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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
Loveable characters:
No
Norris is a little shit and the author keeps bringing up the same inappropriate jokes. so boring and had a hard time finding stuff to annotate
Norris was an unbearable main character and the story really dragged for the first 2/3 of it. It tried to tackle so many issues, but fell short and came out of it looking like an unfocused mess. justice for Norris’s victims (including me).
This was a fast read for me! The main character, Norris, was instantly relatable to me. He has a witty, sarcastic sense of humor and his observations on Texas and its culture as well as his new HS and its students cracked me up throughout the book. Norris and his mom move from Québec to Austin, TX and besides being black, French and a snarky teenager, he’s got other quirky characteristics that make him stand out in hIs high school. He has his share of teenage boy awkwardness and bad decision making but he’s an overall good kid with a big heart. I thought this was a great book!
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
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm having a hard time writing this review, because I'm having a hard time defining what it is I just read. It's not really a romance, though there was a love interest involved... I think it was more about friendships and growing up. A real coming of age book in modern America.
Norris is a black French Canadian, transplanted by his mother to Austin, Texas in the middle of his Junior year. Plunked into the epitome of the American High School Experience he has seen on movies and TV he starts mentally categorizing everyone he meets - the jocks, the cheerleaders, the loners, and the manic pixie dream girl.
Throughout the book, though, Norris starts to discover that no one fits into those boxes so nicely. The rude dumb jock starts being nice to him, the loner becomes a friend, he starts working at the cheerleader's family restaurant, and suddenly all the lines are being blurred. So where exactly does he fit in? And when he manages to mess everything up and have his life crashing down around him, will he be able to recover?
I liked Norris. I related a bit to his moving to a new place (though the last move of my childhood was right before college, so not exactly the same. Before that, though, I was in middle school, which was pretty horrific) and needing to adjust. And his sometimes-snarky attitude could be funny and somehow charming at times. I also related to how much he despised the Texas heat and how much it made him sweat, ha.
I sometimes felt the lack of real compelling story to pull me through to the end made it a little slow-going at times, but overall I really enjoyed this book and all the aspects of being a "new kid" and the "Black kid" it touched on.
Norris is a black French Canadian, transplanted by his mother to Austin, Texas in the middle of his Junior year. Plunked into the epitome of the American High School Experience he has seen on movies and TV he starts mentally categorizing everyone he meets - the jocks, the cheerleaders, the loners, and the manic pixie dream girl.
Throughout the book, though, Norris starts to discover that no one fits into those boxes so nicely. The rude dumb jock starts being nice to him, the loner becomes a friend, he starts working at the cheerleader's family restaurant, and suddenly all the lines are being blurred. So where exactly does he fit in? And when he manages to mess everything up and have his life crashing down around him, will he be able to recover?
I liked Norris. I related a bit to his moving to a new place (though the last move of my childhood was right before college, so not exactly the same. Before that, though, I was in middle school, which was pretty horrific) and needing to adjust. And his sometimes-snarky attitude could be funny and somehow charming at times. I also related to how much he despised the Texas heat and how much it made him sweat, ha.
I sometimes felt the lack of real compelling story to pull me through to the end made it a little slow-going at times, but overall I really enjoyed this book and all the aspects of being a "new kid" and the "Black kid" it touched on.
I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud so much while reading a book! I loved Norris' brand of sarcastic humor, and he's not afraid to direct it at himself either. He's so snarky and I just loved his entire demeanor - unlikable, but real... which made him likeable and relatable. Even his situation with this parents was relatable. I definitely felt that.
What I liked about the romance element of the book is how authentic it was, angst and all. Oh, and I don't want to spoil much, but the twist that was pulled... definitely saw it coming, and I was rooting for it too! I also have to say that I love the way the book ended, leaving an open door with major possibility.
What I liked about the romance element of the book is how authentic it was, angst and all. Oh, and I don't want to spoil much, but the twist that was pulled... definitely saw it coming, and I was rooting for it too! I also have to say that I love the way the book ended, leaving an open door with major possibility.
Was reading this to see if it’s a comp to the novel I’m querying. It is not. I stopped reading at 37%. It was just really snarky, sarcastic, and felt like all the 90s/2000s high school movie tropes were playing out and thats not what high school today is like. At least not any high school I know about.