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A review by pn_hinton
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
4.0
This was a delightful debut, but in opinion this should have been obvious from the now famous dedication page. Philippe has a wry sense of humor and was masterful with the tone of a displaced teenager having to adjust to a new familial situation in a new country. And not just any part of the country but Austin, Texas. As someone who was born and bred here, I can attest to that it is a lot to take in if you're not fully prepared and that is just the wonky and ever changing weather. I will admit that the fact that it took place in my home city and state drew me to this, as well as the premise of the novel itself so I dove in eager to read it. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Admittedly, Norris is not 100% likable. He is prickly, rude, and borderline obnoxiously judgmental of everyone. However, to be fair I doubt anyone at that age in that situation would have approached it much better. They may have tried to be friends but we all know how cliquish high school can be and when yo're the new fish in that pond, people aren't always welcoming. His observations were hilarious because I feel everyone has had the same ones about others or themselves. And his moodiness and just general selfishness was just so realistic. I really liked that about this novel.
Most YA paints the kids as paragons of their generation or wrongly accused and that gets tedious. Many times Norris gets called an a**hole and he is in fact being an a**hole. So I really enjoyed that aspect.
Another thing is that there were touches of realness in it, such as the fight he had with his mom after prom and the why and the ending. It was a bit of a shock since I did sit there after I read the second to last chapter and was like, 'Did I just read what I thought I read?' Bug again it brought a touch of realism to the story that was like a bit of fresh air to me.
There were a few things that did make me wrinkle my nose, such as where the author placed Anderson High School, which is real. He said it was near Pflugerville, which is not the case. I'm guessing this was his bit of creative licensing since the author did attend the University of Texas at Austin according to his biography so it was easily overlooked although it did have me questioning if I knew where the high school was.
Overall I enjoyed this, would recommend, would re-read, and would read more by this author. I'm not sure if he is planning on writing more on Norris or not but either way I'm interested to see in what else this author has for us.
Admittedly, Norris is not 100% likable. He is prickly, rude, and borderline obnoxiously judgmental of everyone. However, to be fair I doubt anyone at that age in that situation would have approached it much better. They may have tried to be friends but we all know how cliquish high school can be and when yo're the new fish in that pond, people aren't always welcoming. His observations were hilarious because I feel everyone has had the same ones about others or themselves. And his moodiness and just general selfishness was just so realistic. I really liked that about this novel.
Most YA paints the kids as paragons of their generation or wrongly accused and that gets tedious. Many times Norris gets called an a**hole and he is in fact being an a**hole. So I really enjoyed that aspect.
Another thing is that there were touches of realness in it, such as the fight he had with his mom after prom and the why and the ending. It was a bit of a shock since I did sit there after I read the second to last chapter and was like, 'Did I just read what I thought I read?' Bug again it brought a touch of realism to the story that was like a bit of fresh air to me.
There were a few things that did make me wrinkle my nose, such as where the author placed Anderson High School, which is real. He said it was near Pflugerville, which is not the case. I'm guessing this was his bit of creative licensing since the author did attend the University of Texas at Austin according to his biography so it was easily overlooked although it did have me questioning if I knew where the high school was.
Overall I enjoyed this, would recommend, would re-read, and would read more by this author. I'm not sure if he is planning on writing more on Norris or not but either way I'm interested to see in what else this author has for us.