- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Viking Canada (Mar 1 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0670067458
- ISBN-13: 978-0670067459
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 626 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #334,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Welsh-born Dunthorne delves in his debut into the mind of a troubled 14-year-old boy obsessed with his virginity, his parent's failing marriage and the dictionary. Growing up in Swansea, Wales, Oliver Tate is curious about everything going on around him. Fixated on the personal lives of his parents and neighbors, Oliver compulsively keeps a log of his observations, activities and thoughts, many of which revolve around his new girlfriend, Jordana, she of the fully developed breasts and snogging experience. The two become inseparable and eventually wind up together in the sack. Oliver also believes his mother is having an affair with a family friend, and his growing suspicion leads to a half-baked investigation that only complicates matters at home. As Oliver and Jordana's relationship plays out and the truth about Oliver's mother is revealed, Oliver takes some lumps and learns a few lessons. Some readers will be turned off by Oliver's cruelty—among other things, he bullies an overweight girl at school and poisons Jordana's dog—and others by his precociousness (his log entries include word-of-the-day vocab lessons), but Dunthorne's creation is a true original. (Apr.)
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.
Book Description
Hello. I'm Oliver Tate, the protagonist.
My ambitions are as follows:
(1) To find out why my father sometimes stays in bed for days at a time.
(2) To find out why my mother's getting surfinglessons-- and probably more--from a hippylooking twonk.
(3) To lose my virginity before it becomes legal-- in just over a year.
There are other, lesser characters in the book: Jordana, who is my love interest, despite her eczema. Zoe, whose only real school friend is a dinner lady. I feel sorry for Zoe, which, in turn, makes me feel better about my own life. Then there's my friend Chips, an outstanding bully. He made our Religious Education teacher cry. This book might not change my life. But there is no telling how you will react.
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Customer Reviews
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There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon Canada
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Creative and funny!, Jun 13 2008
By Megan B. Mclees "howdymeg" - Published on Amazon.com
I try not to judge books by their covers, but I couldn't help starting this book after seeing it at the library. I am very glad I did! Oliver, the young narrator, is full of hilarious observations and reactions to situations that we all seem to encounter at some point or other. It is clear the author put a lot of thought into his writing, and I found myself either laughing out loud or smirking many many times throughout the story.This is the kind of book you can't put down, and hope that it doesn't end. I will be awaiting his next book anxiously!
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy this Book..., April 12 2008
By Lorelei Armstrong - Published on Amazon.com
...If you appreciate characters with a unique view of their world. Oliver Tate is a sharp fifteen-year-old navigating a tangle of relationships. He manages with marvelous dexterity and insight. The language is a pleasure. How unusual and refreshing to find a writer who knows how to capture the world of a smart teenager. I will be looking forward to Mr. Dunthorne's future work! He is a writer of rare and unique voice.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you like supremely precocious and intelligent characters, witty dialogue, and disturbing imagery..., April 3 2008
By Chris LaVesser "Goofball on bowed legs" - Published on Amazon.com
The cover of this book caught my eye, so I started reading the jacket. Three sentences into the description I closed the cover and walked to the register. Sold.This is an enjoyable romp inside the mind of a 15-year-old boy with girl problems and parent problems. Only this boy is intelligent, pedantic, richly observant, and prone to bouts of imprudence.
Dunthorne wrote this character and his shenanigans wonderfully. I tore through this book and had fun doing so.
If you read Marissa Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics and enjoyed it, you'll love this book. This one just reads a little faster.
(Note: Dunthorne's a Brit, so if you hate reading about Pounds, Quid, Torches, and GCSEs, better to avoid this one (but you're selling yourself short with that kind of egocentrism.))
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