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A review by super_librarian
Punkzilla by Adam Rapp
2.0
Almost fifteen-year-old Jamie, aka "Punkzilla," has gone AWOL from military school and has been living a crime-filled life in Portland. When he learns that one of his older brothers is dying of cancer, Punkzilla decides to embark on a cross-country journey in an attempt to reach Peter ("P" for short)in Memphis before he dies. Punkzilla and P are both estranged from their parents, who cannot accept P's homosexuality or Punkzilla's troubling behavior. (Their overachieving brother Edward is the only one who still lives with their parents.)
Punkzilla and P's strong bond is shown through the letters they write to one another. In fact, the entire novel is written in epistolary style. The letters are not all presented in chronological order, however. Interspersed with the letters Punkzilla is writing to P along his journey are letters from the family that detail his past. At first, this was a little confusing to me until I went back and read the dates on all the letters.
The stream-of-consciousness style annoyed me at times, and I felt like there was a lot of unnecessary stuff thrown in. It really did show what was going on in Punkzilla's head, but I had a hard time getting through it.
This was a Printz honor book, and a lot of people loved it, but it just didn't do anything for me. I didn't really connect with the main character, and I felt like a lot of the details were thrown in just to shock readers.
Punkzilla and P's strong bond is shown through the letters they write to one another. In fact, the entire novel is written in epistolary style. The letters are not all presented in chronological order, however. Interspersed with the letters Punkzilla is writing to P along his journey are letters from the family that detail his past. At first, this was a little confusing to me until I went back and read the dates on all the letters.
The stream-of-consciousness style annoyed me at times, and I felt like there was a lot of unnecessary stuff thrown in. It really did show what was going on in Punkzilla's head, but I had a hard time getting through it.
This was a Printz honor book, and a lot of people loved it, but it just didn't do anything for me. I didn't really connect with the main character, and I felt like a lot of the details were thrown in just to shock readers.