What do you think?
Rate this book
The Odds
Odds of dying in a plane 1 in 20,000.Odds of dying in a motor vehicle 1 in 256.Odds of living a normal life for Ethan impossible.Fifteen-year-old Ethan Sorenson lives life on the periphery… and it’s not intentional. A scholarship student at the prestigious Evergreen Preparatory Academy in Seattle, all Ethan wants is to fit in with his prep-school classmates. But Ethan’s divorced mother – a senior actuary at Northwest Life Insurance who calculates insurance risks – is convinced he is going to die. The most mundane moments pose a risk of death according to Ethan’s mother. Life is even worse for Ethan’s four-year-old brother who still wears clothes with snaps and rides in a stroller. When Ethan befriends the school’s star baseball player he gets a chance to break into Evergreen’s elite social circle. He sneaks out at night, he goes to parties attended by his love interest, and his new friend teaches him to drive. But then his crush starts dating someone else and his mom calls the cops when she finds his bed empty in the middle of the night. Desperate to escape his mother’s strange rules, Ethan kidnaps his brother and goes to Oregon on a search for his dad. But Ethan’s father’s not in Oregon. Instead he uncovers a family secret that explains his mother’s odd behavior, finds out the truth about the disappearance of a childhood neighbor, and gets a chance to repair his family before it’s too late.From Publishers WeeklyEthan, a painfully overprotected teenager and the narrator of this winning story, is a sophomore in high school. His father has been gone for three years. His mother is an actuary for an insurance company, calculating the risk of various mortal accidents. She then imposes her resulting paranoia on Ethan and his brother, only letting them out of the house for study group and not letting Ethan get his driver’s license. Finally, fed-up with watching parties from his bedroom window and being ridiculed by his peers, Ethan starts to take control of his life. Ethan’s voice is strong, consistent, and clear, and the author has done a good job in setting up a plot full of the mystery of Ethan's next-door neighbor; a strange man Ethan keeps running into; the reason for Ethan's dad's departure and why Ethan hasn't heard from him; and, of course, there’s the girl he has a crush on. It's refreshing to encounter a YA novel that is a realistic account of a teenager's life that still feels unique and compelling to the end. (This book was reviewed as part of the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.)
- GenresYoung AdultFictionEbooks
231 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 4, 2011
19 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
January 13, 2016
Actual rating - 2.5
The characters in this weren't bad, but I didn't love them.
I didn't enjoy this one very much unfortunately. I felt bored quite early on, and the book dragged for because of it.
The characters in this weren't bad, but I didn't love them.
I didn't enjoy this one very much unfortunately. I felt bored quite early on, and the book dragged for because of it.
October 26, 2012
Phenominal book. Here's what I liked:
1. I felt I knew the characters.
2. I understood Ethan (a kid on the edge who just wanted to be protected a little less by his mom)
3. I have a 4-yr old, so I really felt for Gavin in this story.
4. The climax is at about 85% of the story and it wasn't quite what I expected.
5. It doesn't wrap up all the story lines. Kinzer gives you the idea that some of the lines were nearing some conclusion or were at least heading in a more peaceful direction, but she doesn't try to put a nice neat little bow on it.
6.
My only major critique is that there are a number of typos and subject/verb agreements that weren't quite right. That's an editor's issue and not so much the author's. Should be an easy fix in the Kindle edition that I read.
1. I felt I knew the characters.
2. I understood Ethan (a kid on the edge who just wanted to be protected a little less by his mom)
3. I have a 4-yr old, so I really felt for Gavin in this story.
4. The climax is at about 85% of the story and it wasn't quite what I expected.
5. It doesn't wrap up all the story lines. Kinzer gives you the idea that some of the lines were nearing some conclusion or were at least heading in a more peaceful direction, but she doesn't try to put a nice neat little bow on it.
6.
My only major critique is that there are a number of typos and subject/verb agreements that weren't quite right. That's an editor's issue and not so much the author's. Should be an easy fix in the Kindle edition that I read.
June 4, 2013
I got this off the free Kindle lending library - which is to say that I had low expectations and was pleasantly surprised.
Ethan is a solid character. I don't generally like the coming of age tale where "growing up" means embracing a partier lifestyle, but this book makes it work better than most with an emphasis on Ethan finding his independence.
The continuing theme of lifetime odds really pulled the story together and gave it the depth I enjoyed. It framed Ethan's decision making on whether it's any life at all to be afraid of all the things that might happen.
The ending is perhaps weak in that it wraps up neatly what was pretty gnarled 5 pages before, but all together it's enjoyable and thought-provoking and, for the most part, well written.
This book is also .99 cents right now on amazon - definitely worth that much.
Ethan is a solid character. I don't generally like the coming of age tale where "growing up" means embracing a partier lifestyle, but this book makes it work better than most with an emphasis on Ethan finding his independence.
The continuing theme of lifetime odds really pulled the story together and gave it the depth I enjoyed. It framed Ethan's decision making on whether it's any life at all to be afraid of all the things that might happen.
The ending is perhaps weak in that it wraps up neatly what was pretty gnarled 5 pages before, but all together it's enjoyable and thought-provoking and, for the most part, well written.
This book is also .99 cents right now on amazon - definitely worth that much.
March 31, 2014
This book was alright. It seemed like it was written by an aspiring author (I have no prior knowledge of this author, mind you), and she got bored with the story and didn't care anymore by the time Ethan left to meet his dad. The ending seemed thrown together: his mother's mental illness came out of nowhere, I feel like her brother was just thrown into the mix, the "one year later" ending was extremely predictable. The story was a bit anticlimactic as well, all this foreshadowing and build-up, then the ending falls short of expectations and the foreshadows lead nowhere. I don't think it's been proofread either, at least not the last part (obvious grammatical and punctuation errors). After the second error, the story lost all credibility for me; they were to distracting. 2 out of 5 stars, probably won't be reading it again any time soon.
August 22, 2013
The typos are excessive. The main character is engaging. Reads a bit like a draft and could have benefitted by a rewrite and some editorial tweaking. This is a good value for a dollar. I would recommend this for tweens and parents looking to introduce ideas of tolerance and mental illness.
January 8, 2013
This book was ok but my reading pleasure was spoilt by the many errors in my Kindle copy.
May 22, 2013
Don´t waste your time reading this.
December 30, 2014
I didn't really know what I was expecting with this book, but it was free on kindle unlimited so I thought sure.
It was okay.
The Good: I really wanted to know what was going on with the Boogeyman and the skateboard kid right away, so I was interested from the first chapter. I liked that it kept you guessing about that the whole time. I kept reading pretty much just to see what happened with that.
The Bad: Holy Kindle Edition Typos, Batman! On top of that, I felt like it was a good chunk of "not much" happening in the book until the end. And then all of a sudden the end felt rushed.
It was an okay book. Needed a better editor I guess, and a less rushed ending.
It was okay.
The Good: I really wanted to know what was going on with the Boogeyman and the skateboard kid right away, so I was interested from the first chapter. I liked that it kept you guessing about that the whole time. I kept reading pretty much just to see what happened with that.
The Bad: Holy Kindle Edition Typos, Batman! On top of that, I felt like it was a good chunk of "not much" happening in the book until the end. And then all of a sudden the end felt rushed.
It was an okay book. Needed a better editor I guess, and a less rushed ending.
January 19, 2014
3.5 of 5 stars
Ethan's mentally ill mother is ruining his life. Her paranoia about the possibility of something happening to him means he's not allowed out of the house except to study. Ever since his dad left three years before, his mother's overprotectiveness has become unbearable. He begins sneaking out at night, and learns to drive behind her back. When Ethan decides to take his little brother to find their dad, he has no idea the secret his mom has been keeping.
THE ODDS is a realistic first person account of a teenager living with a mentally ill parent. His first person POV is a unique, likable voice. Ethan is a flawed character, doing the best he can. Some of the situations with Hardy and Mick were a bit far fetched, and the as a character Ethan could have developed more insight, rather than just having his mother as the one who needed to change.
Overall I recommend THE ODDS for readers interested in mental illness, OCD, anxiety, and dealing with difficult parents.
Ethan's mentally ill mother is ruining his life. Her paranoia about the possibility of something happening to him means he's not allowed out of the house except to study. Ever since his dad left three years before, his mother's overprotectiveness has become unbearable. He begins sneaking out at night, and learns to drive behind her back. When Ethan decides to take his little brother to find their dad, he has no idea the secret his mom has been keeping.
THE ODDS is a realistic first person account of a teenager living with a mentally ill parent. His first person POV is a unique, likable voice. Ethan is a flawed character, doing the best he can. Some of the situations with Hardy and Mick were a bit far fetched, and the as a character Ethan could have developed more insight, rather than just having his mother as the one who needed to change.
Overall I recommend THE ODDS for readers interested in mental illness, OCD, anxiety, and dealing with difficult parents.
July 27, 2014
This book was awful. The characters were underdeveloped, there wasn't much of a plot, and there was a ridiculous amount of typos. Some parts of the story didn't make sense--for example, at first Ethan is only just meeting Sam, his mother's boyfriend, and then within a matter of pages they've been dating for several months.. Also, the whole thing with the paunchy pedophile seemed like it was wrapped up way too quickly, as though the author had forgotten about him and then sloppily tied him into the end. I was looking for a heart-wrenching, thought-provoking read when I came across The Odds, but I was disappointed by this painfully mediocre book.
Read
April 8, 2013This book was pretty good. It is about a young man in high school whose mom is paranoid. She has very strict rules because of her work. She calculates the odds of people dying in certain situations. He husband left her with her two children and Ethan, the main character is struggling. He starts to sneak out at night and revolt against his mother. There are some exciting twist in here that were pretty exciting!
I liked this book. I thought it was interesting. I liked reading the facts that he gave throughout too. Altogether, I'd recommend it.
I liked this book. I thought it was interesting. I liked reading the facts that he gave throughout too. Altogether, I'd recommend it.
July 23, 2016
It was a well written quick read but too depressing to recommend. Why did they think that gambling could solve their problems? Both of them hurt each other by being unfaithful. Both had all kinds of resentments that festered. They were lucky when their betting strategy paid off, but were they really lucky? They were highly motivated since their daughter became engaged, too. How were they ever be able to finance the wedding? I hope readers will not take this book as an example of making good choices.
August 17, 2015
I recently reread this one because I didn't remember a lot about it. The plot has potential - it's an intriguing premise, but it's not carried out well. There are a lot of plot holes and grammatical errors. Some things I can overlook, but sentences like "My mom doesn't never let me drive" are kind of hard to ignore. The characters were pretty unrealistic - it's hard for me to take them seriously as actual teenagers when they're described as dressing in "school spirit gear" for a party. I like the concept of the book but the actual book just wasn't very well-written.
August 21, 2013
I REALLY wanted to like this book, and the premise and initial conflict drew me in. However, right when the real story was ready to start, a mad dash to a deus ex machina stole away my enthusiasm and left me unsatisfied. If this book, minus the last three chapters, had been the first half of a book, we would have had something going here. Sadly, this seems to be the case in most modern fiction.
January 15, 2015
Painful!
This book was hard to read. It is so painfully unedited. I'm talking simple fixes like leaving words out of sentences. The pace was also uncomfortable. I could have overlooked the small things, in exchange for an awesome story or lesson, but there really is little character development and, if any, it's all stuffed into the last couple chapters. Just glad I didn't spend money on this.
This book was hard to read. It is so painfully unedited. I'm talking simple fixes like leaving words out of sentences. The pace was also uncomfortable. I could have overlooked the small things, in exchange for an awesome story or lesson, but there really is little character development and, if any, it's all stuffed into the last couple chapters. Just glad I didn't spend money on this.
June 2, 2013
Pretty good story told from the point of view of a 16 year old who lives with his paranoid mother and his 4 year old brother. Ethan just wants to have a "normal" life, but his mom tries so hard to keep him safe, that she's keeping him from living. The story takes place sometime prior to present day (no cell phones or ipods) but after Nirvana and tattoos. I liked it. It was a very quick read.
February 19, 2013
I love it! I find it to be an easy read and a great piece of art! I only have one major concern- SO MANY TYPOS/GRAMMATICAL(sp?) ERRORS! But it is truly amazing and I give great praise to Amy Kinzer for her daring book about what it is like to be a teenager with a mentally ill parent. Wonderful book and I would certainly recomend it to anyone!
August 29, 2013
This book was okay, I loved the idea for it but I really think it could have gone much further- I went through it without thinking much after finishing it. However, I did enjoy it and would recommend for anyone who wants a quick but interesting read :)
September 4, 2014
By far, one of the best free Kindle singles I have read!! I was not expecting much from this book, because you know, it was free! Never the less, it did not disappoint in the least bit. I very much enjoyed this book and would reccomended it to anyone.
March 28, 2015
Great read
I thought this book did a great job at displaying mental illness and what children go through. It was a easy read and kept to the point the whole time. The book is worth the read if you are looking for something a little different.
I thought this book did a great job at displaying mental illness and what children go through. It was a easy read and kept to the point the whole time. The book is worth the read if you are looking for something a little different.
November 16, 2012
this book was a little different for me, but overall it was pretty good and I liked the ending a lot.
January 25, 2013
This was a very easy read and I really liked the characters. My heart went out to the boys. Wasn't sure how the book would end but when it did, I wanted more.
January 29, 2013
I thought the story was well developed and had a great POV. The big problem for me was the ending. It did not go where i thought it would or should. But i feel that way about a lot of books.
January 30, 2013
Quick read- great characters but let down by the predictable, quick ending
February 5, 2013
Odds of enjoying this book?
1 in 998502358239583q295802348
1 in 998502358239583q295802348
February 11, 2013
I noticed a lot of typos throughout the book and name changes throughout, which were distracting. The story was OK, but I feel like it ended when it was just starting to get interesting.
February 6, 2013
As YA fiction goes it was ok but not amazing. Couldve been so much more.
March 6, 2013
A quick read......good story even if it was a little sad.....The ending nice.
June 6, 2013
I only give it a 4 because there were so many grammatical and spelling errors. Other than that it was a good read.
September 5, 2016
got so attached to Ethan, great book!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews