them both in warm blankets because omg their past is so sad. All the love for these two.
I feel like this review is very long... OH WELL. I think I'm done now? Maybe? OH but I do want to mention that while I liked the romance, I wasn't the hugest fan of it and it maybe went a teensy tiny bit too fast for me? But I still liked it? So yeah. NOW I'm done.
Overall, it is very obvious that I have much love for this book and obviously you should get a copy and read it so we can gush together. Especially about Vic, who is my precious little munchkin. But basically all of the KOA are on my favorite characters list and they alone are reason enough for you to read it. So go forth and do the thing while I cuddle them all. GO!
eslismyjam's review against another edition
4.0
This is a kind of lovely, quirky read with a John Green-esque tone. I didn't read[b:Mosquitoland|18718848|Mosquitoland|David Arnold|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1402661616s/18718848.jpg|26584442] but it's clear that I should. Arnold creates a vibrant cast of characters. My favorite was definitely Coco with her potty-mouth and precocious attitude.
The whole thing feels like an off-beat indie movie and while there really isn't much new territory covered here, the way that Arnold writes is wholly original. I admit I was a little confused/off-put by the constant use of epilepsies in between lines of text.
The biggest strength of this book is the authenticity of the characters. With a large cast it can be difficult to get all the characters right and feeling truly alive. KOA has characters that certainly feel real. There are a myriad of issues touched on here: grief, homelessness, war refugees, abuse and disability. Somehow despite the sheer number of THINGS dealt with the story doesn't feel cobbled together or overstretched, these things help to create a more complexed, nuanced whole story.
The whole thing feels like an off-beat indie movie and while there really isn't much new territory covered here, the way that Arnold writes is wholly original. I admit I was a little confused/off-put by the constant use of epilepsies in between lines of text.
The biggest strength of this book is the authenticity of the characters. With a large cast it can be difficult to get all the characters right and feeling truly alive. KOA has characters that certainly feel real. There are a myriad of issues touched on here: grief, homelessness, war refugees, abuse and disability. Somehow despite the sheer number of THINGS dealt with the story doesn't feel cobbled together or overstretched, these things help to create a more complexed, nuanced whole story.
colecordium's review against another edition
DNF. I just cant get into this story, no matter how many times I tried, I wasn’t interested in any of the characters. :(
greenvillemelissa's review against another edition
4.0
Book #69 Read in 2017
Kids of Appetite by David Arnold
Vic is trying to deal with his father's death and his mother's new boyfriend but is not really doing a good job. He takes off after a fight, taking the urn of his father's ashes with him. He meets up with a group of street kids who offer him a place to crash. In the urn, he finds a list of things to do with his father's ashes and the group begins to do them. This book is a good realistic fiction read, with characters that may be flawed but are interesting and engaging. High school and adult readers would enjoy this book. I received this book from Amazon Vine in exchange for a honest review.
Kids of Appetite by David Arnold
Vic is trying to deal with his father's death and his mother's new boyfriend but is not really doing a good job. He takes off after a fight, taking the urn of his father's ashes with him. He meets up with a group of street kids who offer him a place to crash. In the urn, he finds a list of things to do with his father's ashes and the group begins to do them. This book is a good realistic fiction read, with characters that may be flawed but are interesting and engaging. High school and adult readers would enjoy this book. I received this book from Amazon Vine in exchange for a honest review.