Reviews

Punkzilla by Adam Rapp

le13anna's review

3.0

The longer this stream of conscious book went on, the more I stopped being scared for Punkzilla and started cheering for him. I think it's a pretty strong voice that gets me out of my mothery-mode and makes me supportive of this youth on the run.
Very laugh out loud funny and full of realities of being an "at-risk-kid"

antrapp1026's review

5.0

I must give the full disclaimer here that the author, [a:Adam Rapp|52277|Adam Rapp|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1273761019p2/52277.jpg], is my older brother, but that's not going to stop me from saying that I consider this to be his richest novel yet. As always, Adam unerringly captures the voices of his narrators (the book is a series of letters, most of which are written between two brothers), but in this novel he has reached his deepest level yet of compassion for all of the flawed and courageous and terrified characters he has created. I'm thrilled for his success, and am gratified that there are plenty of folks out there -- including the committee that gave him the Printz Honor for this book -- who share my view that this is a beautifully rendered novel of the lengths we must go to in order to connect to those we love.

simsbrarian's review

4.0

A boy. Running from family. Running from a military school. Running from himself. A road trip to see his dying older brother across the country. The letters he writes to his brother as he tries to make his way to Memphis before his brother dies from the cancer eating away at him are touching, gritty, raw and beautiful. Adam Rapp's style got me right into the mind set of Punkzilla's world and I didn't want to put it down until the very end.

exlibris00's review

2.0

Rapp writes a convincing dysfunctional-but-sympathetic teenager, but overall the book feels like a Weetzie Bat wannabe.