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heyjudy's review
3.0
~3.5-4/5
[This review, among many others, is also available on my blog.]
I liked this book. I had a small problem with it and I was expecting/hoping to like it more, but overall I did enjoy it.
Leon, the main character, is a pretty average guy, although he doesn’t have a nice face and so has no luck with girls. Melody has been going to school with him for years, but aside from being made fun of, no one pays attention to her, because most of her face and neck and ears are horribly scarred by a burn. Including Leon. Until he runs into her and tells a lame joke, something that his friends would roll their eyes at, and she laughs.
I was not a huge fan of Leon. There were points where I liked him; like when he was being nice to Melody and stuck up for her. But then there were points where he was being a big jerk and I wanted him to stop, already.
He liked Melody, okay? He liked her, and they got along really well, and they had a lot in common, and they were good together. And he knew that. But he didn’t want to face up to it. He had a crush on a much more popular girl, and he was stuck on the idea of being with someone pretty, who people wouldn’t avoid or look at weird, or who wouldn’t embarrass him because of their scar. And, on a small part, I understand that. It’s selfish and superficial and it makes me sad, but I understand it. But at a certain point, when you have someone as great as Melody in front of you, you need to get over that, okay? And he needed to get over it.
At the end, he was acting like he was moving past it and was ready to be with Melody. Which, for one, she made him work for it; at first, when he was a big jerk and ended things, she would have taken him back, but later she wasn’t just going to accept him, which was very good for her. But, for another thing, I didn’t really believe him. I would have liked to, and a while after reading it, what happened has grown on me, but there just wasn’t enough of showing the reader that he was actually over it. I just didn’t fully believe him, although I would have liked to.
Both characters, Leon and Melody, did something they shouldn’t have because they liked someone so much. Leon did it for the popular girl, who he obviously had nothing in common with, and who generally was just a jerk and he needed to move on from her. And Melody when she kind of begged and would have taken him back when she should have been angry. But Melody mostly made up for it by not giving in later in the book. I guess Leon did, too, when he got over that other girl and realized that Melody was great for him, but I’m still a little mad at him.
And Melody is great, you guys. I really liked her, understood her, and felt like I really got to know her, even though we were solely in Leon’s head. I liked her a lot, and understood fully why her and Leon were good together, which is probably why I was so mad at Leon for messing everything up and thinking the shallow thoughts the he did.
So, to sum it all up, I liked this book. I liked the characters (aside from the points when I didn’t like Leon), including Leon’s friends, who we got to see a good amount of, and his parents. They were all rather unique from each other, and I liked them. The writing was good. Overall, I really liked this book. And I’m definitely planning to pick up Katcher’s other books.
[This review, among many others, is also available on my blog.]
I liked this book. I had a small problem with it and I was expecting/hoping to like it more, but overall I did enjoy it.
Leon, the main character, is a pretty average guy, although he doesn’t have a nice face and so has no luck with girls. Melody has been going to school with him for years, but aside from being made fun of, no one pays attention to her, because most of her face and neck and ears are horribly scarred by a burn. Including Leon. Until he runs into her and tells a lame joke, something that his friends would roll their eyes at, and she laughs.
I was not a huge fan of Leon. There were points where I liked him; like when he was being nice to Melody and stuck up for her. But then there were points where he was being a big jerk and I wanted him to stop, already.
He liked Melody, okay? He liked her, and they got along really well, and they had a lot in common, and they were good together. And he knew that. But he didn’t want to face up to it. He had a crush on a much more popular girl, and he was stuck on the idea of being with someone pretty, who people wouldn’t avoid or look at weird, or who wouldn’t embarrass him because of their scar. And, on a small part, I understand that. It’s selfish and superficial and it makes me sad, but I understand it. But at a certain point, when you have someone as great as Melody in front of you, you need to get over that, okay? And he needed to get over it.
At the end, he was acting like he was moving past it and was ready to be with Melody. Which, for one, she made him work for it; at first, when he was a big jerk and ended things, she would have taken him back, but later she wasn’t just going to accept him, which was very good for her. But, for another thing, I didn’t really believe him. I would have liked to, and a while after reading it, what happened has grown on me, but there just wasn’t enough of showing the reader that he was actually over it. I just didn’t fully believe him, although I would have liked to.
Both characters, Leon and Melody, did something they shouldn’t have because they liked someone so much. Leon did it for the popular girl, who he obviously had nothing in common with, and who generally was just a jerk and he needed to move on from her. And Melody when she kind of begged and would have taken him back when she should have been angry. But Melody mostly made up for it by not giving in later in the book. I guess Leon did, too, when he got over that other girl and realized that Melody was great for him, but I’m still a little mad at him.
And Melody is great, you guys. I really liked her, understood her, and felt like I really got to know her, even though we were solely in Leon’s head. I liked her a lot, and understood fully why her and Leon were good together, which is probably why I was so mad at Leon for messing everything up and thinking the shallow thoughts the he did.
So, to sum it all up, I liked this book. I liked the characters (aside from the points when I didn’t like Leon), including Leon’s friends, who we got to see a good amount of, and his parents. They were all rather unique from each other, and I liked them. The writing was good. Overall, I really liked this book. And I’m definitely planning to pick up Katcher’s other books.
graham_med's review
4.0
This book was great. Leon was a lovable character who was just about to reach a happy ending, but is distracted by Amy Green. Throughout the book, I had strong emotions about the characters, and that is truly great.
cestdanielle's review
4.0
This was my second time reading this book and I loved it just as much as I did the first time. Leon really ticked me off at some points (like when he decided to break up with Melody for Amy), but that was only because Katcher made him such a convincing teenage boy. He thought more with his... well, something other than his brain a lot, but I thought his heart was in the right place. If it wasn't, he wouldn't have felt so guilty about Melody when he was with Amy and he wouldn't have constantly been comparing Amy to Melody. What really won me over was when he declared his love for Melody in the movie theater. His friend (I can't remember if it was Johnny or Jimmy) told him not to, but he followed his heart and went for it. I couldn't help thinking that I would be so embarrassed, yet so smitten with a boy if he ever did that for me. The cliffhanger ending kind of upset me, but it still leaves a lot of room for imagination. I will definitely be reading more of Katcher's books.
adunnells's review
emotional
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
katiecoops's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this book. Once again, a male author has trumped female authors in general in my opinion. I got Almost Perfect today and I'm excited to start reading it.
tmaluck's review against another edition
4.0
The premise is rather predictable -slacker geek must choose between the nerdy (and in this case, deformed) girl with a heart of gold or the shallow, hot girl- but Katcher writes teens in a funny and insightful way that did not feel like I being ranted at or forced through fluff exposition. I often have trouble laughing at jokes in books because I tend to take all text at face value and simply recognize "humor" as I read through, but Katcher actually made me laugh. (It's a joke that involves loneliness and vomit.)
While I am sure Katcher deserves points for his depiction of a burn victim (who is anything but a victim in terms of how she deals with it - if anything, she is a victim of humanity), I most enjoyed his depiction of a "hot chick." All of the main characters are affected by people's readiness to judge based on looks, and the beautiful are no exception.
While I am sure Katcher deserves points for his depiction of a burn victim (who is anything but a victim in terms of how she deals with it - if anything, she is a victim of humanity), I most enjoyed his depiction of a "hot chick." All of the main characters are affected by people's readiness to judge based on looks, and the beautiful are no exception.
dairyqueen84's review against another edition
3.0
Leon Sanders wants a girlfriend desperately but he has low expectations about his prospects. He also has low self esteem and when he makes Melody Hennon smile, he overcomes his squeamishness about her looks and becomes friends with her. Melody was severely disfigured in a fire when she was four years old. As their friendship grows, like any teenage boy Leon begins to notice her nicer physical attributes and begins to have romantic feelings for her, but he cannot overcome his fear of what others will think of him for dating her, after all she’s the school pariah. To complicate matters, Leon saves his crush, Amy, from a suspension and then she begins to show some interest in him. Leon is torn between his growing feelings for and intimacy with Melody and his opportunity to date a girl who, in his view, is a living angel. The character development is strong, especially of Leon and Melody. Katcher writes about Leon’s struggles and Melody’s strength poignantly but it is hard to accept that a boy as insecure as Leon would ever become involved with Melody in the first place. The book raises important questions about looks, how people treat those who look differently, popularity, and relationships.
chwaters's review against another edition
3.0
A refreshing take on the traditional coming-of-age/first romance story. Leon is a guy who deems himself one of the most unpopular kids in school. Not as unpopular, however, as a few others, including a girl named Melody, who has burn scars all over her face due to an early childhood accident. One day, Leon makes a joke and Melody laughs. A friendship begins. Eventually, Leon must admit to himself and everyone else that he actually is more than friends with Melody, even if it might mean losing any remaining social status. Enter Amy: pretty, popular and the object of Leon's crushing for years. After a few encounters where Leon proves himself to be willing to do just about anything for her, she asks him out. Will Leon dump Melody for her? Is she even worth it? Can Leon live with himself if he doesn't take a chance? Honestly, the plot's not all that surprising, but the situations and emotions feel convincing. The book is light-hearted enough to keep it flowing, but serious enough to give readers pause to think about their own tendencies towards shallowness, loyalty and acceptance. Not exactly new subject matter, but a nice take on it nonetheless.
foreveryoungadult's review against another edition
Graded By: Jenny
BFF Charm: Yay!
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
Talky Talk: Straight Up
Bonus Factors: Freaks and Geeks
Relationship Status: Kid Brother
Read the full book report here.
BFF Charm: Yay!
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
Talky Talk: Straight Up
Bonus Factors: Freaks and Geeks
Relationship Status: Kid Brother
Read the full book report here.