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spongeamy's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best books I’ve ever read. Wonderfully creative, from the plot right down to nearly every sentence containing a detail that made the experience richer. I found myself rereading lots of passages just to enjoy them again. I hope she writes another novel some day!
knbee's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this rather quick read about a friendship between two teenage girls and their surroundings- family, neighborhood, school- told with wonderfully dry wit and unique perspective.
phascolarctos28's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely love this book! It is hilarious and incredibly relatable. The writing is wonderful and I hope Jo Ann Beard will write another novel in the future. In a sea of bad books about teens, this book really stands out for me.
meghan111's review
4.0
So much that is evocative and familiar in this story of a 14-year-old girl in a smallish town in the 1970s. It opens with the narrator and her best friend at a babysitting job where things have gone out of control: they've just evacuated all the kids and a bunch of pets after one of their charges has started a small fire in the bathroom. The way in which they're enjoying this crisis and finding it hilarious was so spot-on, as was the eventual calling of someone's mom to fix it.
Character and setting details take precedence over the plot here, but the familiarity of these half-forgotten things and feelings is wonderful.
Character and setting details take precedence over the plot here, but the familiarity of these half-forgotten things and feelings is wonderful.
greenogal's review against another edition
3.0
Check out my review at: http://www.shannonsbookbag.blogspot.com/2012/06/in-zanesville-beard.html
jb_anderson's review against another edition
1.0
So disappointing. I just didn't like any of the characters and found the situations very anti-climatic. :(
jdintr's review against another edition
1.0
There were so many reasons I wanted to like this book: I know a little about growing up in the midwest in the 1970s, although the Zanesville of the book was not the Zanesville (of Ohio) near which I grew up. It was recommended by a highly trusted web site, too.
But the book felt like a merry-go-round. It begins brilliantly: with a fire and compelling secondary characters (snotty kids, biker/porno parents, etc.). Instead, these characters got off and didn't return to the narrative.
Neither did the perfectly drawn first crush of the narrator. He disappeared--moved away without a word the day after an awkward grope in the stands of a football game.
By the time I got to page 181, the library was ready for its book back, and I was ready to give up. Couldn't finish it. Didn't want to.
Please comment me if there was a plot that emerged in the last 90 pages.
But the book felt like a merry-go-round. It begins brilliantly: with a fire and compelling secondary characters (snotty kids, biker/porno parents, etc.). Instead, these characters got off and didn't return to the narrative.
Neither did the perfectly drawn first crush of the narrator. He disappeared--moved away without a word the day after an awkward grope in the stands of a football game.
By the time I got to page 181, the library was ready for its book back, and I was ready to give up. Couldn't finish it. Didn't want to.
Please comment me if there was a plot that emerged in the last 90 pages.
sekulig's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful coming of age story, highly relatable. Beautiful prose while also capturing very much the mind of a 14-year-old.
linzer712's review against another edition
4.0
I've been trying to figure out how to describe this book. Coming of age in a small town? Sort of. Reflective and gently philosophical? More like it. Quietly unassuming with a tad of humor, astute descriptions, references to modern art and great (and not so great, but endearing)works of lit? Yep.
This book, about two 14 year olds in a small town, is about nothing and everything. It's about nothing in the way that nothing monumental happens (meaning death, rape, mass destruction, violence, pick-your-life-changing-trauma that often litter books about teenagers...although there is a small fire, a few kisses, a wee bit of graffiti, and an alcoholic dad who is sad and made me sad). But the "nothing" feels monumental to the narrator in the way that things that would seem like no big deal to an outsider are life changingly enormous to a ninth grader.
This novel reminded me of that.
It is langorous (the way teenage summers were) and at times a bit tedious ( like Advanced Algebra class was), but smartly observant and hard to pin down.
This book, about two 14 year olds in a small town, is about nothing and everything. It's about nothing in the way that nothing monumental happens (meaning death, rape, mass destruction, violence, pick-your-life-changing-trauma that often litter books about teenagers...although there is a small fire, a few kisses, a wee bit of graffiti, and an alcoholic dad who is sad and made me sad). But the "nothing" feels monumental to the narrator in the way that things that would seem like no big deal to an outsider are life changingly enormous to a ninth grader.
This novel reminded me of that.
It is langorous (the way teenage summers were) and at times a bit tedious ( like Advanced Algebra class was), but smartly observant and hard to pin down.
callieisreading's review against another edition
3.0
Reading the books that have been on my GR TBR the longest made me finally grab this story of a 14 year old growing up in 1970s Illinois. I feel like this would be a very nostalgic read for those who grew up in the 70s, but for me I found it a kind of routine teenage story told by an adult. If you're looking for something like this in TV format, I highly recommend PEN15, which is more 90s based and is also about awkward teenagers.