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A review by ericbuscemi
The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini
2.0
I wanted to like this, I really did. I loved Vizzini's [b:It's Kind of a Funny Story|248704|It's Kind of a Funny Story|Ned Vizzini|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1347649705s/248704.jpg|240980]. I love coming of age stories. I love the fantasy genre. So this book was an easy sell to me.
Unfortunately, it didn't deliver on any level. The world building was just silly -- lots of basic mechanics were poorly explained or glossed over entirely, while lots of unnecessary details, such as the protagonists inability to pronounce the Other Normals word for money, were expounded on for far too long. More importantly, the characters were unrealistic to the point of bad parody -- the main character is supposed to be fifteen years old, and acts, at best, twelve. He is obsessed with his newly sprouted pubic hair, and this embarrassing-to-read-about detail is brought up multiple times. This surprised me, as this is the same author that captured the teenage zeitgeist so well in his previous work.
Another issue is this book's claim to be a young adult novel. This means the target audience will be about the main character's age -- hence the author won't be fooling his audience with his poor portrayal of a fifteen-year-old boy. Furthermore, the real goal of a young adult book is to give the depth of an adult story without detailing the objectionable sex, language and substance abuse -- meaning a 'PG'-to-'PG13' rating instead of a hard 'R'. While there is no sex (the main character is so naive in this regard it is unfathomable that he grew up in NYC, and not a cave), there are multiple f-bombs and other curses, as well as underage drinking. Now I am not a prude, and don't mind the language or drinking, I just don't understand the decision to make the story so immature and watered down, while leaving the adult vices in. It's the worst of both worlds, as far as a young adult novel is concerned.
Finally, there is the ending. As with almost everything I read now, it was shamelessly set up for a sequel with too many plot threads left unresolved. I understand authors wanting to franchise their work, but it shouldn't come at the expense of a complete story.
Unfortunately, it didn't deliver on any level. The world building was just silly -- lots of basic mechanics were poorly explained or glossed over entirely, while lots of unnecessary details, such as the protagonists inability to pronounce the Other Normals word for money, were expounded on for far too long. More importantly, the characters were unrealistic to the point of bad parody -- the main character is supposed to be fifteen years old, and acts, at best, twelve. He is obsessed with his newly sprouted pubic hair, and this embarrassing-to-read-about detail is brought up multiple times. This surprised me, as this is the same author that captured the teenage zeitgeist so well in his previous work.
Another issue is this book's claim to be a young adult novel. This means the target audience will be about the main character's age -- hence the author won't be fooling his audience with his poor portrayal of a fifteen-year-old boy. Furthermore, the real goal of a young adult book is to give the depth of an adult story without detailing the objectionable sex, language and substance abuse -- meaning a 'PG'-to-'PG13' rating instead of a hard 'R'. While there is no sex (the main character is so naive in this regard it is unfathomable that he grew up in NYC, and not a cave), there are multiple f-bombs and other curses, as well as underage drinking. Now I am not a prude, and don't mind the language or drinking, I just don't understand the decision to make the story so immature and watered down, while leaving the adult vices in. It's the worst of both worlds, as far as a young adult novel is concerned.
Finally, there is the ending. As with almost everything I read now, it was shamelessly set up for a sequel with too many plot threads left unresolved. I understand authors wanting to franchise their work, but it shouldn't come at the expense of a complete story.