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lobo1tomia's review
5.0
Arisztophanész vígjátékának, a Lüszisztraténak átértelmezése (a regényben is hivatkoznak rá, s párhuzamot vonnak a lányok indította nemek harca és az athéni nők sztrájkja között) igazából arról szól, milyen nehéz is egy középiskolásnak megbirkózni a szexualitás kérdésével. Lissa például bár hangoztatja, hogy a szex nem fegyver, mégis elvakultságában végül megszegi a saját szabályait, méghozzá pont azért, mert nem igazán érzi, hogy is kéne viselkednie az intim dolgokban. Persze nehéz neki, mert édesanyja meghalt és nincs kihez fordulnia útmutatásért, a kortársai pedig bár kifelé másképp tűnik, legalább annyira tanácstalanok a kérdésben mint ő. Mert megbélyegzik azt a a lányt, aki bevallja, hogy szereti a szexet, de azt is, aki még sose csinálta, s furán néznek arra, aki meg csinálja, de nem élvezi. Lissa pedig olyan ember, aki – pont félárvasága miatt is –, szereti kontrollálni a dolgokat és frusztrálja ha valami nem működik jól, úgy ahogy elvárható és ha ő nincs kellőképpen informálva és felkészülve minden eshetőségre.
A regény az első mondatoktól kezdve friss volt, izgalmas és érdekes, nagyon jól eltalálva a középiskolások hangulatát. Imádtam Chloe-t, Lissa barátnőjét, akinek a legjobb és persze legtalálóbb beszólásai voltak, s ellensúlyozta a főszereplő konok komolyságát, s bár tűz és víz voltak temperamentumban, igazán jól kiegészítették egymást. Keplinger kiválóan megmutatta a középiskolák dinamikáját és hogy mi mozgatja a barátságokat, szerelmeket, családokat. Jó volt, hogy a felnőttek, ha nem is sokat szerepeltek a regényben szintén nem csak sablonok voltak, hanem majd minden családnak más-más volt a dinamikája, a története és nem csinált úgy a regény, mintha nem számítana, hogy kik vannak a főszereplők környezetében, csak az érdekes és valós, ami a suliban történik velük. Kicsit talán az utolsó harmadban volt egy kis gyengülés, ahol Lissa túlságosan is átesik a ló túloldalára, s Cash-sel való konfliktusa eléggé bénára sikerült, de amúgy kiváló könyv volt.
Részletesebben: http://olvasonaplo.net/olvasonaplo/2011/08/29/kody_keplinger_shut_out/
A regény az első mondatoktól kezdve friss volt, izgalmas és érdekes, nagyon jól eltalálva a középiskolások hangulatát. Imádtam Chloe-t, Lissa barátnőjét, akinek a legjobb és persze legtalálóbb beszólásai voltak, s ellensúlyozta a főszereplő konok komolyságát, s bár tűz és víz voltak temperamentumban, igazán jól kiegészítették egymást. Keplinger kiválóan megmutatta a középiskolák dinamikáját és hogy mi mozgatja a barátságokat, szerelmeket, családokat. Jó volt, hogy a felnőttek, ha nem is sokat szerepeltek a regényben szintén nem csak sablonok voltak, hanem majd minden családnak más-más volt a dinamikája, a története és nem csinált úgy a regény, mintha nem számítana, hogy kik vannak a főszereplők környezetében, csak az érdekes és valós, ami a suliban történik velük. Kicsit talán az utolsó harmadban volt egy kis gyengülés, ahol Lissa túlságosan is átesik a ló túloldalára, s Cash-sel való konfliktusa eléggé bénára sikerült, de amúgy kiváló könyv volt.
Részletesebben: http://olvasonaplo.net/olvasonaplo/2011/08/29/kody_keplinger_shut_out/
dianasaur8's review against another edition
3.0
I'd like to begin with the fact that this entire book is filled with rants about how guys get away with having a lot of sex, whereas girls are called sluts and whores if they do the same. I have to admit that it is a really good point, one that most people in society realize (I think), which is why it stuck with me throughout the entire book. What annoyed me was that Keplinger repeated this so many (too many, if you ask me) times throughout the book.
Also, I don't think Cash was very well developed. He's a soccer player whose family is going through financial troubles and he's the school tease. That's it. That's all I got from Keplinger. I know he's supposed to be likable, much more so than Randy, but there wasn't enough of him for me to like. Even though Randy ended up being an asshole, he did some really sweet things. (On a side note, what the hell happened to Randy? Why don't we get to find out? I need closure! Ugh.) Because he was more developed and I had more of an insight to him, I wanted the main character to somehow (even though Keplinger was right not to allow it to happen) make up with Randy.
This book had so many similarities to The Duff (Keplinger's first novel) to the point where I felt like I was reading two books with the same exact theme in the same exact setting.
Similarities:
- Characters from both books are from Hamilton High School and there are numerous references to Oak Hill and the Nest (what the hell is the Nest? It wasn't even explained).
- Both characters were slightly stuck up with overly preppy and school-spirited friends
- Both books referred to Atonement about a million times
- Lack of a mother figure (sort of)
- Good father-daughter relationship, but the dads have a flaw (wheelchair/recovering alcoholic)
- Ice cream with chocolate swirls are mentioned a lot
- Junk food seems to be the food of choice
- Girls who are overly sensitive to sex or their own body parts (why are you afraid of your own anatomy, people?)
- References of characters to books (this book was based off of Lysistrata, whereas the other referenced Wuthering Heights a lot)
- The boys in both books took the girls to a tiny Italian restaurant in Oak Hill
WHERE WAS THE VARIETY, KODY? WHERE? Change the setting, at least. I got tired of hearing how the girls are from a small town and how Oak Hill is the place to be. I don't care. Change the setting. I got so frustrated reading the same things in both books. Then again, I read them back to back so that might have made it even worse for me. I think sophomore novels should be distinguishable from the first one. I seriously don't even want to begin reading her most recent book, A Midsummer's Nightmare, because I'm expecting the same exact theme/setting/references as the first two books.
This book, as well as The Duff, is a really easy and fast read. I finished it within 2-3 hours (then again, I read fast, so don't mind me). I have to say aside from the underdeveloped characters and ridiculous amount of similarities from her other book, it was a enjoyable. I'd recommend the book, but I wouldn't say that it is a particularly good one.
Also, I don't think Cash was very well developed. He's a soccer player whose family is going through financial troubles and he's the school tease. That's it. That's all I got from Keplinger. I know he's supposed to be likable, much more so than Randy, but there wasn't enough of him for me to like. Even though Randy ended up being an asshole, he did some really sweet things. (On a side note, what the hell happened to Randy? Why don't we get to find out? I need closure! Ugh.) Because he was more developed and I had more of an insight to him, I wanted the main character to somehow (even though Keplinger was right not to allow it to happen) make up with Randy.
This book had so many similarities to The Duff (Keplinger's first novel) to the point where I felt like I was reading two books with the same exact theme in the same exact setting.
Similarities:
- Characters from both books are from Hamilton High School and there are numerous references to Oak Hill and the Nest (what the hell is the Nest? It wasn't even explained).
- Both characters were slightly stuck up with overly preppy and school-spirited friends
- Both books referred to Atonement about a million times
- Lack of a mother figure (sort of)
- Good father-daughter relationship, but the dads have a flaw (wheelchair/recovering alcoholic)
- Ice cream with chocolate swirls are mentioned a lot
- Junk food seems to be the food of choice
- Girls who are overly sensitive to sex or their own body parts (why are you afraid of your own anatomy, people?)
- References of characters to books (this book was based off of Lysistrata, whereas the other referenced Wuthering Heights a lot)
- The boys in both books took the girls to a tiny Italian restaurant in Oak Hill
WHERE WAS THE VARIETY, KODY? WHERE? Change the setting, at least. I got tired of hearing how the girls are from a small town and how Oak Hill is the place to be. I don't care. Change the setting. I got so frustrated reading the same things in both books. Then again, I read them back to back so that might have made it even worse for me. I think sophomore novels should be distinguishable from the first one. I seriously don't even want to begin reading her most recent book, A Midsummer's Nightmare, because I'm expecting the same exact theme/setting/references as the first two books.
This book, as well as The Duff, is a really easy and fast read. I finished it within 2-3 hours (then again, I read fast, so don't mind me). I have to say aside from the underdeveloped characters and ridiculous amount of similarities from her other book, it was a enjoyable. I'd recommend the book, but I wouldn't say that it is a particularly good one.
samantha_89's review against another edition
4.0
I really, really wished I hadn't gone in to this novel knowing that Kody Keplinger was around my age. I wished I could have made the assumption that she was in her thirties or whatever. Unfortuantely, I couldn't and because of that I looked really closely at how it was written. There aren't too many young authors out there so how did she measure up to other authors?
Fortunately and unfortunately, I found that her age showed through out the book. There's an upside and a downside. The upside (and what kept this book at four stars for me) was that the dialogue between the teens was, 99% of the time, very spot on. There was cussing, and lots of it. They were crude sometimes, but at the same time they could wax poetic. Keplinger's teen years aren't too far behind her and that served her very well in this novel. The downside of her age is that she just hasn't had enough time to perfect her craft. The storytelling sometimes felt like it needed a bit of grease. The narrative and dialogue would sometimes be awkward and unnatural just to serve the purpose of dropping information. Keplinger is extremely talented, and the book as a whole is absolutely amazing. The storytelling sometimes took me out of it though and that's never good.
Shut Out is a very courageous story. Sex is not something that's talked about a lot in YA and when it is it's very simple and definitely not the entire plot of the novel. I hope that Shut Out takes off because it brings up excellent points of how us girls are treated unfairly when it comes to sex. I think this book could bring up excellent discussions in schools and really bring to light some of the inequalities between guys and girls. For those of you who wonder, despite the book being about sex there really isn't anything terribly graphic in it.
I enjoyed the fact that Lissa starts out with a boyfriend as you really don't see that all too much in books. I loved Cash's character, absolutely dreamy and easy to fall in love with. The introduction of his character was awkward and definitely is a huge point in how I was saying Keplinger's writing just isn't quite *there* yet.
So, writing aside I think this is a really important book. I would love to see more honesty like this in the YA section. I think I could even put up with clunky writing if I got more honestly.
Fortunately and unfortunately, I found that her age showed through out the book. There's an upside and a downside. The upside (and what kept this book at four stars for me) was that the dialogue between the teens was, 99% of the time, very spot on. There was cussing, and lots of it. They were crude sometimes, but at the same time they could wax poetic. Keplinger's teen years aren't too far behind her and that served her very well in this novel. The downside of her age is that she just hasn't had enough time to perfect her craft. The storytelling sometimes felt like it needed a bit of grease. The narrative and dialogue would sometimes be awkward and unnatural just to serve the purpose of dropping information. Keplinger is extremely talented, and the book as a whole is absolutely amazing. The storytelling sometimes took me out of it though and that's never good.
Shut Out is a very courageous story. Sex is not something that's talked about a lot in YA and when it is it's very simple and definitely not the entire plot of the novel. I hope that Shut Out takes off because it brings up excellent points of how us girls are treated unfairly when it comes to sex. I think this book could bring up excellent discussions in schools and really bring to light some of the inequalities between guys and girls. For those of you who wonder, despite the book being about sex there really isn't anything terribly graphic in it.
I enjoyed the fact that Lissa starts out with a boyfriend as you really don't see that all too much in books. I loved Cash's character, absolutely dreamy and easy to fall in love with. The introduction of his character was awkward and definitely is a huge point in how I was saying Keplinger's writing just isn't quite *there* yet.
So, writing aside I think this is a really important book. I would love to see more honesty like this in the YA section. I think I could even put up with clunky writing if I got more honestly.
lanica's review against another edition
2.0
PERSONAL REVIEW: Wow! Is that really what High School is like these days? I'm getting old!
SCHOOL LIBRARIAN REVIEW: I think parents who opened this up to some random page and started reading might have some issues with this book. If I put this on my library shelves, I'd expect someone - at some point - to complain...or even challenge this book. And, I might have to agree, which is why this book would not be one I would purchase for my school library.
First off let me say that this has an overall good message. Be yourself. Don't let other people make you do things you are not willing to do. Be an individual. Think for yourself. Think! But, that being said, this book is not for everyone.
The girlfriends of both the soccer and football teams all agree to withhold sex until the rivalry between the teams is quashed.
I have a few problems with the premise:
*It assumes that the girls are all having sex, only one comes out as being a virgin and she is treated poorly when she says so.
*It assumes that the girls are not a part of the rivalry. I know that in many cases girls are a lot more mean-spirited than boys and it's unlikely that they are all going to want the same ends here.
*It assumes that none of the girls are in sports of their own. They are all available after school for the games and shopping or whatever, but not one girl is said to be involved in extracurriculars of their own of any kind.
The idea that the girls are afraid to talk about sex, but the 'sex strike' makes them open up to one another is a good idea, but it doesn't really help the girls who are likely to read the book understand anything that they may need in real life. The girls say, "I don't like it" or "I'm afraid" or whatever, and a girl who reads this book will say, yeah...me, too. But then the writer does nothing to help the reader truly understand the issues. It had the potential to be life-changing...instead, it's just fluff.
SCHOOL LIBRARIAN REVIEW: I think parents who opened this up to some random page and started reading might have some issues with this book. If I put this on my library shelves, I'd expect someone - at some point - to complain...or even challenge this book. And, I might have to agree, which is why this book would not be one I would purchase for my school library.
First off let me say that this has an overall good message. Be yourself. Don't let other people make you do things you are not willing to do. Be an individual. Think for yourself. Think! But, that being said, this book is not for everyone.
The girlfriends of both the soccer and football teams all agree to withhold sex until the rivalry between the teams is quashed.
I have a few problems with the premise:
*It assumes that the girls are all having sex, only one comes out as being a virgin and she is treated poorly when she says so.
*It assumes that the girls are not a part of the rivalry. I know that in many cases girls are a lot more mean-spirited than boys and it's unlikely that they are all going to want the same ends here.
*It assumes that none of the girls are in sports of their own. They are all available after school for the games and shopping or whatever, but not one girl is said to be involved in extracurriculars of their own of any kind.
The idea that the girls are afraid to talk about sex, but the 'sex strike' makes them open up to one another is a good idea, but it doesn't really help the girls who are likely to read the book understand anything that they may need in real life. The girls say, "I don't like it" or "I'm afraid" or whatever, and a girl who reads this book will say, yeah...me, too. But then the writer does nothing to help the reader truly understand the issues. It had the potential to be life-changing...instead, it's just fluff.
nannasa16's review against another edition
3.0
Le scene tra le ragazze sono EPICHE.
Chloe merita tutta la mia stima, alcune delle sue frasi mi hanno fatto ridere come una scema per ore AHHAHAHAHAHHAHA.
Good work Keplinger ;D
Chloe merita tutta la mia stima, alcune delle sue frasi mi hanno fatto ridere come una scema per ore AHHAHAHAHAHHAHA.
Good work Keplinger ;D
blakehalsey's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars. SHUT OUT is a fun, quick read and is an interesting way to address double standards and how females in particular view sex and are judged for how they view sex. Keplinger never got preachy with the content, although some scenes with the girls slightly resembled an after school special. I loved the romance between Cash and Lissa. My one complaint is that I had a difficult time connecting with Lissa. In THE DUFF, Keplingers first novel, I immediately connected with Bianca and thought the ways in which Keplinger wove in her familial life into her school/sex life was really well done. In this book, it wasn't as thorough. There was a family history and some drama with the brother that I cared very little about, but it wasn't as developed. Still, this book was fun and sexy!
kerrisbooks13's review against another edition
4.0
Minor issues with some of the writing and some of the portrayals BUT I actually kinda loved it soooo
noura_rizk's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't write a review right after finishing it, because I was gonna rate it with 4 stars.
I tried to like it to be honest, but I couldn't. I didn't like Lissa at all. I liked Randy even though he was such a jerk, but he was nice to her and her family except the cheating part of course, but may be this happened because she wasn't talking to him about what she want or how she felt, and she was thinking about someone else it's also a cheating you know, and I felt like she just broke up with him because she had a physical attraction to Cash. yeah Cash is a very nice guy and all and he's better than Randy but she liked him before she even knew him.
I tried to like it to be honest, but I couldn't. I didn't like Lissa at all. I liked Randy even though he was such a jerk, but he was nice to her and her family except the cheating part of course, but may be this happened because she wasn't talking to him about what she want or how she felt, and she was thinking about someone else it's also a cheating you know, and I felt like she just broke up with him because she had a physical attraction to Cash. yeah Cash is a very nice guy and all and he's better than Randy but she liked him before she even knew him.
freesien's review against another edition
3.0
Das Konzept an sich fand ich klasse! :D
Aber ich hab so meine Probleme mit Lissa, im letzten Viertel hat sie einfach nur noch genervt. Dafür war Chloe einfach nur toll!
Aber ich hab so meine Probleme mit Lissa, im letzten Viertel hat sie einfach nur noch genervt. Dafür war Chloe einfach nur toll!
wandereaderr's review against another edition
5.0
Tbh, nothing will live up to THE DUFF for me. But I enjoyed SHUT OUT immensely.