For many, there is nothing significant about Thursday. It’s the day after Hump Day and the day before Friday, so at most people start feeling antsy for the week to end. In my world though, Thursdays are the equivalent of Mondays. I dread the day of the week because its when bad news and bad luck seem to manifest. In effort to combat my negative feelings toward Thursday, I’ve come up with the Weekly Squee!, which is a series of posts about all of the super awesome things that have happened or that I’ve discovered on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but most definitely not on Thursday. These are the things that have rocked my world this week:

1. Google Calendars. Maybe it seems odd to you that this handy organizational tool tops my list this week, but I’m a sucker for planners. Especially ones I can color code. I haven’t figured out its full potential, but I’m hoping it will help me become a more effective blogger.

2. Eureka, Season 5. A few months ago, the final season of Eureka aired on TV. I watched it all the way until the last episode. I kept putting off watching the series finale because I didn’t want it to be over. Eureka is such a fantastic show, and I think it’s such a shame it was yanked. Anyway, due to my procrastination, I never got around to watching the episode; it was pulled from On Demand when I finally worked up the courage to watch it. Luckily Netflix has my back, and it now has season 5 of Eureka. Do I sense a Eureka marathon?

3. Books, books, and more books. The boyfriend unearthed the pool table this weekend, which is apparently where I hoard all of my books. I now have four stacks of books that come up to my knee that needs reading.

4. Geek & Sundry. It’s a youtube channel that is home to all things nerdy. My favorite programs are Felicia’s Ark hosted by Felicia Day (my hero) and Table Top hosted by Wil Wheaton. I know it’s kind of long, but this episode featuring Colin Ferguson of Eureka fame had me rolling:

You can check out more Geek & Sundry programming here.

What sort of things have made you squee! this week?

I’m fairly open about most things, but there are two things I tend to keep a secret– my taste in music and my taste in literature.

True Story: After knowing one of my college buddies for almost four years, she out of the blue stated she had no idea who my favorite bad was, let alone my favorite type of music. We were in her car, and the doors were locked, so I figured I wouldn’t be getting out unless I told her. So, I said the first band that came to mind– Tiger Army. They’re a psychobilly band, which is kind of like a punk and rockabilly hybrid. Here is one of their tame songs if you’re curious:

But, that was a lie. Sorry Brooke.

There is something so personal about books and music that I find it difficult to share them with those that are close to me. I’m afraid they will show disdain for something that I adore, and it would be like they’re saying they didn’t like me. I’m sure that thought process is a little strange, but I’m also sure I’m not the only one who feels that way.

I also find it difficult to justify my taste in books because I studied English literature and composition in college. My friends think I have an appreciation for the Classics (suckers!). I think I’m supposed to have an appreciation for stuffy and pretentious metafiction that people with thick-rimmed glasses and tweed jackets with leather elbow patches discuss over glasses of wine from a box. But, in reality I just like young adult fiction. If you strip away their age, they’re characters who are just as confused about their place in the world as I am.

So, for the most part I keep my blog and my real life separate. As far as I know, my mom and dad are the only people “in the real world” that have my website address. And they’re pretty supportive. I wouldn’t shrivel up and die if my friends found out about Books & Tea, but I would prefer if they didn’t accidentally stumble upon my blog. I mean…unless they totally want to fangirl over Harry Potter and other YA books… I’d be cool with that.

I do struggle trying to strike a balance between blogging and “family time”. It’s like my significant other has his sixth sense tuned to my blogging urges. As soon as I sit down at my laptop and pop open WordPress, my boyfriend scrambles for the Wii remote and this happens:

Boyf.: Wanna play Metal Slug?
Me: Nope.
Boyf. Please?
Me: Nope.
Boyf.: PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE?
Me: Nope.
Boyf.: Okay okay, just one mission and you can blog for the rest of the night.
Me: *sigh* Fine.

And then, a few hours later we’ve played through all seven Metal Slug games on the Metal Slug Anthology. I feel disappointed in myself because I could have been blogging, so I have to remind myself that I used less continues than my boyfriend did.

Also, since all of my readers are wonderful and non-judgy, I feel I can share with you my favorite band. It’s AFI. And if you’ve never listened to them, here is one of their songs:

Since Books & Tea is a totally non-judgy, friend zone, if you have a favorite band, please feel free to tell me about them in the comments!

Blogger Confessions is a meme created by For What It’s Worth and Midnyte Reader.

Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1)

From Goodreads
Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

My Thoughts
You guys, why didn’t you tell me how amazing Beautiful Creatures was? Oh wait, You did! I often talk about how book hype usually ruins books for me, but on this rare occasion it didn’t! In my opinion, Beautiful Creatures deserves all the rave reviews it’s received so far.

There is something so satisfying about Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. It was the setting that sucked me in first. The fictional town of Gatlin, South Carolina reminded me of hot and soggy summers spent in the woods and creek behind my house in northern Georgia. I half expected kudzu to creep and crawl from the pages of my book. Had the transmission in my car not gone kaput a month prior, I may have jumped in to my dodgy Ford Taurus and drove south for the winter. Next, I was immediately preoccupied by the lives of the people in small-town Gatlin. I wanted to stand in line at the corner store sipping sweet tea while nonchalantly listening in to gossips air their neighbor’s dirty laundry.

The characterization in Beautiful Creatures was near perfect. They all came alive almost effortlessly. The southern belles and their jock counterparts were a cause of friction that was written well. The mean girls/jock conflict might be overdone, but Garcia and Stohl’s approach is surprisingly refreshing. Perhaps because it reads more like a small town versus an outsider threatening what is comfortable rather than the mean, preppy girls versus the goth. The Sisters, with their batty ways were hilarious! But Amma, with her crossword obsession and her voodoo superstitions stole the show for me.

If the characters and the setting don’t suck you in, perhaps the point of view will. What a surprise it was to discover that this paranormal romance  was written almost entirely from a male’s point of view. When was the last time you read a book dealing with romantic elements from a guy’s perspective? It’s just not usually done, which makes this book even more outstanding. Ethan is more complicated than some high school horn dog. He struggles with parting himself from the small town mentality that his friends are trying to shove down his throat as he realizes he’s falling for mysterious and eccentric looking Lena. The romance that develops between the two is sweet and so reminiscent of what I remember of high school romances—holding hands and almost-kisses and wondering if you’ve really just fallen in…well, the “l-word”(because who knew saying “love” would be so anxiety inducing even though it’s kind of invigorating?). It’s such a nice break from overly dominant and manly teenage boys and submissive teenage girls.

The supernatural elements were a show-stopper as well. They were just plain, ol’ neat. I mean, we’re talking about controlling elements, shape shifting, seeing time, mind control, healing, and that’s only scratching the surface. But, that’s not all. There is also Amma who wards off bad spirits with voodoo charms and pleases dead ancestors with chicken and whiskey. There is a natural conflict that arises between the casters and Amma just as there is a conflict that arises between all of the mortals in Gatlin and the casters. It makes for some pretty suspenseful moments.

Beautiful Creatures would be perfect except for two issues that I had with the book. First, the book seemed long. I understand that it is long but so are Harry Potter books, and sometimes those don’t seem long enough! I don’t know if it was pacing or if certain events in the middle were dragged out a chapter too many or even if my anticipation for the events at the end made the book seem so long. Regardless, at some point, I lost my reading vigor because it seemed daunting. Now, on the flip side, it seemed like the ending was rushed! And it seemed like a few explanations were made up suddenly at the end to cover holes in logistics. Like, how is Ethan supposed to get from the Library back out the spooky mansion when they’re clear across town from each other? A perfectly rational supernatural explanation is offered even though no mention of such a thing was made when Ethan first visited the library.

Overall,
I LOVED Beautiful Creatures! The setting, the characters, and the point-of-view made the book a refreshing read. Especially in a genre that has exhausted shoddy love interests, vague characterization, and love triangles. Perhaps Beautiful Creatures was a little too satisfying though. I honestly felt Beautiful Creatures would have worked perfectly as a stand-alone novel. It tied things up nicely but left enough to the imagination. So, as much as I loved Beautiful Creatures, I’m not entirely convinced I want to continue on with the series. Conflicting, eh? I’m not sure book two can live up to its predecessor. If I’m way wrong, please tell me in the comments!

Cover Story
I’m not nearly as smitten with the cover as most people seem to be. The bold colors and the font are lovely, but that’s the only striking thing about it. I don’t think I’d be encouraged to pick this book from the shelves (maybe 10 years ago when I was in my goth stage I may have…)

Read this book if you love supernatural stories. Read this book if you like those supernatural stories tinged with forbidden romance. Read this book even if you’re skeptical of supernatural stories tinged with forbidden romance. It’s not like all the others on the market, I swear! Read it!!!

I’ve attempted to use other feed readers, but I found I didn’t care for them as much as Google Reader. Google Reader is clean and easy to navigate. I can read entire articles in the reader with having to “click here for more”. I can select individual articles to read without having others clutter my screen. I can organize my feeds anyway I like and star the posts that I really, really liked or want to return to later. But…I suppose other feed readers offer the same or at least similar benefits, and maybe the real issue is I don’t like to change my routine.

On Saturday, I spent my afternoon setting up and organizing my reader over at Blog Lovin’. So far, I’m really appreciating what the site has to offer. Also, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to clean up my subscriptions, but I’m pretty sure for every subscription I deleted, I found two new blogs to subscribe to. D’oh!

How do you subscribe to blogs? E-mail? Feed Reader? Bookmark the page in your browser? What feature do you like best about your particular method of subscription?

Oh also, If you use Blog Lovin’, please feel free to subscribe: Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Hopefully warm weather for most of us is here soon… so tell us about your favorite outdoor reading spot. Or take a picture!

I wish I could take a picture of my favorite outdoor reading spot, but it’s looking shoddy right now since it’s overcast and half-melted piles of snow lay everywhere. I’ll show it off this summer so you all can get the full effect of its awesomeness.

I live on a lake. Okay okay, I live on a canal that links two lakes together. But, if I peer two houses down to the left, I can see the lake, so it’s kind of like living on the lake, right? Once the weather gets warm and sunny, I drag a plastic lawn chair down to the edge of the canal, plop down, and read. Usually my boyfriend follows with his fishing pole and tackle box, and he’ll spend his afternoon catching small bass and catfish and bluegill. He’s good company when he fishes because he usually doesn’t interrupt my reading unless he wants to show off his catch or he needs help pulling a hook that a catfish swallowed. Every once in a while, some kids in canoes will come down the canal or a family will float by on their pontoon boat, and they’ll wave “hi” and ask if the boyfriend has made any good catches. It’s pleasant.

Usually I have to call it quits when the sun starts to set because the mosquitoes come out in droves, and I am a delicacy to mosquitoes. Once, my boyfriend and I took turns reading aloud poems from a Charles Bukowski book while sitting outside at night. He had not a single bite on his body, but I got loads. And! I was wearing long socks, jeans, and a hoodie because I just knew I would get bite. They ended up biting me through my jeans, and I had to douse myself with Calamine lotion. It was awful. Instead of heading outside at night, I   usually prop the back door open so I can listen to the bullfrogs and the Sandhill cranes and the cicadas while I read.

Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’s View!

If I Tell

From Goodreads
“It was like watching a train wreck. I wanted to look away but couldn’t take my eyes off them.”
IF ONLY …If only I hadn’t gone to that party. I never would have seen what I did. Jackson wouldn’t have driven me home. I wouldn’t have started to fall for a guy just out of reform school. I could go back to pretending everything was normal. I wouldn’t be keeping a secret from my mom that could blow our family apart …

My Thoughts
I wanted to love this book. It seemed promising enough. I mean, at it’s bare bones If I Tell was good. The main character, Jasmine, is a bi-racial girl in a white-washed suburb in Washington. If feeling like an outside because of her skin color isn’t bad enough, Jasmine also sees Simon, her mother’s boyfriend, mackin’ on some other girl at a party. (Do people even use the word “macking” anymore?). Jasmine struggles with how to deal with this situation: how will she keep her cool around Simon? He’s been a good friend to her, and he is one of only two black people in Jasmine’s life. She also struggles with how to approach this issue with her mom– if she even should bring it up. Because Jasmine’s mom is pregnant, and Simon is the father.

If I Tell also deals with the issue of postpartum depression, which adds depth to the storyline. Jasmine was born when her mother was a teenager and unprepared to take care of a child on her own. So, Jasmine was raised by her grandparents. Now, Jasmine’s mom has a second chance at being a parent, and all throughout her pregnancy she’s excited by the idea. But after Jasmine’s mom gives birth, the depression settles in. The moment she’s been waiting for for nine months disintegrates. It’s truly heartbreaking.

But…the rest becomes really muddled. I mean, if you’re looking for an “issue book”, If I Tell really fits the bill. Infidelity, racism, and broken families aside, this book also deals with…molestation, alcoholism, homosexuality, AIDS, drugs, psychotic ex-girlfriends, death, uh…and sexual assault. I just felt like all of these issues piled into one book that was a little much for a book that has a little more than 200 pages.

I also didn’t care for the author’s approach to sex. Or maybe it’s really Jasmine’s view of sex, but sometimes it’s hard to separate the two from the message. Most of the time, whenever the topic of sex was brought up, slut-shaming was involved. Even more, the slut in question was an adult very capable of making adult decisions. I don’t know why this character’s sex life was blamed on her troubled past.

Overall,
This book was okay. I think there was a good story here, but all of the other characters’ problems was a distraction.

Cover Story
I think the cover is lovely. I like the colors and I adore the setting. I’m kind of curious if the gal on the cover really is bi-racial though. It would be crummy if the cover was white-washed.

Read this book at your own risk. I’m wondering if there might be too many issues present in this book for even this biggest fan of “issue books”.

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Divergent

From Goodreads
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue–Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is–she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are–and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

My Thoughts
For the most part, there are more important things to me than world building. I’d rather get trapped in a character’s mind or a character’s conflict than in their world. I think this is why I struggled with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Sometimes there is a perfect balance of world building, adventure, and character development like in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

And then there is Divergent by Veronica Roth, a reading experience for which I struggle to find adequate words to describe it. The world in Divergent is so full of holes and contradictions that it was distracting.

Divergent takes place in Chicago in the future. Readers know this because famous landmarks are name dropped on occasion—the Navy Pier, Lake Michigan, the Hancock Building. If you’re not familiar with Chicago, you’re screwed. Roth doesn’t make it a point to paint you a cityscape. Nothing about the scents and sounds and hustle n’ bustle is mentioned. Even the lack of the aforementioned is not described. I had no concept of how Chicago may have changed due to the dystopian society, and I had no idea how the people actually interacted with the city. It became like a backdrop in a middle school play—poorly painted and only there so the characters can walk in and out of door frames. Chicago was so vague that I didn’t even realize that the train the Dauntless were jumping from was the famed L-Train; I thought they were just your run-of-the-mill freighters that roar through the rest of the Midwest. (This explains why I kept wonder what the big deal was because gunslingers and hobos have been jumping in and out of freight cars since they first invented the dang steam engine).

Then there is the matter of the society that induced MASSIVE amounts of eye rolling.

It’s mentioned in passing that the people grew dissatisfied with war and greed, so they decided to do something about it. This is hardly the cataclysmic event that leads to dystopian societies, but whatever. Chicago in the future is divided into factions based on personality traits: Abnegation (selflessness), Amity (…niceness?), Candor (honesty), Erudite (intelligence), and Dauntless (daring). It’s believed that nurturing one of these traits can eliminate all of the injustices in the world. For example, the Abnegation raised their children to be selfless because they thought greed was the downfall of the world. Uh, what? Further, there is this type of person considered Divergent, which means they embody multiple personality traits; it’s dangerous to be Divergent. But…human nature will inevitably kick in, and so most of the people will at some point value multiple and perhaps contradicting traits. It’s evident when the kids choose their factions when they’re 16. One may have been nurtured to be selfless, but desire for knowledge may truly be in their heart, so they abandon their old faction for a new one. Based on this pretty much everyone would be in some sense Divergent.

Also, I should mention that this is all disregarding the Factionless who are such because they chose to or they failed their initiation. Everyone pretty much views them as the scum of the earth. I don’t know why they haven’t started a rebellion yet. Those factions are so bourgeois!

I read somewhere that if you can get past the poor world building, Divergent is a really fun novel. I’m not so sure I agree with that statement. Most of Divergent takes place during the Dauntless initiation. It was like…oh God, 400 pages of boot camp and daredevil stunts. During initiation, potential Dauntless candidates learn how to shoot guns, throw knives, and beat the ever-living stuffing out of each other. Because that’s what real daring people do. Every day is Fight Club when you’re brave. I felt like there was an extreme lack of story line during initiation.

The violence in this book made me uncomfortable. Bloody noses and broken bodies don’t make me squeamish, but lack of remorse surrounding those things does. The Dauntless candidates are cold. The main character, Tris, is cold. And they weren’t even raised or brainwashed to think this way. Tris’s passive past and aggressive present is alarming, and it’s not even because she’s a Divergent. The rest of the other candidates from Candor and Erudite are equally, if not more aggressive. Drawing blood is bravery. Almost killing your friends is bravery. Being able to stand in front of a target while someone throws knives at you is bravery. Really? It’s not like they’re even training to butt-kick enemies; they’re just beating the crap out of each other. Why? What’s the point?

The other half of the story revolved around the “shocking” appearance of the Dauntless. They had tattoos and facial piercings and wore leather jackets. I think the last time this kind of attire was considered shocking was…when? The 1980s? Roth successfully described half of my friends.

More annoying than the world were the characters because they’re all flat and symbolic of their initial faction. You know what they say—once a Candor, always a Candor. (They don’t really say that, I just made it up).  Oh, but really they’re Dauntless. You can tell from their left hooks.

And then there is Tris, who is a walking contradiction—and not because she’s Divergent. One minute she’s all gung-ho about beating someone to near death and ziplining off the Hancock Building because that’s what daring people do. The next, she thinks her bravery actually lies in her Abnegation values, which I think is a valid conclusion.  Then she back tracks during the next chapter when she’s channeling Chuck Norris and repeating her mantra—I am brave. I am Dauntless. My biggest pet peeve is a nitpicky one that revolves around her motives. During the last 40 pages, something interesting actually happens. And during these 40 pages, Tris comes face-to-face with several enemies. Her new-found Dauntless-ness means she should be able to kill them on the spot, but her Abnegation side keeps surfacing. Instead she decides to disable them by shooting out their knee caps. But then, when she’s face-to-face with a friend, she lodges a bullet between his eyes and doesn’t think twice about it. That’s what being Dauntless is all about afterall. But, wait…why couldn’t she just disable this person like she did to all of her enemies? But, it’s okay! Because this will provide conflict for future novels, I’m sure. Tris will have to deal with the regret of taking her friend’s life over her enemies’. LOL Tris, you don’t make any sense.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on Four, Tris’s love interest. He has about as much personality as Molly Ringwald’s character’s love interesting in Pretty in Pink. He treats Tris like garbage in front of the faction because the two have to keep up their appearances. That’s supposed to justify things? How is this not the same, problematic relationship we see time and time again in young adult novels these days?

Overall,
I didn’t like this novel, and I do not understand the hype surrounding it. Goodread choice of the year…really? I won’t be continuing this series. I don’t even want to hit of wikipedia to find out what happens next.

Cover Story
Okay, the cover is pretty freaking neat. I love the symbol and the bold colors. This would definitely catch my eye from the shelves.

Read at your own risk. If you like your action with a side of action, have at it. But, I don’t really feel like I can recommend this book because I didn’t find anything redeeming about it. But, there are loooooads of people who LOVE Divergent. Here is a raving, five-star review. Heck, here is a well-balanced 3-star review.

Office Girl

From Goodreads
No one dies in Office Girl. Nobody talks about the international political situation. There is no mention of any economic collapse. Nothing takes place during a World War.

Instead, this novel is about young people doing interesting things in the final moments of the last century. Odile is a lovely twenty-three-year-old art-school dropout, a minor vandal, and a hopeless dreamer. Jack is a twenty-five-year-old shirker who’s most happy capturing the endless noises of the city on his out-of-date tape recorder. Together they decide to start their own art movement in defiance of a contemporary culture made dull by both the tedious and the obvious. Set in February 1999—just before the end of one world and the beginning of another—Office Girl is the story of two people caught between the uncertainty of their futures and the all-too-brief moments of modern life.

Joe Meno’s latest novel also features black-and-white illustrations by renowned artist Cody Hudson and photographs by visionary photographer Todd Baxter.

My Thoughts
It’s easy to write a review about the books that I adore and would encourage every single person in the universe to read. It’s even easier to write a review for a book that I loathe. But the stuff in the middle? The books that were decent but otherwise didn’t conjure up any emotions? Those reviews are the hardest to write. Such is the case with Joe Meno’s Office Girl.

Office Girl is a short novel about a romance that came and went. Most of the stuff in the middle is about Jack and Odile falling for each other while Odile subsequently tries “sticking it to the man” with her art projects. Maybe this is amusing if you’re a fan of guerrilla art, but it left me feeling indifferent. For me, most of the book falls into the realm of mediocrity, though I did find the ending to be redeeming. I don’t mean that in a snarky sense either. I really do mean the ending was perfect. It doesn’t suffer from a case of the rom-coms, where everything is pieced together and wrapped up in a pleasant little bow. It seemed realistic, and despite its bittersweet-ness, it left me feeling positive and fulfilled.

I figured Office Girl was one of those books that has to be read by a certain age so it can resonate with the reader. Kind of like Catcher in the Rye, maybe. And considering I am around the same age as the characters in the book, I figured Office Girl would be the same kind of mind-blowing amazing that was Meno’s Hairstyles of the Damned back when I was in high school. Office Girl wasn’t though. Mostly I just found the characters to be kind of annoying and whiny and too angsty to be 24 years old. Okay, maybe I’m being a little harsh on Jack. He was actually a pretty interesting character, but Odile was too much of a hipster for me to appreciate. She caused me to suffer eye strain as a result of massive eye rolls.

Overall,
I’m not saying I hated Office Girl. I’m not even saying I disliked the book. I just didn’t think it was as good as some of Meno’s works that I was introduced to prior. Had I not approached Office Girl with expectations, I may have enjoyed it more.

Cover Story
If it didn’t have Joe Meno’s name across the cover, I probably wouldn’t have touched this book. American Apparel would probably use this to wallpaper its store walls. Or screen print it onto flimsy t-shirts…

Read if you’re looking for a short romance to entertain you on the beach or during a flight to some vacation destination. Honestly though, I’d read something else by Meno because Office Girls doesn’t do him justice. Try the Boy Detective Fails, instead.

Punkzilla

From Goodreads
For a runaway boy who goes by the name “Punkzilla,” kicking a meth habit and a life of petty crime in Portland, Oregon, is a prelude to a mission: reconnecting with his older brother, a gay man dying of cancer in Memphis. Against a backdrop of seedy motels, dicey bus stations, and hitched rides, the desperate fourteen-year-old meets a colorful, sometimes dangerous cast of characters. And in letters to his sibling, he catalogs them all — from an abusive stranger and a ghostly girl to a kind transsexual and an old woman with an oozing eye. The language is raw and revealing, crackling with visceral details and dark humor, yet with each interstate exit Punkzilla’s journey grows more urgent: will he make it to Tennessee in time? This daring novel offers a narrative worthy of Kerouac and a keen insight into the power of chance encounters.

My Thoughts
I’ve put off writing a review for Punkzilla by Adam Rapp because I’m a little intimidated. Punkzilla was given a Printz Honor medal, which means this book is legit. That shouldn’t matter but it does because people who actually know what they’re talking about hold this book high in esteem. What more can I say about it?

Books like Punkzilla send conservative parents in a book-banning tizzy. It touches on drug use, homosexuality, pedophilia, the struggles of transgendered individuals, sex, mental abuse, and death. It’s hard to believe that all of that exists within 200 pages of a young adult novel. None of it is gratuitous, but I’d be lying if I said parts of this book didn’t make me uncomfortable. Sometimes that’s the point though.

The story of Punkzilla is told through a collection of letters. Most of the time, Punkzilla is writing to his dying brother, but letters from Punkzilla’s family are sprinkled throughout. These letters from Punkzilla’s family present a different side to the story or at least provide a richer reading experience. Throughout his letters, Punkzilla’s voice seems genuine. I mean, if you can get over the fact that few thirteen year olds could write that way stylistically, then it seems genuine. He writes like his mind if going a mile a minute from the meth he did the night before. He’s so honest in his letters about all the horrible things he’s done. But what’s even more interesting is, despite his hooligan tendencies, his innocence shines through when he meets various people on his travels. It’s in these instances the reader catches a glimpse at how vulnerable Punkzilla is, and really it’s kind of heartbreaking.

The only letdown in Adam Rapp’s Punkzilla was the ending. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the ending. Punkzilla’s decisions left me satisfied. But, I thought it ended rather abruptly, like Rapp ran out of steam.

Overall,
I really enjoyed this book, but it left me feeling pretty heavy at the end. I guess that’s a sign of a job well done.

Cover Story
I don’t really care for the version presented in this review. Cracked pavement and some grungy letters wouldn’t encourage me to pick this book off the shelf.

Read this book. But if the issues I mentioned in the review make you squeamish or if vulgar language offends you, approach this book with caution. If you’re a parent, don’t read this book. It will probably want to make you send your kid to military school. Punkzilla’s parents sent him to military school, and look what happened to him.