belles_bookshelves's review against another edition
1.0
I picked this book up because the blurb sounded interesting, but the main character and the cussing annoyed me to no end. I don't understand why it was necessary to drop the f-bomb every two pages. The main character(Katy)was excessivly annoying and a bit on the naive side. I'm not saying that to be mean but she acted like a total brat through most of the book. I could get that she wasn't happy about hanging out in LA with her punk rocker dad(Rat) who she hasn't been close to. She's pretty much the opposite of everything her dad and the people he hangs out are, so obviously it would be hard. I think that she was too hard on the Rat considering he was trying so hard. She could've given him more of a chance at the beginning. Katy complains through almost the whole book, not until the end do you start to see her really lighten up. I have to give the author credit for not making Katy go through a huge transformation for the sake of the story. It kept me interested enough to finish the book and I kinda liked the resolution(I thought the manifesto thing was good, probably the best part of the book). I just didn't like almost all of the characters. I understand that I'm probably not this books main audience since I'm not into punk or the music scene so someone who is a fan of these will definitely get more out this books than me.
sonia_reppe's review against another edition
4.0
Katy has to stay with her rocker Dad in LA for the summer while her mother does research in Peru. A mature fifteen yr-old, she "prefers silence."
So often in YA books the parents are disappointingly bland, but not in this book. The dad is very well written as a cool musician trying to stay a recovering heroin addict.
Katy is also well-written. We know where she is coming from: as a reaction to her parent's extreme lives, she is not interested in partying or playing punk music. She really misses her Mom, and feels abandoned by her. A friendship with Lake, a daughter of her dad's band member, enables her to see the release and expression that can come through music.
Each chapter heading is a song from Katy's mix cD, if you're interested in a soundtrack.
So often in YA books the parents are disappointingly bland, but not in this book. The dad is very well written as a cool musician trying to stay a recovering heroin addict.
Katy is also well-written. We know where she is coming from: as a reaction to her parent's extreme lives, she is not interested in partying or playing punk music. She really misses her Mom, and feels abandoned by her. A friendship with Lake, a daughter of her dad's band member, enables her to see the release and expression that can come through music.
Each chapter heading is a song from Katy's mix cD, if you're interested in a soundtrack.
beanmom's review against another edition
4.0
Nice soundtrack, good message. A quick read, although I never really felt for the main character.
arthur_pendrgn's review against another edition
An excellent portrayal of a sullen, uncooperative teenager who has been dumped on the parent she barely knows. Can't say I blame her. The grunginess of the apartment and concert site is so well-done that I'm grossed out. I don't like Beige although I sympathize with her and I don't want to read about filthy homes that are so realistic I want to go shower. DNF
davidscrimshaw's review against another edition
4.0
I read this because the author wrote a sci-fi novel I enjoyed.
This is not sci-fi. It's about a girl from Montreal who gets sent to Los Angeles to stay with her punk rock dad for a while. She doesn't fit in and she hates it.
It was sort of predictable, but I enjoyed the trip. I'd actually like to know what happened in the next part of Katy's life.
This is not sci-fi. It's about a girl from Montreal who gets sent to Los Angeles to stay with her punk rock dad for a while. She doesn't fit in and she hates it.
It was sort of predictable, but I enjoyed the trip. I'd actually like to know what happened in the next part of Katy's life.
brimclala's review against another edition
4.0
I'd probably give this a 3.5. However, I read this awhile ago when I was about 15 or 16. If I had read Beige at my current age, 22, I don't think I would have liked it as much. With that said, this is a great book for teenagers!
lazygal's review against another edition
2.0
Rather predictable story: Katy (an uptight Quebecois-American) is sent by her mother to live in LA with her father. Mom's off to Peru to work at an archaeological dig and Katy hasn't seen her father in eight years - sounds like the perfect solution, right? Dad's The Rat, a Tommy Lee clone for an infamous band named Suck (no umlauts!), lives like an absolute slob and has no idea how to relate to his daughter.
Turns out, Katy's repressed. So when Lake "befriends" her (because The Rat's paying her, not because she'd actually like someone like Katy), Lake decides to name her Beige, as in bland. Boring. Dull.
There are two boys, Leo and Garth. There's punk and near-punk and drums and "merch" and by the end, well, Katy's learned to not be afraid to let her inner emotions show, to sing, to like music, etc.. The Rat is actually a pretty good father, and Lake turns into a friend. As I said, predictable.
Not quite beige-predictable, more mauve.
Turns out, Katy's repressed. So when Lake "befriends" her (because The Rat's paying her, not because she'd actually like someone like Katy), Lake decides to name her Beige, as in bland. Boring. Dull.
There are two boys, Leo and Garth. There's punk and near-punk and drums and "merch" and by the end, well, Katy's learned to not be afraid to let her inner emotions show, to sing, to like music, etc.. The Rat is actually a pretty good father, and Lake turns into a friend. As I said, predictable.
Not quite beige-predictable, more mauve.
susanatwestofmars's review against another edition
3.0
I'd heard good things about Cecil Castellucci's Beige, so I attempted extra lengths to get my hands on it. A copy popped up at Paperbackswap.com before I could get to a bookstore and wouldn't you know, but it's the latest in a year-long epidemic of books showing up with water stains (despite my clear request that these sorts of books NOT be sent my way. Sigh).
Still, a little water will only prevent me from re-listing the book at PaperBackSwap. It won't prevent me from reading it... with a canister of albuterol handy. Water damage invites mold into a book, people!
It was hard to put Beige on the Read Soon pile (as opposed to the ToBeRead mountain range in my office). It didn't linger long, a scant two months. Maybe two and a half.
In the end, I have to say I was disappointed with Beige. It's not that it's not a good book. It is. It's not that you can't feel the music in these pages. You can.
It's that it reminds me so much of one of my all-time favorite books, Fat Kid Rules the Earth, that Beige seems like a derivative female version of the same story. Oh, there are differences: Katy comes to LA, expecting to spend two weeks with her father the legendary punk rocker. She meets a cast of characters who should have been vibrant and wonderful, but didn't live and breathe as much as I'd have liked them to. I left this book wanting to know more about Garth. More about Trixie, and her relationship to The Rat. And I left it hoping that Lake would become less of the cliche she is in these pages. Leo, too. Talk about the perfect jock who's into one-night stands before he loses his virginity.
Still, if you either can't draw the comparison with Fat Kid or if you don't want to, the way Castellucci draws the music for the reader is well done. As Katy begins to understand it, so do we. It's a slow surrender, a slow realization of what music is and how it operates. And why it's so important to so many of us.
I loved, too, the idea of the pool as the gathering place. In fact, I wish the final group scene had been set down at the pool. It became a strong metaphor for Katy's transformation. But not just Katy's. Her friends, such as they are, transform also, as the best characters in the best books do. Lake grows. Garth changes, although he's still too much an enigma. I want more Garth! (I can easily see him holding court in his own book, in fact.)
In a switch from most plots aimed at kids and teens, I honestly thought there was one adult who stole the show: The Rat. Man, the visual I drew of him was of Tommy Lee, all skinny arms and legs and tattoos. But he's also a man struggling with a past that continues to stalk him, a past that he built his legacy on. It can stalk him all it wants; he's going to continue to find ways to work it. His band wasn't a flash-in-the-pan. They're coming back.
And still, The Rat bangs his drums to deal with his addiction cravings. He bangs his drums because he doesn't get his own daughter. He wants, he needs, he can't wash his dishes.
Here is one point where Castellucci doesn't sink into the cliche: Katy doesn't clean up The Rat's apartment. She finds a way to dwell in the filth -- and eventually, it stops bothering her. Maybe she even grows comfortable in it.
Fat Kid definitely ruined this book for me. The two are very similar; there's no doubt about it. Overall, I think the themes of acceptance within an often ill-regarded subculture were better done by KL Going. But there's plenty going on within Beige to recommend it, also. This is one of those books that could spin off sequels and series entries -- although part of its magic is that it's complete as is. We close the cover and wonder what's ahead for these people. And we hope it's all good.
One last note: Yep, I recommend this book, despite finding it falls short. I've been talking about it since I finished it, I've been thinking about it. Above all else, that is what sets the great books apart.
Still, a little water will only prevent me from re-listing the book at PaperBackSwap. It won't prevent me from reading it... with a canister of albuterol handy. Water damage invites mold into a book, people!
It was hard to put Beige on the Read Soon pile (as opposed to the ToBeRead mountain range in my office). It didn't linger long, a scant two months. Maybe two and a half.
In the end, I have to say I was disappointed with Beige. It's not that it's not a good book. It is. It's not that you can't feel the music in these pages. You can.
It's that it reminds me so much of one of my all-time favorite books, Fat Kid Rules the Earth, that Beige seems like a derivative female version of the same story. Oh, there are differences: Katy comes to LA, expecting to spend two weeks with her father the legendary punk rocker. She meets a cast of characters who should have been vibrant and wonderful, but didn't live and breathe as much as I'd have liked them to. I left this book wanting to know more about Garth. More about Trixie, and her relationship to The Rat. And I left it hoping that Lake would become less of the cliche she is in these pages. Leo, too. Talk about the perfect jock who's into one-night stands before he loses his virginity.
Still, if you either can't draw the comparison with Fat Kid or if you don't want to, the way Castellucci draws the music for the reader is well done. As Katy begins to understand it, so do we. It's a slow surrender, a slow realization of what music is and how it operates. And why it's so important to so many of us.
I loved, too, the idea of the pool as the gathering place. In fact, I wish the final group scene had been set down at the pool. It became a strong metaphor for Katy's transformation. But not just Katy's. Her friends, such as they are, transform also, as the best characters in the best books do. Lake grows. Garth changes, although he's still too much an enigma. I want more Garth! (I can easily see him holding court in his own book, in fact.)
In a switch from most plots aimed at kids and teens, I honestly thought there was one adult who stole the show: The Rat. Man, the visual I drew of him was of Tommy Lee, all skinny arms and legs and tattoos. But he's also a man struggling with a past that continues to stalk him, a past that he built his legacy on. It can stalk him all it wants; he's going to continue to find ways to work it. His band wasn't a flash-in-the-pan. They're coming back.
And still, The Rat bangs his drums to deal with his addiction cravings. He bangs his drums because he doesn't get his own daughter. He wants, he needs, he can't wash his dishes.
Here is one point where Castellucci doesn't sink into the cliche: Katy doesn't clean up The Rat's apartment. She finds a way to dwell in the filth -- and eventually, it stops bothering her. Maybe she even grows comfortable in it.
Fat Kid definitely ruined this book for me. The two are very similar; there's no doubt about it. Overall, I think the themes of acceptance within an often ill-regarded subculture were better done by KL Going. But there's plenty going on within Beige to recommend it, also. This is one of those books that could spin off sequels and series entries -- although part of its magic is that it's complete as is. We close the cover and wonder what's ahead for these people. And we hope it's all good.
One last note: Yep, I recommend this book, despite finding it falls short. I've been talking about it since I finished it, I've been thinking about it. Above all else, that is what sets the great books apart.
librariann's review against another edition
3.0
Canadian Katy (dubbed "Beige" by punk girl Lake) goes to visit her estranged rocker Dad in L.A. when her PhD student mom goes off for a dig in Peru. A 2 1/2 week jaunt turns into the whole summer, and bland ol' Katy learns to appreciate music. Fun, except for the whole "parents are ex drug addicts" thing.