- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); First Edition edition (May 1 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0805075658
- ISBN-13: 978-0805075656
- Product Dimensions: 19.5 x 13.6 x 2.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 390 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #308,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From School Library Journal
Grade 10 Up–Three teenaged boys enjoy talking about, thinking about, and joking about sex. Dino finally establishes a relationship with Jackie, the prettiest girl in school, who will allow all sorts of sexual liberties, but draws the line at intercourse. He finds another girl whom he mistakenly thinks he can use for sex while keeping his relationship with Jackie viable. In the meantime, he witnesses his mother passionately involved with a man who is not his father, and must deal with the results of his own treacherous behavior as he watches his parents' marriage fall apart. Ben finds himself steeped in a dilemma of a different sort. His 20-something drama teacher chooses him to be her secret sexual playmate, which he first enjoys but then desperately tries to escape. Jonathon's predicament involves his budding romance with Deborah, an overweight girl whom everyone likes as a friend, but not a girlfriend. He has to decide whether to follow his heart, despite taunting from his peers. Burgess's novel, which retains its original British terminology and sexual slang, is crude, irreverent, and explicit, yet honest and frequently funny. At first, the sexual elements are uncomfortably overwhelming, but Burgess gradually twists the story so that the characters' personal situations become prominent, with casual sex secondary. The seemingly callous male characters become more sympathetic as their personalities, feelings, and problems are unveiled. The female characters are not afforded the same sensitivity. Readers may be drawn in by the intense sexual tone, and find a well-developed story that will spark reflection on the meaning and strength of peer and romantic relationships.–Diane P. Tuccillo, City of Mesa Library, AZ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 10 and up. Burgess' third novel follows three best mates as they shag, attempt to shag, try to get out of shagging, masturbate while contemplating shagging, and then shag some more. Ben is sleeping with his obsessive drama teacher; Jon finds himself irresistibly attracted to Deborah, who would be perfect if her pudginess didn't make him subject to ridicule; and Dino, as handsome as he is horny, just wants to shag the gorgeous Jackie--or, failing that, anyone else. From snogging to shagging to buggering, Doing It discusses it in a dizzying array of contexts, and it is relentlessly and refreshingly honest: this is certainly the first YA novel to feature two boys who lose their erections while trying to lose their virginity. Scenes like that make Doing It less erotic than comforting: boys will be pleased to learn they are not alone in their sexual anxieties; and girls will learn that boys want sex, but are also confused and fearful about it. But while the content will raise eyebrows, it's the writing that's problematic. Though periodically very funny and excellently plotted, the alternating-voices narration falls flat because the characters sound nearly identical, and the writing is surprisingly undescriptive, a disappointing departure from Burgess' previous novels (smack and lady, e.g.). Still, there's a lot to like here, and to say that Doing It will generate interest among readers would be to understate the matter dramatically. John Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
'OK,' said Jonathon. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
'OK,' said Jonathon. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
doing it,
By FatJo (CaNaDa) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Doing It (Paperback)
Dino likes to think every girl at school would like to be with him, but the one girl he really wants is of course the one he can't get. Once he gets her how is Dino going to convince her to do it with him?Jonathon fancies Deborah but Deborah is a bit of a "fatty" can he ignore what his friends say and just learn to love her? Ben has been Shagging "Miss" his school teacher for over a year now, but when he gets in over his head how is going to be able to tell her it's over? And all three boys want just one thing, to be doing it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superior Book--Genre Busting...,
By A Customer
This review is from: Doing It (Hardcover)
An incredible look at teen life. Amazingly honest and frank. This is how it is. It is not like the babysitters club! The English setting is universal. This is being made into an ABC series--should be interesting. Still, read this book. Your age does not matter.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Richies Picks: DOING IT,
By
This review is from: Doing It (Hardcover)
Last year many of us got to read the highly publicized and highly charged essay in The Guardian by British author Anne Fine about the new Melvin Burgess novel DOING IT. (If you haven't read the essay, Google "Guardian Anne Fine Doing It" and you'll find a link.) To put it mildly, Anne Fine was unable to find the appeal in DOING IT. Reading Fine's attack, along with statements by other writers about Burgess's proported attempts to "push the envelope" by having the male, high school characters so candidly discussing issues of male sexuality, left me somewhat squeemish about the prospect of reading the book. I'd heard lots of "Wows," but not any "Really great story!" DOING IT is, in fact, a really great story about three male high school friends and their obsessions about and relationships with females. It is well-written and compelling, fun and honest and occasionally heartwarming. Those three high school boys are a self conscious, vulnerable, and sensitive lot. And while I cannot necessarily see myself as any one of those three characters, I had friends in high school who were dead ringers. To argue that normal high school boys don't spend a lot of time thinking about girls and girls' bodies would make my high school experience abnormal. (It could be argued that Richie's Picks began in the late 1960s when I kept a secret, hidden list, updated weekly, of the ten girls at school I'd most like to be with.) To argue that boys aren't fearful about their adequacy, that they don't worry about whether their bodies are normal, or that they don't say truly gross stuff on a regular basis is, of course, ridiculous. And to argue that boys won't go crazy over this book is something that even Ms. Fine didn't even have the...um...nerve to claim. My point is this: DOING IT is a primo Growing Up Male book. High school and public YA librarians absolutely need to forget about Anne Fine's fears of DOING IT. Instead they need to read DOING IT and need to buy it for their collections whether or not it is their cup of T (as in testosterone). I'm recommending this book for all high school and public library YA collections.
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