Rude Health - a Comedy of Vitamins, the Evil Eye and Harpic

Ian Rude #1

by Linda Aronson

Ian Rude’s whole life is an embarrassment.

With a name like that, what can you expect. He’s short. He’s skinny. His parents run a health food shop. Things couldn’t get much worse – could they?

Then Ian discovers that he secret superhuman powers – and they land him in BIG trouble.

Like, with the Maths Teacher from Hell. Is he cursed? Is he a genuine superkid? Or are the Teenage Energy Pills (with odourless garlic) that his mum gives him stronger than she realizes?

Another laugh out loud young adult comedy from Linda Aronson

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Linda Aronson is a working writer with awards as a scriptwriter, playwright and novelist. She has thirty years experience as a scriptwriter working for companies from Australia, UK, New Zealand and USA. As a scriptwriter, she has credits for feature film, TV series and serials, mini-series, children's TV, radio drama, stage plays, and TV drama-documentary. Her young adult fiction is published in many languages and her hit stage comedy Dinkum Assorted (about life in a World War II biscuit factory, written for a cast of fifteen women and a nanny goat,and for which she also wrote music and lyrics) has rarely been out of production somewhere since it premiered at the Sydney Opera House over twenty years ago. She has also published short stories and satirical journalism. Linda also works internationally as a script consultant.
--from the author's website

Reviews

[Manjiri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than Adrian Mole, and I loved Adrian Mole.

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manic Monologues, Slapstick, and Boofheads

This book very effectively combines two fun genres. On the one hand we have a frantic, deadpan middle grader, (Ian Rude), working feverishly to cope with his move to a new village, his new school, his parents' new business, his insane maths teacher, and his fear either that he is cursed by some Evil Eye or that the "Teenage Energy Vitamins" his Mom makes him take have given him undefined and inconvenient superpowers. On top of this we have the classic "Egg and I" set up of a normal person surrounded by a clan of insanely weird and vaguely dangerous but somehow sort-of lovable nutsoes and boofheads.

The author has pulled out all of the stops in creating a vast array of repulsive-compelling-appealing characters, each of whom seems intent on inflicting some new indignity on our hapless but stalwart hero. There is psychological and physical mayhem; there is exceptionally broad humor punctuated by little subtle bits of business and achingly funny throwaway lines and observations. The book has an overarching plot involving Ian and his numerous profoundly dysfunctional run ins with his maths teacher, but this is punctuated by a large and varied selection of very funny set pieces built around Ian and his friends, Ian and his parents, Ian and his teachers, and Ian and the motorcycle gang that has adopted his parents' health food store as their hangout.

Sometimes, with this style of middle grade humor book, you get an insightful and funny diary. Sometimes you just get slapstick or antic action. Sometimes you get a school daze tale. Sometimes its affectionate reminiscences or mild and funny clueless parent conflict. I don't recall any books I've read recently that have managed quite so well to mix all of this together to create one incredibly fast paced successful whole. Ian Rude stands tall along with Adrian Mole and other classic demented, rueful, frantic school boys as an engaging and entertaining character. A nice find.

Please note that I found this book while browsing kindleunlimited freebies. I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.

[Sephie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ian Rude's whole life is an embarrassment. With a name like that, what can you expect? He's short, he's skinny and his parents run a health food shop. Things couldn't get any worse - could they?