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A review by oliviaoverthinkseverything
Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy
5.0
True Rating: Infinite Stars, and an Asteroid Too
Even though we have five months and some change left to go before we bid 2016 adieu, I'm fairly certain that this will be my favorite NetGalley read of the year.
I've had a lot of disappointing and mediocre reading experiences this year, so I wasn't expecting much from Katie Kennedy's Learning to Swear in America. Sure, the blurb sounded fantastic, but when you read as much as I do, you quickly learn not to place much hope on that back-cover text.
The writing is excellent. The story is excellent. The characters are--brace yourself--excellent. This book is endlessly quotable. I tried to choose just one snipped to include in this review, but that simply can't be done, so prepare yourself for a beautiful literary onslaught:
If you follow my reviews, you know I normally go into a little more detail as to why I love or dislike a particular title, but here, words are insufficient. Learning to Swear in America is so many things: a young adult novel, a coming-of-age tale. It's a story of first love and near apocalypse and what it means to be human--not Russian, not American, just human. If I were a betting woman, I would bet a fortune and a half that this book will be considered a classic in fifty years.
Read it. Read it now.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Even though we have five months and some change left to go before we bid 2016 adieu, I'm fairly certain that this will be my favorite NetGalley read of the year.
I've had a lot of disappointing and mediocre reading experiences this year, so I wasn't expecting much from Katie Kennedy's Learning to Swear in America. Sure, the blurb sounded fantastic, but when you read as much as I do, you quickly learn not to place much hope on that back-cover text.
The writing is excellent. The story is excellent. The characters are--brace yourself--excellent. This book is endlessly quotable. I tried to choose just one snipped to include in this review, but that simply can't be done, so prepare yourself for a beautiful literary onslaught:
Dovie exerted a giant gravitational force. She was the closest thing to Jupiter of anyone he'd ever met, but you probably couldn't say that to a girl.
"I'm late because I'm raging against the machine, Mrs. Lee."
He hit "send," and wondered how good NASA's bullshit detector was. Their other detectors were pretty good.
"So I have to give you advice without any idea what you're talking about."
"Yes."
"In that situation, I always turn to Immanuel Kant."
"You're very grave."
"I'm always grave about gravity."
But it had only taken him a cell phone and fifty seconds to hack in--not because he was a genius, but because he was a teenager.
If you follow my reviews, you know I normally go into a little more detail as to why I love or dislike a particular title, but here, words are insufficient. Learning to Swear in America is so many things: a young adult novel, a coming-of-age tale. It's a story of first love and near apocalypse and what it means to be human--not Russian, not American, just human. If I were a betting woman, I would bet a fortune and a half that this book will be considered a classic in fifty years.
Read it. Read it now.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.