Friday, July 27, 2012

Book Review Friday!

Now with 100% more video review!



How'd you like it?  Let me know in the comments!

Tangerine by Edward Bloor


Transcript below the cut, if you're lazy :)



Hi everyone!  Today, I am trying something new:  A video book review!

It’s only a little weird, so, here we go!

The book I am reviewing today is Tangerine, by Edward Bloor.

Paul Fischer is moving again.  His father and brother are already in Tangerine Florida, and Paul and his mother are moving down with military precision…his mom’s just a bit psycho.

We learn that Paul has coke bottle glasses, said to be needed due to him looking at an eclipse when he was a child.

Paul’s brother Eric has a dream.  The “Eric Fischer Football Dream.”  Eric and the dad will stop at nothing, to make this dream come true. 

Tangerine was made out to be a paradise in a small town, but when the Fischers arrive, they find out not all is as it seems.  There is a muck fire on the edge of the development, spurred on, and unable to be quenched do to the nearly daily lightning storms.  Termites are eating nearly an entire block, and penultimately…

A sink hole eats Paul’s school, which was constructed of trailers and wooden walkways.  Of course, this happens during the school day, so mass chaos and craziness ensues, and that’s not the half of it.

Due to the high school football coach’s insistence that practice take place during the lightning storms, a student is tragically killed during a practice.  And that’s just in the first third of the book.

Paul decides to transfer to a new middle school, and this is where the book really kicks it into high gear, but I’m not going to spoil the rest of it for you.

A major theme of the book is seeing things that others don’t even when they are right in front of your eyes.  Paul learns a lot, and with a stunning third act plot twist, the book takes an amazing turn.

The characters in this book are really strong.  Paul narrates through journal entries, and even though the book is set in the mid to late nineties, with some pretty unintentionally hilarious tech-related moments(“Ooh, look at all the cool things I can do with a word processor…I can changes the fonts and colors!” and all the other kids ooo and ahh like it’s the best thing since sliced bread), it ages really well, and I think is very relatable to a contemporary audience.

The setting works really well too, a reader may go in with certain assumptions about life in Florida, and the book turns them completely on their head, especially in the second act.

I HIGHLY recommend this book, it’s an engaging read that you’ll want to read again and again.
 
5/5 eclipses




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