Number 101 - Buddha Boy - Kathe Koja

 

The very definition of a cheat read - i finished this in one sitting.

Kathe Koja excels in these YA novellas at introducing us to the social outcasts of high school society. In this book, it's the Buddha Boy of the titles - aka Michael martin - aka Jinsen.

He's just transferred into Edward Rucher High School and he does NOT fit in. He dresses wrong. He begs for money in the cafeteria. He acts weirdly and doesn't respond the way he should.  That includes showing not respect/fear to the school bullies which makes him number 1 target.

The narrator of the book, Justin, is forced to partner with Jinsen on a school project where he discovers that Jinsen is an amazing artist. From that grudging moment of respect, a tale of friendship against the odds builds rapidly.

The story is told in Koja's unmistakable stream of consciousness style of writing. It's a compelling read, as evidenced by the fact that I read it in one two hour sitting. 

She delivers a great message about acceptance of people who seem different, about getting to know people rather than writing them off as freaks. Jinsen's back-story, when it's revealed, feels genuinely tragic and his recovery uplifting.

My only disappointment with the book is that, being told in flashback, I hoped to find out more at the end about what happened next, just an epilogue chapter to say what the characters achieved and if the friendships continued or fizzled with distance. Even that is just a personal feeling of disappointment because I wanted more, rather than a flaw with the book's ending, which is suitably emotional. 

She left me wanting more... that can only be a compliment.

I have more of her full length adult novels on my shelves due a read or re-read at some point next year. She really is one of those writers who I will read anything she writes, no matter how far out of my personal comfort zone.  She can make you feel the character's deepest feelings with ease. 

Number 37 - The Blurred Man - Anthony Horowitz

 Cheat reads don't get much more cheaty than this. An 80 page children's detective story - I think it may be a novelette rathaer than a novella.

I found this in a charity shop yesterday for 99p and it was worth every penny.

The Diamond brothers are private detectives. Well Tim Diamond is officially a detective, and Nick - his sassy 14 year old brother - is his assistant.  Of course, this being a kid's book, tim is as dense as a very dense thing and Nick is the one with the brains.

In this one they've been asked to investigate the mysterious death of Lenny Smile, head of a children's charity called Dream Time.  He's just been run over by a speeding steamroller and the rich American author who had donated millions to him wants to know where all the money has gone.

It's all very silly. Tim misunderstands absolutely everything that's said. Nick is always there with a witty comment. No one knows anything about the sadly departed Lenny Smile and the Russian State circus doesn't seem like the most inviting place. 

I had to check when this was written (2003) because of some of the references and the fact that some of the jokes might not get past an editor these days - especially in a children's book. 

Not really much to say about other than I can understand why he's one of the more popular children's authors.  This was good fun to read with some very funny comic set pieces.  I can't really complain that the humour is a bit juvenile considering the target audience, but there are some truly shocking dad jokes in there. I've saved them and will be using them as and when the circumstance arises.

Good fun for the little ones.

Number 9 The Deep Woods - Tim Pratt

My latest cheat read - a fun little YA novella that I picked up cheap on the PS website.  As usual from PS it's a good looking book. This one's even signed and limited to 100 copies which is always nice.

The story is nothing really original to be honest.  A boy obsessed with a fanatasy roleplaying game called Wild Hunt Online accidentally wanders into a "real life" fairyland when he runs into a boy called Silas whe's been trapped there for a century.There's a nice reveal about the nature of the land he's trapped in and the characters are well drawn and sympathetic. I wasn't 100% sold on the very end of the book - possibly a touch too sentimental - but this is a YA book and I'm not really the target audience I suppose.

After the convoluted language of Uncle Tom's Cabin, it was good to read something written in modern day English without all the moralising. This is a quick and easy read that kept me entertained for the 123 pages.  Reccommended as a timefiller for adults, younger readers will probably love it a lot more than I did. 

6.5 maybe 7/10 for me. 

Available through PS Publishing.