Thirsty by M.T. Anderson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Thirsty
Book Review: Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't pay attention to the bad reviews. Just because this book is about a fifteen year old, zillions other teens feel the need to opress it, claiming that teenagers are much more complex. Face it: This book DOES accuratly describe a typical suburban teen.
Now, back to the book. It tells the story of Chris, a teen growing up in a world where vampires and caught and killed on a daily basis like typical criminals (except, of course, for the lynching). When strange things start happening to his mind and body, a supposed celestial being appears and offers him help.
This book is great at describing Chris's sudden blood lust. Although he is reluctant to kill, he cannot resist the urge, and ends up chewing himself up at times. You can feel what Chris is feeling when he longs for blood (i.e., saying how he sucks on the water, but it is too thin, etc.)
One previous review states that the author doesn't give Chris a personality. I beg to differ. Chris is critical, and imaginitive. He hates it when his two friends talk about pointless movies and videogames. He thinks it's stupid when people imagine romance as "walking along the beach". He'd like to look at things in a more complex manner. I certainly can relate to him.
This book is not perfect. The ending does seem a bit rushed. It's not totally rushed, but the ending seems so complex that it simply needed to stretch on a little longer. Chet the Celestial Being just seems to tug at my mind. He could have been developed a bit more, even if he is the bad guy. The Vampire Lord, Tch'Mchgar, could have also had some more spotlight. He seemed to be... hovering there, not a complete character.
Some reviews here say that they dislike the book for it's dooming, depressing ending.
I expected the book to have a sad ending. I don't see why there's such drama. Throughout the whole book, Chris's situation is more and more hopeless. There were hints of Chet's deception. Lolli was seductive and just plain bad news. If you weren't feeling helpless by then, you could tell some drama was about to unfold when Chris's suspicions about Chet are confirmed. The last page, the very last sentence haunted me. But, unlike a previous reviewer, it didn't have me calling up a stranger on a suicide hotline. The ending was haunting, sad, and a bit disturbing, but totally excellent.
All things considered, this is a great book.
Book Review: The single worst book ever written.
Summary: 1 Stars
Good God, how much did I hate this? I must stress, I really, really hated it. I have read a lot of books by the standards of my age, and I have to say I've never really seen anything quite THIS bad.
Where to begin? Well, for a start, the author can't seem to pin down exactly what it is he wants to write about. Is this a supernatural thriller? A teen high school story? A fantasy epic? Whatever it was intended to be, the subjects end up blending and the whole story ends up being a mix of nothing in particular.
There's the teen angst. Only good when done correctly, and it sure as hell wasn't done correctly here. Ask yourself, what do you think of the protagonist as a person? When I try, there's nothing there. At all. Despite the fact that he was supposedly narrating the story, I still havve no idea about his personality. He ends up being just another faceless angsty teenager like ten trillion others in teen fiction novels. How much in this book does Chris do anything significant? How often does he even talk? However much this book is meant to be about his struggle to maintain his humanity, I got the impression that Chris was just allowing himself to be swept along by events. In short, he doesn't do very much.
The general structure of the writing in this book is appalling. From section to section, M.T. Anderson keeps giving us detailed referances to either other events in the area in which the story is set which have NOTHING to do with the storyline, or else to do with the protagonist's teenage crush. These moments in the book come frequently and without warning. The author seems obsessed with giving us details we neither want nor need, and also feels the need to leave paper thin, under-developed themes hanging everywhere. The writing also clashes horribly with the dialogue. While the majority of the book if written in formal English, the dialogue sounds like an emo's wet dream. It really will cause you to mentally shudder, especially seeing as the story is supposed to be being told from the point of view of a teenager.
The world in "Thirsty" is poorly constructed to say the least. On one hand, you have a typical US town and high school. Fast food, parties and so forth. On the other hand, you have vampires, their hidden god and the forces of light, reading like somethig out of a very, very bad epic fantasy novel. In the hands of a more skilled writer, this arrangement could have been managed well. However, M.T. Anderson is not that writer. The truth of vampires in this world is portrayed to be common knowledge, and yet no-one seems to realise what is happening to Chris. There are also referances made to other supernatural creatures in the story, some of the time being portrayed as evil b@stards, at others as poor, misunderstood humans. Note to author; make your mind up. The whole idea of a parallel reality - if that is indeed what it is - is an entirely undeveloped and unexplored theme.
And even if you can stomach the aforementioned flaws and manage to reach the end of the story (trust me, I was really bored) then you have the ending. Sweet Mother Of God. To say the ending to "Thirsty" sucked would be to give it credit. This abomination was a 100% vacuum. What we're effectively left with is the theme with Tch'muchgar evaporating, Chet turning into a spoof gone horribly wrong, and Chris basically being told "sorry mate, you're f**ked." Now, I have nothing against sad endings. This was sad, but it was hardly an ending. Nothing is resolved, no conclusions are reached, no moral is revealed, all we get is M.T. Anderson trying to drive home the point that the protagonist is doomed as hard as possible. Lord Of The Rings it most certainly ain't.
Do not buy this book. Do not read this book. Do not even look at this book. I cannot stress this enough. This book is a tragic waste of Amazonian Rainforest. If you want a good story in this general vein (no pun intended,) then read the manga "Lament Of The Lamb" by Kei Toume. Or read nothing at all. Or dress up in a black cloak and face paint. But for the love of God, do not read this filth. I won't discredit myself by saying I could write a better vampire novel. A seven year old could do that.
Book Review: An OK Book
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is about a typical teenage boy, who leads a moderatly normal life, untill he finds out he's turing into a vampire. This turns his life upside down. Chris is faced with a difficult new taks, handed on to him by Chet the Celestial Being While doing this however, he must avoid the sexy vampire vixen, Muffy, and the suspicion of his friends and family all the same.
My favorite part in the book was just before the end, with the whole Festival of the Sad Vampires. That part to me was full of action and appeal, unfortunatley not like the rest of the book.
I really and truly wanted to love this book. I was completly hooked untill the ending. That has got to be one of the worst endings of a book I have ever read. It leaves the main character in doom, wivh I think is a very poor idea. Also, it just ends, with no sign of any climax. I am going to vie this book an ok book and would recomned it for fans of vampire books, but for non-fans of the genre, stay away from it!
Book Review: It's not that bad.
Summary: 4 Stars
As far as the rest of the reviews I've read, (or at least most of them), everyone doesn't like the book. One of the main reasons mentioned was because the ending dooms the main character. I would like to point out, that in life, not all endings are happy. I personally loved the ending, the way that the ending wasn't what you thought it was. It was a surprise ending for once, and I feel that it's a very Stephen King-esque end.
Not everyone lives happily ever after.
I'd give this a very low four, or a high three.
Book Review: Dark and Hopeless
Summary: 1 Stars
I LOATHED this book. How is its average rating four stars? When you read it, you will find that the dark and haunting setting is somewhat exhilerating, and you will love the book until the last page. UNTIL the last page. You will certainly expect there to be some kind of resolution, and if not, at the very least for there to be some kind of hope for the narrator, for whom you acquire a soft spot. However, the author goes to EXTREME lengths to point out to the protagonist that, no matter what he does, he is utterly and completely doomed. It seems like a Kafkaesque horror novel, not because of the content, but because of the complete hopelessness of the situation, where an innocent hero firstly finds himeself in a horrible position for no rational reason, and secondly then does everything in his power to do the "right thing" and is doomed nonetheless. If you decide to read it anyways, get a happy-go-lucky book to read afterwards, or else you will be so depressed that you will find yourself talking to a stranger on a suicide hotline.