I've only read the first book, and I like it, but I don't love it. Many aspects disappointed me. I apologize in advance for all the griping I'm about to do.
First of all, the humor. It's really hit-or-miss, and a lot of it is typical for young adult fiction. You can find better humor in James Howe's "The Misfits" (if you were disappointed like me, read that book instead!)
Then there's the scale of realism. How realistic was this story supposed to be? Some of the misunderstandings and awkward moments (characters making mistakes, characters not talking to each other) are realistic, but other parts (the teenagers using the phrase "docious!," part of supercalifragilisticexpealidocious, as a saying they take seriously) were too far-fetched for my taste but not funny enough to make up for it. And I won't spoil the ending, but I will say with a story that had a funny set-up, everything turned gritty, sad, and disappointing really fast.
The narrative bugged me because there was so much foreshadowing. The narrator would say something like "everything seemed perfect and wonderful at the time, if only it had stayed like that." It's like, instead of reliving the past, he was just looking at it from a future standpoint that the reader doesn't know. And now the reader knows something bad is going to happen, but has to wait a few chapters before the bombshell drops. UGH!
The characters were the best aspect. They had the main character's friends and schoolmates, and their relationships seemed mostly realistic. The main character only described them the way he saw them; which was good, since this is a teenager. The only thing I would change is the way the popular kids are open about their status and problems. In real life, kids wouldn't say obvious things like "It's stressful being a cool kid!," and hearing a kid say that sounds cliche. They may feel that, but it could have been described in a more subtle way.
Overall, this story was okay, but not something I would read more than twice.
Literature Docious! (and not in the good way)
I've only read the first book, and I like it, but I don't love it. Many aspects disappointed me. I apologize in advance for all the griping I'm about to do.
First of all, the humor. It's really hit-or-miss, and a lot of it is typical for young adult fiction. You can find better humor in James Howe's "The Misfits" (if you were disappointed like me, read that book instead!)
Then there's the scale of realism. How realistic was this story supposed to be? Some of the misunderstandings and awkward moments (characters making mistakes, characters not talking to each other) are realistic, but other parts (the teenagers using the phrase "docious!," part of supercalifragilisticexpealidocious, as a saying they take seriously) were too far-fetched for my taste but not funny enough to make up for it. And I won't spoil the ending, but I will say with a story that had a funny set-up, everything turned gritty, sad, and disappointing really fast.
The narrative bugged me because there was so much foreshadowing. The narrator would say something like "everything seemed perfect and wonderful at the time, if only it had stayed like that." It's like, instead of reliving the past, he was just looking at it from a future standpoint that the reader doesn't know. And now the reader knows something bad is going to happen, but has to wait a few chapters before the bombshell drops. UGH!
The characters were the best aspect. They had the main character's friends and schoolmates, and their relationships seemed mostly realistic. The main character only described them the way he saw them; which was good, since this is a teenager. The only thing I would change is the way the popular kids are open about their status and problems. In real life, kids wouldn't say obvious things like "It's stressful being a cool kid!," and hearing a kid say that sounds cliche. They may feel that, but it could have been described in a more subtle way.
Overall, this story was okay, but not something I would read more than twice.