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Cargando... Okay for Now (2011 original; edición 2011)por Gary D. Schmidt
Información de la obraOkay for Now por Gary D. Schmidt (2011)
Cargando...
Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. I liked this better than Wednesday Wars. So many good things! I shall list them for you: 1. You know how it feels when an author doesn't spell things out too much and lets the reader come to her own conclusions? Terrific. 2. You know how much I like it when a writer finds really punchy phrases and uses them over and over again? It's like poetry. 3. Am I a chump for loving it despite the fact that it wasn't exactly completely realistic? Am I? 4. Sometimes everyday life books like this can get boring, but Mr. Fancy Writer Schmidt injected suspense by not giving everything away right away. For example, there was no way I was going to get out of the car until I'd heard what 216 meant. 5. The audiobook narration was awesome. I could really hear the narrator smiling, choking up, getting angry. He read a little slow for my taste, but he made up for it. The only thing I don't like about this book is the cover. The cover is really terrible. I'm not lying. Please, please let it have a better cover in paperback! 4.5-5 stars (why can't we do 1/2 stars!? Why?!) Funny, touching, and engaging. Lovely book. (This review is sort of spoilery but not too much.) Scmidt's integration of the Audubon prints, and Doug's changing observations of them as he grows as a person, is done amazingly well. The whole thing is extremely well written. My only real complaint, which actually may NOT be a complaint, depending on the intent of the author, is the father's apparent turnaround in the last bit of the book. He reforms from being a horrible (and I mean HORRIBLE) abusive SOB just like that? I doubt it. I think people can change but not that much. And we're left at the end with this vision of the father hugging the mom, telling her she's beautiful, and sticking up for his sons. -- After 300 pages of him getting drunk, punching people, and doing things that are way, way worse. Then again, maybe the author didn't mean that he'd actually reformed at ALL, and he's actually being very clever. The title Okay for Now comes up in several instances, and maybe it applies here too. The dad is behaving OK for now -- but when will he break again? Interesting thought. This and Schmidt's other book, [b:The Wednesday Wars|556136|The Wednesday Wars|Gary D. Schmidt|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442044636s/556136.jpg|2586820], seemed slightly similar in that they start out in a cramped hole and you feel like reality is just crushing you. But then, slowly, it opens out like a flower. And you can breathe again.
Bad-boy Doug Swieteck from The Wednesday Wars (rev. 7/07)—grudgingly respected for his bravado (he knew 410 ways to get a teacher to hate you) but feared because of his bullying older brother—is back in a stand-alone story. Readers meet Doug’s mean-spirited father, a man Doug dislikes but unconsciously emulates. When the family moves upstate after Mr. Swieteck’s temper gets him fired, Doug’s discontent mirrors his father’s. They live in a “stupid” town, in a house Doug christens “The Dump,” and people sit on stoops because there isn’t “any boring thing else to do in boring Marysville.” But what “boring” Marysville, New York, offers Doug is something unexpected: kindness and a future. He gets a part-time job; meets Lil, a sweet love interest; has teachers willing to teach him (as Schmidt gradually reveals, his need is dire); and, above all, is captivated by a book of Audubon bird prints when a caring librarian helps Doug discover a talent for composition and art appreciation. Schmidt incorporates a myriad of historical events from the 1968 setting (the moon landing, a broken brother returning from Vietnam, the My Lai massacre) that make some of the improbable plot turns (the father’s sudden redemption, for example) all the more unconvincing. Still, Doug’s story emerges through a distinctive voice that reflects how one beat-up kid can become a young man who knows that the future holds “so much for him to find.” Pertenece a las seriesEs una secuela (fuera de la serie) dePremiosListas de sobresalientes
As a fourteen-year-old who just moved to a new town, with no friends, an abusive father, and a louse for an older brother, Doug Swieteck has all the stats stacked against him until he finds an ally in Lil Spicer--a fiery young lady. Together, they find a safe haven in the local library, inspiration in learning about the plates of John James Audubon's birds, and a hilarious adventure on a Broadway stage. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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Awards: 2011 National Book Award Finalist