What Do You Want?

I can be tough on some books and SO easy on others, I know that. I'm pretty tough on Pete Hautman's books. I've panned the last few I've read, but I liked How to Steal a Car so much that I keep trying.

What Boys Really Want could have been a book I really enjoyed, but it did something that made me so ticked that I have to say it was just okay.

It started off great! It's a two person POV book: Adam and Lita, best friends, juniors in high school AND they live in Minneapolis AND hang out at the Mall of America!

And the concept is cool, Adam decides to write a book telling girls all about guys. The only thing is, he copies some of his info from a website that Lita told him about, a Q and A deal that she writes. Adam doesn't know that Lita is the blog's author and Adam doesn't understand that you can't just change someone else's words around and still claim the words as your own. The book is funny and it's full of mistaken assumptions and it's a light and cheerful read.

So what is the problem? The problem is the character of Brett. Lita meets him while he is working on his car and she assumes that he's nothing but a grease-monkey (her words) but when she finds out he's actually a student at the University of Minnesota, suddenly everything is okay. That's fine. Lita is allowed to have preferences regarding the careers and education of the guys she wants to date. My problem is, what is WRONG with someone being a mechanic? What is WRONG with a guy who didn't go to college? I just think the whole thing was classist and promoted stereotypes about those who don't go to college but seek meaningful employment in other areas. I mean, what would we do without our mechanics? Take our cars to a history professor? Everyone has their talents. Everyone has value.

So because of that, I just couldn't get on this book's bus and I just can't recommend a book that puts down a whole group of people in that way.

Can you look at this rash for me?

Bo is a very unlikable character. And Rash is a fairly unlikable book. It is clear that Hautman wants to express his political and philosophical beliefs in this book, but there is not a lot of subtlety to it. At one point in the book Bo's Grandpa goes on a big rant that might as well be an op-ed piece in a newspaper written by Hautman. It is just too in your face. At first I really hated this book. I thought that it was way too over the top and I still think it is over the top, but then I started to look at it a different way. Maybe it isn't a thinking book. Maybe I thought about it too much! Maybe it is just a funny book. Because it is funny!
The USA is now the USSA, the extra S stands for Safety, I think. Or maybe just Safe.
Bo can't seem to keep control of his temper. His father and brother have the same trouble. In the USSA that is an even bigger problem than it was in the USA. So many things are illegal and result in a sentence at one of the labor camps. In the USSA, "regular" folks don't work, the prisoners do it all. Bo ends up getting sent to one of these camps. He gets out with the help of one of his school projects gone rogue. He's still angry. He's still not very likable. It's just weird.
Not a great book, not a good book. I need to read Godless though, because everyone tells me it is great. And I did really like How to Steal a Car. It was just...not good.

In a Diabetic Coma

Sweetblood is one of the worst books I've read in awhile.   It is the second-worst this year after, Witch and Wizard.  This is the second book I've read by this author.  How to Steal a Car was quite good and so that's probably another thing that made this so disappointing.  The first half was almost unreadable, but I didn't have another book in the house.  It finally got somewhat interesting about halfway through, when I can't even remember her name, who is obsessed with vampires because she thinks she is like one because she has diabetes, meets this truly creepy older man who thinks he is a vampire, but really he is just like those gross guys on Dateline who get busted for going after young girls on the internet, but it falls completely flat.
The ending is completely unbelievable and pat.  A ridiculous book if I ever read one.
Boo.

Baby You Can Drive My Car

I read this book in one day! Just like Hurricane Song! It is very short and very different and very interesting! How to Steal a Car is kind of like a how-to manual, indeed. I mean, I really think that you could probably pull off a car heist by following what Kelleigh does in this book.
This is one of those books that starts out like there isn't much wrong in beginning, but as you get to know Kelleigh and her life a little better...you realize that there is quite a bit wrong.
That's pretty much all I want to say because I don't want to ruin this for anyone and I really think it should be read!