Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Be More Chill
Book Review: Librarian and Son love this book
Summary: 5 Stars
I (the Librarian in the family) read this book as a possible nominee for the Rhode Island Teen Book Award. Loved it, and passed it on to my son (15). He loved it so much, he spoke about it at a conference, and asked me to buy him his own copy.
Great premise (a computer chip that teens swallow so that it can tell them how to become more "cool"), great characters and good writing. Interesting for teens to try to ponder what's more important -- others' perceptions of them, or their perceptions of themselves. How important is being cool, as compared with following your own instincts? Highly recommended.
Book Review: COVER PICKS
Summary: 5 Stars
I being a barnes and nobles shopper only look at a book if the side is interesting if the side catches my eye i look at the cover the cover of this book is awesome and the book to say the least is awesomeeeeeeeeeeeee deffinatly a must read for a teenagerBook Review: Be More Chill? Novels don't get much hotter.
Summary: 5 Stars
As a friend of Ned Vizzini, and fellow author, perhaps I am biased in writing this.
However, the truth couldn't be clearer: this book is one of the best novels of the year. As testament to this fact, perhaps I should mention that I finished the entire book in but two nights from the combat zone of Iraq (from where I am writing this review).
I also waited over three months for it to get here... and it was worth every day of waiting.
This book is perfect for kids of all ages, and in that regard (and others), I consider it on par with Harry Potter. If you are currently in high school, are about to go into high school, or have ever been to high school, read this book. This book will make you laugh, cry, and remember every charming (and not-so-charming) memory about those wistful days of old, or prepare you for that experience yourself by helping you become a little more 'chill'.
When Ned Vizzini's "Be More Chill" is made into a movie--and it is plain that it certainly will be--I hope to be among the first to see it. If the movie version is half as good as the book, it's going to be a blockbuster.
Why are you still reading? You should be adding this book to your shopping cart now. :)
ROMP ON!
-Monroe
Book Review: Judge This Book By Its Cover
Summary: 4 Stars
For the first time ever, Be More Chill caused me to buy a book without knowing a thing about either it or its author. The cover caught my eye; it looked interesting, so I bought it.
I wasn't at all disappointed. A lot of the previous reviews say that the book was unrealistic--and it is. I don't think they're going to start coming out with SQUIPS anytime soon. That being said, I also have a hard time believing that Mr. Vizzini really believed he would be convincing anybody that it COULD happen, either. It's kind of like the movie Speed--there's no way a bus could even TAKE an exit ramp at fifty miles an hour, let alone hit fifty cars along the way, and maintain its speed. Instead of trying to make us believe it's possible, the author is trying to get us to suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride, and it's a very creative one at that. Sure, the picture he paints of high school isn't necessarily realistic, but it's not too far off. There are geeks, there are nerds, there are sluts, there are druggies, there are popular kids. Ned just got rid of the shades of gray that exist in between, so everybody HAS to classify into one of the categories, and nothing else.
In reality, the author did a great job of creating his own world. The characters aren't necessarily deep, but that's the point--he made walking, talking stereotypes. When I was in high school (not that long ago) I believed in every single one of those stereotypes, and could classify every person I knew into one of them. High school life is inherently cliche, and Mr. Vizzini captured that thought well. The dialogue between the squip and Jeremy is done VERY well. There's no way you can deny that this book captures your interest from page one, and keeps it to the end. I read the book in an evening, and would not put it down for anything.
To the author's credit, he doesn't really make the girl--the object of Jeremy's lust--a really likable girl. She's just as slutty as the rest of the girls in the book, which I found a refreshing change. Too often it's the really sweet, innocent girl that the story revolves around, but not here. He also told a very realistic story of a kid turning himself around--beefing himself up, cleaning up his appearance, that sort of thing--and what effect it has on people around him. I wouldn't be surprised if people reading this book took some of the squip's suggestions and tried implementing them in their lives.
I gave the book four stars instead of five because of the ending. I don't want to give away what happens at the end, so I'll say no more than this: It makes you feel a bit empty. Although I appreciate what the author was trying to do, I don't think it came off very well. I'm reminded of the story The Lady or the Tiger from high school, if you've ever read it.
Overall, with the character dialogue being as good as it was, the story being as creative and daring as it was, and the pace as captivating as it was, this book is a great read. It doesn't ask for too much of your time--you could read it in a night, and although I'm a big fan of long series of books, it was a welcome breath of fresh air to have a story with no strings attached.
Book Review: I've been to high school, and you, sir, are not high school
Summary: 2 Stars
This book is neither as good as the raves you're seeing or as bad as some of the lousy reviews ("stab my eyes out"? riiiighht). It's entertaining, easy-reading (as in, 3 hours or so) stuff, but it's not exactly world-class plot or character development.
This would be forgivable if it was a slightly more accurate portrayal of high school, but it's not. I gleefully celebrated my high school graduation two years ago, and it wasn't from the sex-crazed drug swamp in this book. There was sex, to be sure, and drugs (just go to the bathroom during class and see for yourself), but we DID think about a couple other things. I remember actually caring about my grades a little bit, developing friendships, maybe going to a movie or two. Heck, we even discussed politics a few times, and not when oral sex was involved.
This book is, oddly enough, the outsider's view of the insider's view of high school. Sex, drugs, and rap music aplenty, sure to horrify any parent. The losers get picked on, and the Cool kids don't care about one another, just their place in the pecking order. The main character is so whiny and pathetic in the beginning that I, definitely not a Cool kid myself, had no sympathy for him whatsoever. He's the stereotype of the nerd: miserable, humiliated, masturbating to porn at his computer every night. His life, and the book, improve once he gets his Cool-inducing cyberpill, but for the first 100 pages you wish he'd just shut the heck up and go back to Generic World with the football-playing jock, the goth girl that cuts herself, and the slutty girl that has sex with anyone that walks.
(By the way, just make up your own explanation for how the pill works. Anything you come up with is sure to be more logical than the book's idea.)
In the end, as Jeremy chases the girl of his dreams, his pill has him try a ridiculous maneuver that the most socially-inept nerd could tell is going to blow up in his face. As if that wasn't bad enough, the book has a vague, open-ended ending that I can assure you would never win the girl over either (I don't want to spoil things by saying what it is).
I'm making all these negative comments because the book has been gushed over quite a bit in these reviews. It's not a bad read, and it's certainly titillating enough for the average high school sophomore, so feel free to get it from the library and give it a shot. But I want to stress that this is not high school.
If you're a parent, don't get the wrong idea from this book. If you're a high school student, and this book sounds totally accurate to you, then you need to reevaluate your priorities in life. Be More Chill is a caricature, and a rather goofy one at that.