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jaclynsamara's review against another edition
challenging
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
needed more fires tbh
ultracafeinada's review against another edition
1.0
Un libro escrito por un tipo donde la protagonista es una adolescente que en un momento solo por mostrarse "anarquista" (que es básicamente de lo único que se trata este libro, porque una historia concreta no hay) hace que tenga relaciones con un enfermero mayor de edad en frente de su madre internada en un psiquiátrico. Lo demás es pura inconsistencia de principio a fin.
hcheese's review
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
terroreesa's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like it more than I did. Ball created a great character voice with the narrator though.
dinpg's review against another edition
1.0
No pude terminar este libro. Leí una buena parte, leí el final y miré por encima las hojas del medio. Agradezco haberlo hecho. Este libro es malo. Una de mis anotaciones mientras toleraba leerlo era subrayar cada vez que el personaje principal era insoportable, eso hizo que subrayará frases en cada párrafo. Se entiende el "guiño" o la inspiración en The Catcher in the Rye en un muy burdo intento de hacer una versión feminista escrita por un hombre blanco de 40 años.
Si, a mi también la escena de sexo con el enfermero delante de la madre institucionalizada me pareció un desquició, no por pudorosa, sino porque no tenía ningún sentido para la trama más que demostrar lo horrible que es el personaje principal.
No suelo decir "no lean este libro" pero por favor no lean este libro.
Si, a mi también la escena de sexo con el enfermero delante de la madre institucionalizada me pareció un desquició, no por pudorosa, sino porque no tenía ningún sentido para la trama más que demostrar lo horrible que es el personaje principal.
No suelo decir "no lean este libro" pero por favor no lean este libro.
samwreads's review against another edition
3.0
It is always a pleasure to read a book by Jesse Ball. There is not one I've read thus far that I did not enjoy. I loved the character of Lucia and I tore through this book in a day and a half.
The reason I'm giving it three stars is because, three days later, there's not much in the book that is calling me, that is making me look back. It treads some familiar troubled-young-adult territory with Jesse Ball's signature humor, wit, and imagination that moves the narrative into a sort of peri-reality inhabited by quirky people who offer authentic takes on modern life.
I may be being a bit unfair here. Like I said, Lucia is a great character and her relationships with her aunt and her mother especially were authentic and moving.
That's where I'm going to leave it - I have conflicting thoughts about the book that I'm ok holding in parallel. I recommend it as a fun summer read, or a good book if you're disillusioned with "the system" and want a book that pushes the stakes while remaining humorous and sly.
The reason I'm giving it three stars is because, three days later, there's not much in the book that is calling me, that is making me look back. It treads some familiar troubled-young-adult territory with Jesse Ball's signature humor, wit, and imagination that moves the narrative into a sort of peri-reality inhabited by quirky people who offer authentic takes on modern life.
I may be being a bit unfair here. Like I said, Lucia is a great character and her relationships with her aunt and her mother especially were authentic and moving.
That's where I'm going to leave it - I have conflicting thoughts about the book that I'm ok holding in parallel. I recommend it as a fun summer read, or a good book if you're disillusioned with "the system" and want a book that pushes the stakes while remaining humorous and sly.
kellynoneman's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
aadig's review against another edition
1.0
Picked this up because of the unique cover and seemingly interesting story, and I'm here to say the cover is the only thing that delivered. About 40% through this book I was ready to give up on finishing but my ego wouldn't let me, so I trudged on. The last 100 pages were where the magic of this book really came through, full with the kind of emotional turmoil, existentialism, and the social role of fire I wish was present throughout. Unfortunately, by the time you get to about page 200 in this almost 300 page book, you are utterly bored by random exposition and a plot wherein nothing really happens. I hesitate to call the first 2/3 of the book "slice-of-life" like, but that's about as close as I can get to describing it.
Lucia, the protagonist, is a typical troubled teen lead. She smokes, drinks, has (safe, because that was explicitly mentioned) sex, and considers herself intellectually superior to her peers at her school. She also comes from a low (see: none) income household, living in a garage-turned-residence with her aunt, her only alive, sane relative. I think these kinds of characters, especially when their stories are told in the first person, are some of the best to unpack. Unfortunately, it is so clear that this book is from the viewpoint of a 40-year-old man trying to think and write like a teen girl and the result is a protagonist who is rife with overdone tropes in unnecessary sexualization and an intellect that is so developed, it is simply not believable.
Spoilers from here on! Content warning for a brief mention of rape.
As a woman, I believe there are many sexually coded scenes that were 1) unnecessary to develop Lucia's story or character and 2) so amazingly male gazey.
The first offender is one of the scenes where Lucia is seeing her mom at the mental hospital where she stays. The orderly that takes care of her mom initiates inappropriate touching and Lucia is described (from her own perspective) to do nothing to stop it and is only concerned that he uses a condom during the process. There is nothing explicit about this scene, but having finished this book, I can tell you now this scene had no reason to be included. The orderly shows up a grand total of maybe 2 more times and has no substantial role to play in the first place. Not only was this extremely uncomfortable to read (again, this is a 40-year-old man writing about a teenager getting sexually assaulted by a grown-ass man who works very closely with the teen's mom), it felt gratuitous and like some cheap grab at making the book more "gritty" and "real" than it ever could hope to be.
There are other smaller instances that I share similar feelings about, scattered throughout the book. She visits the abandoned water park one day in advance of the Arson Club meeting because she wanted to be familiar with the place in case she wanted to escape possible rape. Lucia returns to the water park (there's a party or something of the sort going on there) with Ree, a friend she made at some point. The author describes in detail how Ree and Lucia end up squeezing into one bathroom stall together, how Ree removes her underwear to pee, and then tells Lucia how pretty she looks. She then takes a picture of Lucia in the stall, while peeing. I mean, this scene doesn't establish anything about Lucia, Ree, their relationship, or even anything about the water park since it is never mentioned again. It's a weird addition and I'll leave it at that. If you've read this book through, you know what I mean.
Some honorary mentions include:
1) Police officer asking Lucia to detail what she was wearing when she went to a bouncy house with her friends (completely unrelated to why she was brought in for an interview)
2) Her staying with Jan when her landlord kicked her out of the garage + wearing his clothes as if it's normal??? and Stephan becoming weirdly possessive about Lucia when he sees her in those clothes. We're really checking all the boxes here.
Like I've stated before, if the entire book was an exploration of grief, isolation, helplessness, and how fire is sort of a comfort for Lucia throughout her life's tribulations like it is in the last 100 pages, this review would be very very different. Alas, not the case. From what I know, this is the author's first attempt at having a female protagonist and I'm sure he can improve but I am disinclined to read anything from a man that has so much weird shit to say about a teenager. I'm not trying to say that the sexualization of women, even as minors, isn't an issue, I'm just saying this book neither commits to nor completely omits this conversation which skews the plot in all directions, leaving it without any central idea to return to. This book goes everywhere and also nowhere and the last 100 pages are not enough to save this time sink.
Lucia, the protagonist, is a typical troubled teen lead. She smokes, drinks, has (safe, because that was explicitly mentioned) sex, and considers herself intellectually superior to her peers at her school. She also comes from a low (see: none) income household, living in a garage-turned-residence with her aunt, her only alive, sane relative. I think these kinds of characters, especially when their stories are told in the first person, are some of the best to unpack. Unfortunately, it is so clear that this book is from the viewpoint of a 40-year-old man trying to think and write like a teen girl and the result is a protagonist who is rife with overdone tropes in unnecessary sexualization and an intellect that is so developed, it is simply not believable.
Spoilers from here on! Content warning for a brief mention of rape.
Spoiler
As a woman, I believe there are many sexually coded scenes that were 1) unnecessary to develop Lucia's story or character and 2) so amazingly male gazey.
The first offender is one of the scenes where Lucia is seeing her mom at the mental hospital where she stays. The orderly that takes care of her mom initiates inappropriate touching and Lucia is described (from her own perspective) to do nothing to stop it and is only concerned that he uses a condom during the process. There is nothing explicit about this scene, but having finished this book, I can tell you now this scene had no reason to be included. The orderly shows up a grand total of maybe 2 more times and has no substantial role to play in the first place. Not only was this extremely uncomfortable to read (again, this is a 40-year-old man writing about a teenager getting sexually assaulted by a grown-ass man who works very closely with the teen's mom), it felt gratuitous and like some cheap grab at making the book more "gritty" and "real" than it ever could hope to be.
There are other smaller instances that I share similar feelings about, scattered throughout the book. She visits the abandoned water park one day in advance of the Arson Club meeting because she wanted to be familiar with the place in case she wanted to escape possible rape. Lucia returns to the water park (there's a party or something of the sort going on there) with Ree, a friend she made at some point. The author describes in detail how Ree and Lucia end up squeezing into one bathroom stall together, how Ree removes her underwear to pee, and then tells Lucia how pretty she looks. She then takes a picture of Lucia in the stall, while peeing. I mean, this scene doesn't establish anything about Lucia, Ree, their relationship, or even anything about the water park since it is never mentioned again. It's a weird addition and I'll leave it at that. If you've read this book through, you know what I mean.
Some honorary mentions include:
1) Police officer asking Lucia to detail what she was wearing when she went to a bouncy house with her friends (completely unrelated to why she was brought in for an interview)
2) Her staying with Jan when her landlord kicked her out of the garage + wearing his clothes as if it's normal??? and Stephan becoming weirdly possessive about Lucia when he sees her in those clothes. We're really checking all the boxes here.
Like I've stated before, if the entire book was an exploration of grief, isolation, helplessness, and how fire is sort of a comfort for Lucia throughout her life's tribulations like it is in the last 100 pages, this review would be very very different. Alas, not the case. From what I know, this is the author's first attempt at having a female protagonist and I'm sure he can improve but I am disinclined to read anything from a man that has so much weird shit to say about a teenager. I'm not trying to say that the sexualization of women, even as minors, isn't an issue, I'm just saying this book neither commits to nor completely omits this conversation which skews the plot in all directions, leaving it without any central idea to return to. This book goes everywhere and also nowhere and the last 100 pages are not enough to save this time sink.
normal_cowgirl's review against another edition
3.0
I probably would have enjoyed this more in middle school. Forgettable but I didn’t have a bad time reading it.