Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk by Tony DuShane

Hmmmm. Yeah. Ummmmm. Okay. Really?

I’m kind of ashamed. Ashamed because while reading this book I learned about something that I honestly feel like I should have already known. I mean, I guess its not really fair to be down on myself for being unaware but it’s somewhat prevalent. Alright, get to the point already. So, I’m talking about the Watchtower Society otherwise known as Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was actually kind of bothered reading about how and what this group of people believe in (I’m not too worried about losing readers over this review, knowing full well that reading my blog would most certainly be forbidden by the elders regardless). On the brighter side of things, I did learn that I quite like Tony DuShane’s writing style and seeing as he’s a local (San Francisco) writer I will be keeping my eye out for more of his work.

While reading the book I began to wonder whether or not Mr. DuShane was at some point himself a Jehova’s Witness and whether or not this story was in fact a look at his younger life. Well, after reading the book I found out that Mr. DuShane was a Witness while growing up but eventually became “inactive.” As for this being a book about him, I’m not quite sure. I do know this, should Armageddon ever come Dushane will not be saved (according the society of course, in my book, he stays).

Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk is funny, intelligent and as I already pointed out rather insightful. A lot of young adult books out there use masturbation and puberty as central ideas in the story which makes sense, the male protagonists are typically always of that age. I wouldn’t exactly say that DuShane uses it as a tool differently but he does make it a rather large point of moral conflict for the main character, Gabe.

Gabe and his family are Jehova’s Witnesses, if you haven’t already figured it out. As an adolescent Gabe and his friends, also Witnesses, are coming to the age of experimentation. That age when all you want to do is rebel, drink, smoke and think about sex (I’m hoping that wasn’t only me). Well, once the idea of self-pleasure is introduced to Gabe he kind of starts to indulge. But, Jehova’s Witnesses, such as Gabe, are taught that masturbation is sinful, not exactly a sin that could lead to disfellowship, but one that can be redeemed only through prayer and personal effort (I felt kind of weird searching google for “Jehova’s Witness and Masturbation,” wouldn’t you?). The book does note that according to their faith “masturbation can lead to homosexuality,” which of course we all know is true (guffaw). Of course when you know something is “wrong” and you’re a teenager you’re more likely to think about it more, so what does Gabe do, he masturbates and gets all excited about the girls he’s interested in. As his interest peaks so do the repercussions laid on him by the church for his behavior, if only the elders in the story really knew what he was up to!

By the end of the story everything in Gabe’s life has changed. His friends are no longer the same people they once were, his family has cracked and he finds himself lost. It certainly demonstrates that force feeding adolescents with moral preoccupations or religious based zeal is just as likely to have consequences which are directly opposed to the idea espoused. I’m grateful it wasn’t shoved down my throat. I mean sure I went to hebrew school, Jewish summer camp, the whole shebang but never was I put in a position where I did not feel comfortable around my peers. Shit, I’m pretty sure we were covertly encouraged to sneak out of our cabins at night to fraternize with the females on the other side of camp. I get the feeling that if that sort of thing went down in the Watchtower Society the reprimands would be pretty aggressive.

I really did enjoy the way that DuShane educated me while at the same time made me feel good about the adolescence I had. I’m sure I took for granted the fact that my parents were pretty lenient (although my brother and sister put them through enough that by the time I was of age… I could get away with anything) and looking back on that I can’t tell you how grateful I am. I mean it was pretty funny/awesome when my dad drove up to the donut shop where I was busted by the police with several friends for drinking and tp’ing (toilet papering, for those of you who aren’t in the know) laughing his ass off at 3am. I believe that I was 14 at the time and unbeknown to most is the fact that the whole plan was mine, all put together so that I could make out with the preacher’s daughter who I was “going out with” at the time. Of course the preacher’s daughter was there after forbidden to ever see the evil Jew (me) again, but it was worth it. I guess the moral of the story is that I want all teenagers Jehova’s, Mormons, Christians, Muslims, Jews… to be able to do what they were meant to do, get arrested while grabbing a donut at 3am and have mom and pop laugh about it because it’s just a part of growing up.

I came across this great photo of Mr. DuShane that couldn’t really be framed any better. Photo credit: CaliberSF

Tony DuShane on Valencia Street

Beautiful Creatures by Kami & Garcia Margaret Stohl

It feels like every YA (young adult) book that I’ve read of late has something to do with mysticism, magic, fantasy, vampires and or some other type of other world being. What the hell is up with that? Whatever, I guess it doesn’t really matter. Beautiful Creatures is no different in this regard but somehow Garcia and Stohl manage to serve it up in a different way.

Oddly enough the other day I came across a woman at a coffee shop who said she writes YA. I’m not really sure what that means (she is not published) but I’m guessing she just uses teens as protagonist and uses the themes prevalent in most of this genre when writing. I bring up my chance meeting with this woman because our discussion shifted to why each of us thought YA books, of late, are so inundated with the paranormal. Her belief was much more divine and thought out than mine. Ok, now I may not be remembering her theory very well but I believe it was basically the idea that these themes are demonstrating a return to paganism in society. And by this return to paganism, society is willfully and knowledgeably attempting to breakdown the idea of the social status that we know today. Honestly, I don’t really know what she was talking about. I willfully admit I probably got her theory/ideas wrong considering I wasn’t taking notes during our conversation but I think those were the key thoughts. As for me, I ruled the emergence of the paranormal in YA books to capitalism, pure and simple. Whatever the reason may be, I don’t see it fading anytime soon. Anyways… back to the paranormal in this story.

Perhaps I liked this book due to the sexy nature of the character Ridley, or perhaps the humor of Link and The Greats, maybe (but doubtfully) it was the love story of Lena and Ethan, either way, it was a fun read.

The story takes place in the South in a small town called Gatlin. On the surface Gatlin is not the type of place I would want to call home. Seriously, civil war battle recreations give me the creeps and Gatlin has one annually. Gatlin is also the hometown of Ethan Wate. Ethan, like many young high schoolers is counting down the days until he can escape Gatlin and go away to school. Until, that is, Lena Duchannes enters his life. Lena is the supernatural of the story, or she and her family are. I won’t give away the details of her powers but Duchannes does rhyme with rain.

I’ve had a few “Lena’s” in my life, only they thought they had supernatural powers but didn’t. Not too sure why Ethan was so dedicated to her in this story cause in real life everyone knows that super-people like that are really just a pain in the ass.

In terms of the plot, the book was pretty compelling despite the few problems I had with the story. The premise other than the whole love thing is that Lena is going to be “claimed” on her sixteenth birthday. So we’re clear, “Claimed” does not have to do with her virginity but does have to with her magical capabilities. The claiming can go one of two ways and therein lies the battle which the story revolves.

There were some intricacies of the novel that were difficult to follow at times, including some of the characters and the way they acted. Honestly though adolescents are unpredictable and capricious just like toddlers so I’ll give Garcia and Stohl the benefit of the doubt.

Oh don’t get ahead of yourself and think I’m done there. How could this review be complete if I didn’t tell you about my least favorite part of this book. The ending. I really disliked the ending. Of course this may have something to do with the fact that the authors were setting it up for a sequel but still, I thought it stunk. All of a sudden, poof, three people disappear and there you go that’s how it ends. What the hell is that?? So, yes there will be a sequel (I learned this after finishing the book) and perhaps knowing this before finishing the book would have prepared me for a weak ending but that’s still questionable. And, wait for it… not only a sequel, but the movie rights have been bought already as well.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Where does that leave us and how does it relate to Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan? Well, apparently Leviathan is a steampunk young adult book. At least that’s the critics are saying. I’d have to agree, the book, for the most part has everything that description says and some. I didn’t even know I liked steampunk until I was finished with the book, that said, I liked the book.

(The below paragraph could possibly be a spoiler, I don’t think so, but reader beware and no blaming me. Just skip it if you’re worried.)

However, I’m going to start with something I did not like about the book. What is with that cliffhanger and what the hell are in those eggs?? Why oh why do I have to wait for the sequel to come out (advanced reader copy welcomed)? Unlike the cliffhangers in Uglies and Pretties (which Westerfeld also wrote) this one is ridiculous. I want to know now!!

Ok, onto the good. I’m going to start with most obvious and unconventional of the goods. This book has illustrations. Yes, you read that correctly, full on drawn pictures. No more do you have to rely on your imagination to picture what people or things may look like. Westerfeld has finally found a way to solve those problems! But seriously, they were actually really cool. I actually know what a “walker” or the “Leviathan” look like according to Westerfeld which is really cool. On to more things I liked, the story. The story was cool, new a steampunk’d (if that’s a word) vision of 1914 on the verge of World War I. Cool right? You need more evidence of good do ya? Well, there are two different stories in the book right, and for the longest time I had no idea how in the world Westerfeld was going to bring them together. Obviously he did and I was rather impressed, surprisingly enough I liked it.

Rather than try and summarize the story I thought I’d show you this trailer (yes, trailers are no longer just for movies):

Now, besides the cliffhanger, what can I be critical of? Like his other series Uglies Westerfeld finds a way to create his own language and it’s kind of starting to bother me. I had enough trouble trying to pick up and understand the words in his previous books and then to have to do it again was somewhat trying. For instance the use and subsequent overuse of “Barking spiders!” began to drive me a little nuts. Although, it was easier this time to cope with. I think I may just be getting more and more comfortable with his style of writing.

While I would like to continue being critical it’s somewhat difficult with this book, cause I enjoyed reading it. Unlike the Uglies series I get the feeling that Westerfeld chose to make the themes of this book somewhat opaque. Some of course are visible on the surface like the boy vs. girl and aristocracy vs. plebeian themes but there are others buried in there. But I’m not going to go any further into it. I leave it up to you to read the book and figure out what I’m talking about.

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

What I may not have noticed in the first book in this series Uglies may very well be the downfall of the whole series. You see, I have this problem with chapter naming. If you’re going to name a chapter rather than use a number, letter or symbol make it something unique, creative or interesting. Do not just throw a word out there that basically describes what the whole chapter is going to be about. It took me until I was about halfway through the book to really put it together, but if you actually pay attention to the chapter titles I think you can get away with not actually reading the chapter. Sure you need some background but honestly it wouldn’t be that hard. I actually wrote down all the chapter names and am going to try and use them in this review just for the hell of it (some will be obvious but let’s see how many of the less obvious ones you can catch).

Despite my problem with the chapter titles, I will not charge Mr. Westerfeld as a criminal (get, it, “criminal” is the first chapter) and ruining his own book. The novel itself was actually quite good, to incessantly bash it would be unfair. I wouldn’t want to be a lurker and not write about how I felt about the story, more specifically the rise and fall of the main character in the series, Tally.

Crap, I give up, I’m not doing this whole chapter titles in the post thing. I’m already struggling. I mean how the hell am I supposed to use “Valentino 317″ or “bubbly making” in my review. I had written another paragraph but it didn’t even make sense to me so I scrapped it. Please forgive me.

I’m of the philosophy that if you start a series and like it, even marginally, you really have to continue and try the second. So, that’s what I’ve done and I suggest you do the same.

Pretties may be relatively predictable (even if you don’t count the chapter titles) yet I still enjoyed reading it. The action and adventure was there just as it was in the first book and the dystopic theme which Westerfeld introduced in Uglies is carried on. There aren’t a whole lot of new characters so it was easy to recall how they interact without requiring a detailed description. There were some unusual inconsistencies, or rather just plane oddities, regarding the love triangle that didn’t translate from one book to the other but I found these to be irrelevant, it is a young adult novel after all. I’m also fairly confident that you could pretty much find each of the ideas espoused in this series inside those Teen magazines at your local supermarket but I guess I should be grateful, now I no longer need to buy them (I kid, I really don’t read them).

Hmm, does this review seem some wishy washy? Does it trouble you that I say I liked it and then continue to point out things that are wrong with it? Well, deal with it. That’s just the way it is. Either way, I do plan on reading the third and final book in the series Specials. I am a little skeptical of the final installment but with any luck I’ll be a little more open minded in 2010.

Wow, that reminds me, this is my last post of 2009, yeeehaw!! Well, Happy New Year everyone and look out for me in 2010.

Destroy All Cars by Blake Nelson

I’m starting to think that getting a young adult book published is a pretty easy task. There seems to a pretty specific formula. Start with a youth (that’s pretty obvious), perhaps a teen, who is either ostracized for one reason or another or has a dysfunctional family. Give said teen a best friend. Maybe throw in a sibling, younger or older, doesn’t really matter. Introduce said teen’s love interest, past, present or future. Mix in a bit of a teacher, some homework and an extra curricular activity in there. Establish something for the youth to either complicate before resolving or rebel against. Wrap it all up and throw a bow around it.

Clearly what I’m driving at is the fact that Destroy All Cars is pretty formulaic. That doesn’t mean it’s bad but it also doesn’t mean it’s astonishingly good. Each of the above elements of the formula are evident in the story.

Fortunately there was one facet of this story which set it apart from the others. Although the main character James seemed like a bit of a misanthrope to me, he has a dogma which almost lets me give him the benefit of the doubt. You see, as the title of the book clearly states, James hates cars and wants to see them all destroyed. Why? Well, he recognizes the harm that they do to the environment and therefore wants to rid the planet of em. His main of way of expressing this thought is through his high school English papers wherein he repeatedly writes of his dislike for the car driving populace. It’s a pretty idealistic view for a teenager and a somewhat relevant one given our current circumstances, I mean, I think we all know what we’re doing to the planet. But honestly, the odds of me giving up my 4×4 aren’t very likely. At least I can say that I don’t really drive it very often. Whatever you do though, do not call James an “activist” cause that would put him in same category of do gooders as his ex-girlfriend.

See what I’ve just done? In a single paragraph I managed to give you nearly each of those elements I presented to you minus one or two. I only left the others out cause I really couldn’t find a good way to incorporate them into the paragraph, and it’s 9am and I don’t feel like trying.

I do want to take the time to thank James for justifying and making me feel better for my reluctance to go to an “organic” salad bar at lunch. Everyday that I don’t bring lunch to work I head to Focaccia on Sacramento to get a salad. Well, just the other day I was told that I should instead be going to Mixt Greens because their foods are organic. Well, to that I say, no thank you. I mean, I like organic but it’s not worth it for me to spend an extra $5 or $6 to get the same exact thing that tastes identical. Back to the point, James has no qualms presenting the fact that “organic salad bars are not going to refreeze the North Pole.” Therefore I deduce that going to Focaccia is just fine.

Lastly, although it really has nothing to do with the book at all I thought I had to throw this in here. James lets you and I know that Sadie Kinnel, his ex-girlfriend (the activist), is thought of as “the solution,” thanks to all her activism.  Well, while perusing the interweb the other day I came across someone else who has been deemed “the solution.”  Have a look for yourself, I would start at the 1:20 mark unless you want to watch and listen to these morons spew up extra garbage (sorry, there is an ad):

Yep, that pretty much says it all.

]]> http://valetreader.com/2009/destroy-all-cars-by-blake-nelson/feed/ 0 http://valetreader.com/2009/uglies-by-scott-westerfeld/ http://valetreader.com/2009/uglies-by-scott-westerfeld/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:15:24 +0000 The Valet http://valetreader.com/?p=1584

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

If the first line of your book is “The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit,” odds are you’ve got me hooked already. Believe it or not, that’s how Uglies starts. I had a fear that it would be oddly similar in some unusual way to Gone which I really didn’t enjoy very much. But, it wasn’t, hooray!

It’s pretty clear from the get go that this was going to be a book with a strong and in your face moral. A story that features “ugly” people vs. “pretty” people. Um, pretty blunt. More often than not a book that appears to have that strong of a point will certainly be a turn off for me. But, regardless of that I decided I would still give it a shot. I’m not exactly sure why to be honest, but that’s irrelevant.

All in all, I can fairly say that I enjoyed this book. It’s not as though I would put it high on my list, but after reading this, the first book in the series, I actually feel encouraged and intrigued enough to read the second novel, Pretties. Being a YA book the language wasn’t exactly complex and many of the literary elements I really enjoy in books were absent but the story was original and it was a quick read. Both things that are encouraging for me. Not only that but the fact that the protagonist is a female, similar to Suzanne Collins Hunger Games made the book a bit more unique.

I guess you could say that it’s a “pretty” instructional book. Being in the age of plastic surgery everyone and anyone these days can pretty much decide how it is they want to look. Take for instance this waitress I had the other night. The face she had on, was most certainly not the face she was born with and it was quite possibly one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen. I’m assuming that this woman thought it was “pretty,” and I am loathe to believe that others may feel the same but I suppose it’s true. What I take away from this book is the idea that conforming to a general sense of beauty in appearance is an extremely unhealthy and vain excersise in humanities attempts to make things uniform while at the same time ignoring the inner beauty (cheesy, I know) of people. That was a mouthful.

The nice thing about this book is the way in which these ideas are espoused. It may be blatant but it’s done so in a pretty good story. Set in the future, once a teenager turns 16 they undergo “the operation” which miraculously turns them from an “ugly” into a “pretty.” They are then relocated to New Pretty Town where they can party with the other “pretties” to their hearts content. Naturally there are those who rebel and realize that there is indeed something sinister about the surgeries and that’s where the story really takes form. Don’t worry, I haven’t, nor will I ever, spoil the story without telling you beforehand.

Given what I’ve told you it’s rather easy to see where the story goes and how it progresses into a bit of a social commentary while at same time providing a good plot line. Like I said, I’ll be reading and of course reviewing Westerfeld’s second book in the trilogy “Pretties” soon.

]]> http://valetreader.com/2009/uglies-by-scott-westerfeld/feed/ 2 http://valetreader.com/2009/gone-by-michael-grant/ http://valetreader.com/2009/gone-by-michael-grant/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:07:15 +0000 The Valet http://valetreader.com/?p=1548

Gone by Michael Grant

So, I kind of wished this book had “poofed” out of my hands while I read it. If you haven’t read the book you won’t really know what that means or what I’m talking about but for those of you that have had the pleasure of reading this, hmm, how do you say, rather lame book, you do.

In what is in essence a mashup of The X-Men, Peter Pan, Lord of the Flies and Johnny Quest (Quest may be a stretch but I’ve been waiting and waiting to reference that cartoon in one of my posts), Gonepretty much takes the worst elements of each and tries to put them all together. In short, one day all the adults over the age 14 disappear and then some really weird things happen in the ensuing power struggle for dominance.

This book actually had the potential of being pretty good. But, once you throw in talking coyotes, “the darkness” (not the band), machine guns, mutants, MacDonald’s, and the secret neglected brother syndrome you really have a junk pot of a story. Oh, and did I mention that the cover of the book has this odd resemblance to some other incredibly media friendly series of novels involving vampires? Cause I kind of think it does. I have this hunch that Mr. Grant actually wrote this book without the book in mind but with the potential of turning it into big money in the form of movies. After all, before he even started writing Gone he already knew it was going to be a three book series.

I don’t like ripping on books, I really don’t. It’s just that unoriginal ideas don’t really motivate me. Like I said, I think this story had a lot of potential. What young adult out there hasn’t thought about what it would be like if all the adults in the world suddenly disappeared. Sure, they were probably less concerned with the important things such as survival, but at least they could eat all the ice cream and candy they want and play as long they pleased. I don’t know if you ever watched “Kid Nation,” a terrible reality show on CBS, but this book was basically that with some magic thrown-in.

Even if the book wasn’t meant to be read by the likes of me, I am optimistic that the young adults today will recognize this as sub par and belittling to their intellect.

]]> http://valetreader.com/2009/gone-by-michael-grant/feed/ 2 http://valetreader.com/2009/king-dork-by-frank-portman/ http://valetreader.com/2009/king-dork-by-frank-portman/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:29:07 +0000 The Valet http://valetreader.com/?p=1072

King Dork by Frank Portman

Before I even knew of Frank Portman I had this book on my reading list. If you’ve been following my blog you’ll know that he has been instrumental (ha, play on words) in three of my posts to date. But like I said, wanting to read King Dork since before I started the blog, I had no idea who he was. So… why then was this book on my list? Well, it all goes back to growing up, when my brother or I would proclaim ourselves as “king” when signing off on e-mails or what have you. You know, sibling rivalry, to prove who was more badass. I always won of course but that’s besides the point. Anyways, I kind of thought this book would be fun to read and then I could call my brother “king dork” and actually have a reference.

Alas, I don’t think I can equate the two since I kind of think “king dork” is the man (sorry Josh, you know I’m just playing and don’t worry Lor, you’re day will come). I really enjoyed Frank’s first novel, and I think I actually liked more than I did Andromeda Klein, why, because its an easier story to relate to, for me anyways.

King Dork is an excellent portrayal of the way highschool was for so many of us. We all may not have been the Tom Henderson (aka King Dork) character or his buddy Sam Hellerman but there are plenty of characters in the story whom you can recognize from your days in school, if not yourself.  Tom and Sam’s aspirations are to start a band (for which, through the course of the novel, together they come up with and change the name of the band 25 times), avoid bullies and find a special lady while they are in school.  Frank Portman devises some of the most original means of accomplishing these goals such as having Tom carry around copies of Guns & Ammo Magazine to prevent would be bullies from picking on him. I’m pretty sure had I tried such a maneuver I would have been sent to Mr. Hulsey and had to do manual labor as punishment, but it would have been worth it (although I think I would have picked a more risque magazine, for those of you who were on the “Nagano” trip, you know what I’m talking about) .

The story, or the plot, for the most part revolves around an old copy of The Catcher in the Rye that Tom finds amongst stacks of his deceased father’s belongings in the attic. From there, Tom starts his journey of attempting to solve several mysteries from the notes his father wrote in the book, to learn more about his father and his experience reading the novel. The culmination at the end of all the plot lines is very amusing (I thought) and thankfully you can smile at that point when thinking about Tom.

With this book you can relive some of those days that we can never have back. For those of you who are young enough to be in highschool you can take away a humorous story that may look like it was set on the very grounds of your school.

I’ve been following Mr. Portman on twitter for some time now and at several points he has mentioned that there may be a King Dork movie in the works. Keep your eyes peeled. So long as it’s not Michael Cera (I like him, but give someone else a shot) it will be a sure hit.

]]> http://valetreader.com/2009/king-dork-by-frank-portman/feed/ 2 http://valetreader.com/2009/andromeda-klein-by-frank-portman/ http://valetreader.com/2009/andromeda-klein-by-frank-portman/#comments Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:31:54 +0000 The Valet http://valetreader.com/?p=427

Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman

Admittedly, I’ve never been to a psychic, had tarot cards read, palm read (ok maybe once by some girl in middle school) or been to a seance, but I have played with the Ouija board and put a quarter in one of those machines that tells you your fortune at carnivals before. After reading Andromeda Klein though, I kind of feel compelled to visit one of those 24 hour psychics in Chinatown, and no I’m not talking about the ones with “happy endings.”

I would like to lie to you and tell you that I didn’t have to use wikipedia to look up certain things from this book, but I did. Likewise, I’d like to lie to you again and tell you that I understood everything, but I didn’t. But, that’s ok, I learned some new things that I probably (had I not read this book) never would have known about. If you’re going to read this book though I highly recommend you use the “Lexicon” section at the end of the book which serves to define many of the things I had no clue about. Unfortunately for me, I only realized it was there once I finished reading the book.

Andromeda Klein is similar to many young teenagers except for the fact that she is hugely fascinated by the occult. Let’s see, Andromeda is shy, is seemingly self-conscious, skinny and has bad hair and skin, has an overbearing mother (who has mastered the art of texting) and a fanatical, conspiracy theory driven father. Her closest friend has died of cancer, her older ex-boyfriend still troubles her and she has quite a few self made tattoos. So, yeah, she’s like a lot of other teenagers out there.

Andromeda’s world is to say the least pretty wild. Mr. Portman transports you into her life and as a reader you start to feel as though Andromeda’s spells and rituals may actually be working or that the voice she hears in her head is actually there. Frank provides such in-depth detail into Andromeda’s life as well as the occult that you can’t help but start to believe a little yourself. There is plenty of comedy and humor throughout the book which I found to be mostly based on Andromeda’s hearing problems (where naked girl magazine is heard as  bagel worm agony), her absurd friends and her relationship with “the mom” and “the dad” that never grows old.

By the end of the novel you find yourself feeling sad and happy for the girl who is growing up flat chested, of which you are constantly reminded. She is an empowered young adult who, it would appear, has found a sense of self in what she enjoys yet has to struggle with everything that is going on in her young life. The ending was certainly not what I had anticipated (which is always nice) and leaves much to the readers imagination.

Being a punk rocker Frank has a song which he’s put out that is considered or titled the “Andromeda Klein Theme Song.” Check it out…

[gplayer href="http://valetreader.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/01 Andromeda Klein.mp3" ] Frank Portman – Andromeda Klein[/gplayer]
(and just so all of you music thieves out there know, I paid for the track!)

And lastly, after reading this book, I now have a much better understanding of why Frank was carrying around a rather large sword at the book release party.

]]> http://valetreader.com/2009/andromeda-klein-by-frank-portman/feed/ 3 http://valetreader.com/2009/king-of-screwups-by-k-l-going/ http://valetreader.com/2009/king-of-screwups-by-k-l-going/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:19:30 +0000 The Valet http://valetreader.com/?p=163

King of Screwups by K.L. Going

Adolescence. Sex (on a desk). Glam Rock. Homosexuals. Trailer parks. Super models.

Sounds like a pretty good recipe for a book to me. So, this is my first young adult (YA) book that I’ve reviewed. Not the first one I’ve read though. What actually makes this a YA book, well the book centers on an adolescent (Liam), and as far as I know that’s what does it.

Overall, the book was enjoyable to read. Any book that takes me less than a day to read usually has that effect on me. I did of course have some problems with this book. Despite it being amusing and being able to relate to it in some ways (remembering those good old high school days) I’ve come to the conclusion that the message or moral of the book is just a bit too in your face. It’s pretty clear that communication is of the utmost importance and that following your dreams is as important as having supportive parents. I didn’t really need to have a couple hundred pages hammering this down.

If I were a teenager reading this book and I could relate to Liam in any way, I would most likely get annoyed really quickly with all the babble. Time and time again Liam screws up; like most teenagers this is not that out of character. He does manage to do it in unique ways though, I’ll give him that much. His father, a royal pain in the ass, doesn’t help things by being a real jerk and pushing Liam to do the things he does. But again, what’s central to the book is the idea that its incredibly important to keep lines of communication open. Which is grilled into the reader so thoroughly it kind of makes you want to rebel yourself, you know seduce the bookworm and have sex with her on your fathers meticulously clean desk. Ultimately the book is somewhat depressing in that the father-son dynamic is painful at times to read about. The ending is ridiculously predictable but at least you can be happy for Liam.

I should also mention that the “super models” noted above are not a reason to read this book alone. Said “super models” are a mother and son. Just felt the need to point that out to ya’ll.

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