Who’s your favorite author that other people are NOT reading? The one you want to evangelize for, the one you would run popularity campaigns for? The author that, so far as you’re concerned, everyone should be reading–but that nobody seems to have heard of. You know, not JK Rowling, not Jane Austen, not Hemingway–everybody’s heard of them. The author that you think should be that famous and can’t understand why they’re not…
Most of the authors I read have a big fanbase. I still think more should read John Green’s books though and check out his video channel. He writes some of the funniest, real life books that make teens feel like an adult author understands them without making them look inferior. I get absorbed in his work and usually finish in a day or too because they are so hard to quite reading.
My reviews will now include an image of the cover, details of the book, letter grade rating, quotes and finally age rating.
- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Anchor (May 6, 2008)
- Language: English
Summary- From Amazon
Set in a future where urbanites are segregated by strict curfews into Daytimers and Nighttimers, the narrative unfolds as an oral history comprising contradictory accounts from people who knew Buster. These include childhood friends horrified by the boy’s macabre behavior (getting snakes, scorpions and spiders to bite him and induce instant erections; repeatedly infecting himself with rabies), policemen and doctors who had dealings with the rabies “superspreader”; and Party Crashers, thrill-seeking Nighttimers who turn city streets into demolition derby arenas. After liberally infecting his hometown peers with rabies, Buster hits the big city and takes up with the Party Crashers. A series of deaths lead to a police investigation of Buster (long-since known as “Rant”—the sound children make while vomiting) that peaks just as Buster apparently commits suicide in a blaze of car-crash glory.
Grade:92/100 A-
Cover18/20
There a gory tone to it. It looks like a human heart which fits with one bit of the story and the whole question of morality, death, and immorality that seems to drive the ending bit of the story.
Characters 18/20
Being an oral history, this book is character driven. Most, if not all , of the characters in this are really bizarre. You have Rant himself that allows himself to be bitten many times for the thrill of it and then gets others sick from rabies. Through the words of others, the readers starts the journey of Rant’s life. The reader meets his mother and father, friends, lovers, and even an enemies. Like Rant, the characters are all in no way normal. There is one girl that has a deformed arm who dated Rant at a time. There are the crazy drivers that drive around hitting other cars. Then there is Rant’s family, which the the most bizarre bunch in the work. Everything seems to either stem from or connect to rant in some way or another. Its interesting seeing how all the lives of these individuals connect through him. I can’t say I really liked any of them but they were interesting to read about.
There are a lot of character, and even though he tells you who is talking, but each has his or her own voice. THey all have certain things about their the way they talk or what they are willing to share that makes them stand out from the others. It seems he doesn’t fall into the what some authors of having too many characters that sound exactly the same. His characters are all different and interesting in their own way.
Story 19/20
All of his work is very odd at times, but by far this is the oddest. There is some mysterious time travel elements which actually all work out in the end and the last bit of the book where it connects to now makes the book for me. It’s an interesting ride. Each of characters share their lives and views on the Rant and the world they live in. Even though they all connect to him , their lives all connect in some ways with one another. While at times there are some out of this world situations, the author makes it work and very interesting.
Writing 19/20
Chuck has a way with glimmers of insight. He is know for his crude and very weird stories filled with characters that seem to go over the fabric of reality. This book is no different. What I liked best about his writing is how it makes you think, least some of it. There are these wonderful one liners and lines that make you lay the book aside for a bit and have to agree or make some reaction to it. The other bits are bizarre and don’t always make logical sense, but that is the idea. He goes out of the way to not write your normal every day book. After reading the characters, story, or both leaves a memory. These details make him one of my favorite writers.
Overall 18/20
The story is twisted and bizarre. There is some time travel elements that while may not seem logical work in the story. The characters are interesting and very strange. What goes on with them and Rant really make you wonder about mortality, immorality, and death. It also shades light on how lives of so many can be touched by one mad man and changed forever. Overall a good read.
Quotes/Writing Style
Each holiday tradition acts as an exercise in cognitive development, a greater challenge for the child. Despite the fact most parents don’t recognize this function, they still practice the exercise.
Rant also saw how resolving the illusions is crucial to how the child uses any new skills.
A child who is never coached with Santa Claus may never develop an ability to imagine. To him, nothing exists except the literal and tangible.
A child who is disillusioned abruptly, by his peers or siblings, being ridiculed for his faith and imagination, may choose never to believe in anything- tangible or intangible- again. To never trust or wonder.
But a child who relinquishes the illusions of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, that child may come away with the most important skill set. That child may recognize the strength of his own imagination and faith. He will embrace the ability to create his own reality. That child becomes his own authority. He determines the nature of his world. His own vision. And by doing so, by the power of his example, he determines the reality of the other two types: those who can’t imagine, and those who can’t trust.
Beginning with Santa Claus as a cognitive exercise, a child is encouraged to share the same idea of reality as his peers. Even if that reality is patently invented and ludicrous, belief is encouraged with gifts that support and promote the common cultural lies.
The greatest consensus in modern society is our traffic systems. The way a flood of strangers can interact, sharing a path, almost all of them traveling without incident. It only takes one dissenting driver to create anarchy
“You grow up to become living proof of your parents’ limitations. Their less-than masterpiece.”
“We all have this moment, when your folks first see you as someone not growing up to be them.”
“What if reality is nothing but some disease?”
“The big reason why folks leave a small town,’ Rant used to say, ‘is so they can moon over the idea of going back. And the reason they stay put is so they can moon about getting out.’
Rant meant that no one is happy, anywhere.”
“Beginning with Santa in infancy, and ending with the Tooth Fairy as the child acquires adult teeth. Or, plainly put, beginning with all the possibility of childhood, and ending with an absolute trust in the national currency.”
Age rating 16 and older
Drugs/ Alcohol: Some drinking, mention of drugs 16/20
Sex- It isn’t too detailed but there is one scene of forced sex, talk of sexual acts and use of sexual devices. 15/20
General cussing- There is quite a bit of cussing but fits the characters and doesn’t take away from the story. 18/20
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