Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Word Nerdby Susin Nielsen
None Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This book was o.k, but it was a little bit two-dimensional. The characters had semi-complicated personalities, but with the exception of the main character, Ambrose, I never really felt like they were completely real people. Everybody was just a little too well-defined and nobody's actions or thoughts ever really surprised me. It kind of reminded me of a Gordon Korman book - the idea was cool, and it was entertaining at times with some funny parts, but the story was a little too tidy to be believable. I'm largely enthusiastic about Susin Nielsen's YA literature: quirky, addresses the dysfunction in society based on the experience of living in metro Vancouver (BC). Her characters are idiosyncratic and often socially marginalized. She writes with sympathy and the endings are realistic, without everything being resolved. Word Nerd was characterised by all these attributes and made for an engaging story, albeit that it took a few chapters to really become engrossed in the story. There were several plot flaws that lowered my rating: the extreme bullying that went unobserved at school and were poorly addressed; the dichotomy of a single mother leaving her 12-year-old at home alone at night (while she's teaching night classes) yet is portrayed as an over-the-top helicopter parent; the rapid dénouement where the closing scenes have the impoverished mother driving a rental car to Calgary (from Vancouver), yet couldn't afford to buy anything but thrift clothes for her son. However. There was plenty of merit in this story and I recommend it based on the developing relationships in a world of ordinary people struggling with real-life situations, the engaging character development in Nielsen's writing, and her ability to evoke reader sympathy. If you liked No Fixed Address or The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen, for example, I think you'll be glad to read Word Nerd. no reviews | add a review
AwardsNotable Lists
When some bullies at his new school almost kill him by slipping a peanut into his sandwich, friendless nerd Ambrose, forced to be home-schooled by his overprotective mother, coerces his neighbor Cosmo into taking him to the West Side Scrabble Club, where people accept him for who he is. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature American literature in English American fiction in English 2000-LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
|
See also: You Go First by Erin Entrada Kelly
Quotes
"I don't mean to expect the worst. But in my experience, the worst is what often happens." (Mom, 117)
It was the strangest yet best feeling in the world to realize that I was a part of this. (after the Scrabble tournament, 194)
"...has it ever crossed your mind that I'm a misfit? ...And that every time we go somewhere else and I have to try to start over, I fit in even less?" (219) ( )