Destroy All Cars

by Blake Nelson

From Blake Nelson, a fantastic and topical novel about idealism and finding the ideal girl.

James Hoff likes to rant against America's consumerist culture. He also likes to rant against his ex-girlfriend, Sadie, who he feels isn't doing enough to change the world. But just like he can't avoid buying things, he also can't avoid Sadie for long. This is a fantastic, funny, sexy, cool masterpiece from one of the best YA writers at work today, an anti-consumerist love story that's all about idealism, in both James's relationship with the world and his relationships with the people around him.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Humor, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Environment, Contemporary

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2009

About the author

Blake Nelson grew up in Portland, Oregon. He began his career writing short humor pieces for Details Magazine.

His first novel GIRL was originally serialized in SASSY magazine and was made into a film staring Selma Blaire and Portia De Rossi.

His novel PARANOID PARK won the prestigious International Grinzane Literary Award and was made into a film by Gus Van Sant.

His most recent Young Adult novel THE PRINCE OF VENICE BEACH has been shortlisted for the 2015 Edgar Award.

His 2011 novel RECOVERY ROAD has been adapted into a television drama for ABC FAMILY and will premier in January of 2016.

Reviews

[Kogiopsis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I literally haven't given up on a book since I tried to read The Little White Horse years and years ago when I was probably too young for it. (I ought to go back to that book, since I still own it.)

I guess it's not that the books are getting progressively worse so much as the fact that I've been reading so many crummy ones lately. I can't force myself through another one. Besides, I have Liar's Moon on my shelf and you don't hahahahahah! so it's not like I'm without other options.

Before I put this one aside entirely, let me tell you why I disliked it.

Superficially: James is in an AP English class. WHICH ONE? Lit or Lang are your only choices. If you didn't care enough about the verisimilitude of your novel to look that up (and come on, it's not hard), you didn't put enough work into this book. Also, his essays were horrendous. The grades they were given were preposterous. None should have been higher than a C-. Don't get me started on the one that somehow got an A- in an AP CLASS. AP CLASSES HAVE STANDARDS. At least where I come from.

More in-depth: James is everything I hate about teenage boys rolled up into one character and made the narrator. I can't believe I got through over a hundred pages of that! I can barely deal with them on a day-to-day basis!
So, a character summary.
James thinks that people shouldn't drive cars. He believes cars and overpopulation are killing the planet. What does he do about it? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. He sits back and writes in his Whiny Emo Diary and waits for the world to fit into his beliefs. He accepts rides from friends with cars or friends' moms with big SUVs. He then makes fun of the people who are shuttling him around. He mocks his parents' CONSUMER AMERICAN (and it's always in ALL CAPS, by the way) lifestyle and then he lives it. The only way he distinguishes himself from them is by his clothing. And he's constantly going on and on about how stupid cars are and how horrible and how we're killing ourselves by using them and then he voluntarily gets into another one. Oh, and he's obsessed with sex in an offhanded way. It's weird. But what gets me most is that this passive bastard has the gall to criticize his ex, who actually tries to do something for the world. He thinks she's thinking too small. He neglects to realize that she's not just thinking, she's doing. Think as big as you like but if you don't get off your arse NOTHING WILL CHANGE. "Be the change you want to see in the world." Ghandi said it. James obviously never heard it.

Anyhow, after almost half of the book there was no plot, no character development, and no purpose. Basically I had just read 108 pages of James being a whiny little bitch. Barfffffff. If you'll kindly excuse me, I'm going to go read more manga and then start the further adventures of Digger of Gerse. James can go rot.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this one grew on me. At first, I was all like, "Gawd, get over yourself! You take everything so seriously! Lighten up, right!!" Then I was kind of like, "Okay, you're not a total douche, I guess." Then I was kind of like, "Oh, actually, that was kind of funny. Alright, you're okay, bro."

Sorry, this book was so VERY teen, it's hard to talk about it like an adult. Disclaimer that if I had known James when I was a teen, he would have either been my boyfriend, or my best friend, or I would have had a total crush on him. He's smart, and alterna but not a poser, and he's funny, and he's got the whole dark and troubled thing going for him. As an adult, he just seems sulky and annoying. I don't know if I just got used to him or if his character actually developed a bit, but I ended up liking him by the end of the book. Another good one for an intelligent/socially inept/non-conformist boy. (Is that too judgmental?) Added bonus: It reads super quick.

Some quotes:

"That's nothing compared to the big display we had in the front of school celebrating our "Aid to Victims of the Hurricane," where they misspelled the words separate and indomitable, and used the word effect wrong. School is not a place to learn to spell. It is a place to learn to shop."

"It's a terrible feeling. To be that close to someone and then realize you have no access."

"The main thing about when your parents split up is that they stop being your parents. They become like couples you know at your school who are breaking up. The whole WE ARE YOUR ALL-KNOWING AND ALL-POWERFUL PARENTAL FIGURES breaks down and they become Kayla and Josh having a fight in the parking lot. That's the part that screws up the kids."

"On Friday night, my dad wants to have a family activity. So we go ice-skating. It's me and my mom and my dad and my sister. It's like we're all together. It's like a beautiful dream. It's like the Disney Channel. Except that my dad and I hate each other. And my mom hates herself. And my sister is humiliated by the bunch of us. And I'm secretly waiting for the inevitable devastation of our entire civilization.
But except for that."

"They are bonding in a deep do-gooder trance of self-righteousness and high self-esteem energies."

There are also lots of essays -- school assignments and personal essays - throughout the book. I liked two of them so much I was tempted to copy them in their entirety into this review. But I will save both of us that chore. But if/when you read it, know that I really appreciated My Life As a Teenager on page 153 and Thoughts on Assholism on page 211.

[Yan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Destroy All Cars was quite a liberal piece of work. James is irrational and rational at the same time, with his cut-off sweaters, he reminded me of the kid in the back row. The one that makes you wonder, is he doing that on purpose or just for the heck of it? And with his ways of not shampooing his hair, and talk about the corrupt nature of humans you tend to shy away from characters such as he.

One of the strongest points of this book has to be James's essays. The reader gets a great sense of his personalities from his monologue. And let me tell you, he does have a lot of things to say. From hobos to soccer moms James tells all on how this society works. Which brings me back to the question if James is as real as it seems.

Outside of his snide humor, the actual book was lack-luster. I really did not care for Sadie nor the other girls. The teacher, I have to admit, added some type of humor besides James.

Overall: Destroy All Cars seemed to be more of random assortment into a guy's mind. Odd humor, thought-worthy topics, Destroy All Cars was a book to be read on a whim.

[MariNaomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, from beginning to end. This book has re-endeared me to a certain genre of teen-age boy.

[kb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressed by the writing and the plot! Will definitely look forward to this author's next books.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Name: Josh Halat

Book title: Destroy All Cars

What I think: Destroy all Cars is a great book with different plot twists that can throw your predictions off course. The book uses very good words for the reader to picture what is happening in the book. The book is written like normal books but has some parts that are in the form of a story.

Plot: At the beginning of the book, James talks about his preferences on cars and how he hates them. James is a very smart kid that has great writings but has weird thinkings. He hates consumer Americans that buy stuff that you don't need and wasting everything. James does what most kids do but he is resourceful.

Recommendations: I recommend this book to anyone who likes books that have little stories in the book. The book would also be great for people who like when the characters are jealous.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would have been friends with this guy in high school. Would not have kissed him though.

[Vicent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Novel·la molt divertida sobre els problemes de fer-se adult. La traducció de Francesc Miralles és molt bona.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I swore I would never start a book review by saying, "Such and such, the main character in such and such's young adult novel, is a latter-day Holden Caulfield." But, you know, if the shoe fits. So...

James Hoff, the main character in Blake Nelson's young adult novel, is a latter-day Holden Caulfield. (Well, I didn't actually start off the review that way; this is already the second paragraph.) He hates cars because they pollute, hates materialistic modern life because it's destroying the planet, and hates most people for not caring enough about either. James is a major pain in the ass, and doesn't really do much to actually advance his cause, except bitch (which doesn't, incidentally, make him any less right about what he's saying). He's also still hung up on his old girlfriend, Sophie, who actually goes out and works for change instead of just bitching about it.

Destroy All Cars is so hilarious at times that it's another one I was embarrassed to read on the subway because I kept laughing out loud (a lady was actually staring at me for a while, trying to figure out whether I was laughing at the book or was just crazy, I guess). For example, when James goes with his friend to the New Technologies Convention:

"The worst was a Chevy Avalanche they had right in the middle of the convention center. For those who don't know what a Chevy Avalanche is, it is a Deluxe Luxury Pickup Truck built in the shape of a penis. I think one could safely say it is one of the stupidest vehicles ever invented."

Riding to the mall in his best friend's mother's SUV:

"We took the Ford Expedition, all of us spaced far apart and strapped in so we could withstand impacts from other Sports Utility Vehicles. If anything smaller than an SUV crashed into us, well, that's too bad for them. Those people should buy bigger cars if they want to survive collisions. God knows we needed a big car -- we're buying bath towels."

Fun book, with good characterizations, and highly recommended.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

High school junior James Hoff thinks he is the next Karl Marx. He hangs out at the library, doesn’t shampoo his hair, and he is going to grow a huge beard as soon as he can. He spends hours writing manifesto-like essays for his AP English class, mostly railing against what he refers to in all caps, CONSUMER AMERICANS. Hunched over a notebook until late into the night at a 24-hour coffee shop, James writes about his big ideas for changing the world. Not because he loves the world or the people in it (possibly the only person in the world he loves is his ex-girlfriend Sadie), but because writing is the only thing that makes him feel better about a world that doesn’t feel right to him. He rails against gas-guzzling SUVs, overpopulation, cell phones, soccer moms, the mall and the consumer culture it represents (despite the fact that he hangs out at the mall like everyone else).

I like this well-conceived character and the antiestablishment perspective he brings to all the regular stuff that happens in a typical teen boy’s life. Even his hypocrisies are kind of endearing. Not actively confrontational, James is a more of a pessimist than an activist. Socially awkward, he tends to hold back and just observe, and later writes furiously in his journal about it all. Sporting greasy hair and dressed in thrift-shop clothes, he worries that his look is not representing his true personality when the “wrong type” of girl expresses interest in him.

My greatest enjoyment of this book lay in all the little nuggets of humor—usually just a line or even a word or two at the end of each of James’s essays or journal entries. Almost like punch lines, the closing words of each section of writing provide amusing commentary or in some way underscore the funny aspect of whatever James has written about.

[Steve Duong · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book for all that it's worth. The main character is a very authentic character, the kind of people that live reclusively in vain of their society (he'll probably aspire to move to canada and relish and god-knows-what traditions they have that we don't...). Despite his lack of charm, he is a good character and you'll learn to sympathize for him.
The story was however, way too short. I enjoyed it, and it was a decent ride but it was an abridged version of what it could have been.

My love affair with this book comes from how literal the term, "Wow, that prick really needs to get laid." becomes in this book.
Thank you, Blake Nelson for that insight. If I ever become dry as a raisin, I'll take your advice Sir Blake; I'll get laid, and be happy as a clam.
You'll immediately sense a difference in the narrating tone after our protagonist, James, loose his virginity. It's actually quite funny, realistic, definitely, but funny to see someone so uptight, and "icky" flail at something as simple as sex...
Sorry, I digress....

SO the story (?) is casual and funny, and if your not environmentally conscious, he is your spruced up caffeinated cup of joe into the world of inevitable disaster. It's hard to argue with his ideas and logic. I like that in characters. And the more I think about it, he's much more like chai tea as opposed to coffee....

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, this is the story of ranting teen James Hoff and his complete hatred of cars and all things car. However, it's also the story of a young man coming to terms with first love, his place in the universe, and seeing (Holden Caulfieldish) the phoniness of modern American. At the end of the book, in his essay, "Thoughts of Assholism," James states,

"We are taught the greatness of the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King. But who do we really stand in awe of? Not those people. We prefer winners, conquerors, the rich, the famous. We love athletes who crush their opponents. We like companies who strangle their competition. When our politicians steal elections, we stand in awe, unable to act, we're so mesmerized by this extreme and fascinating assholity. We respect people with cojones to screw other people over. We love the victorious. We don't care how they did it. The more ruthless the better.(212)"

I often wonder myself why we don't admit this to young people because, like James, I think many see this. Makes you wonder.

It's a short book full of normal teen angst, but it's nice to see Blake Nelson give us a protagonist who also has a brain and thinks about things bigger than himself.

[Chris - Quarter Press Editor · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not often I have the chance to read an entire novel within a few hours, but I suppose that's what cross-country flights will do for you. I'm not sure how that affected this novel, as it may have been too much narrator all at once.

Really, though, this walked that fine line where there are parts that I loved and others where it felt like too much commentary. Yes, teens can be so whole-hearted in their beliefs and completely blind to their individual hypocrisies. But the narrator almost becomes a bit too much at times, making you kinda hate this guy. Again, I'm all for unlikeable narrators, but this one didn't always work for me.

In the end, I still read the whole of it almost cover to cover without stopping. That in itself says something. It is a solid book, but perhaps Nelson paints a bit too accurate of a picture of teens' life, beliefs, and behavior. And maybe I'm finally "getting too old" for these types of novels.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winsome first-person of a young man who rages against the machine -- Detroit's machine, to be exact. That and Consumer America (good luck, lad!). But this angry young man (James Hoff, by name) has a sense of humor, and the diary format of the book allows us to see the many papers he writes for his grizzled old English teacher, Cogsweiller. Some papers end with the words "not handed in" (to which the reader can only say, "Thank God!"), but many are not only submitted, but graded and commented upon.

In addition to repeated scores on our culture, author Blake Nelson works in a charming love interest for James. She's Sadie, do-gooder extraordinaire, and cynical James goes gooey when he's around her. You'll love the voice and forgive any dearth of descriptive flourishes. This is all about personality and message. An echo of Holden (sort of, kind of), it's worth a read.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard Blake read from this live, and absolutely loved what he read: some of the narrator's letters. They are hilarious, poignant, genious.

The essays are reason enough to read the book. I got a lot out of them, and I think they really show an interesting protagonist - a kid who is angry at the world, his dad, his ex-girlfriend, himself - beautifully.

That said, I gave this book 3 stars because I didn't find the rest of the novel nearly as affecting. I wanted to like it more and read on because of the essays, but there was no moment in the book that I really felt a strong connection with the material.

Blake Nelson is a great writer, and this book is good. It's just a bit uneven, to my taste.

[Rhia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't tell if the writing is bad because it's actually bad or if the author is very good at imitating a teenage boy who is bad at writing (written in first person as journal entries and school writing assignments).

I appreciate the message and think society really should take a good look at our consumer ways and "need" for earth-destroying motor vehicles. But this book offers no real solutions and the main character actually stops caring about it all by the end. He sacrifices his own character for no reason.

This would be an okay read for middle school, but only if it inspires that generation to actually do something. For everyone else, don't bother reading because the title of the book says it all.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun YA (young adult) book from Portlander Blake Nelson. This one stars a moody doom and gloom 17-year old named James who can't figure out just how to channel his rage about cars and American consumer culture. The book is wonderfully put together with diatribes, dialogues, and diary-like entries. Not to mention a very funny and sweet subplot about James's adventures with his ex-girlfriend and a few other crushes.

[Teenage Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initial Thoughts:
This novel is delightful and hilarious if you get past Blake Nelson's sharp and witty writing. The novel is taken from the first-person perspective of James Hoff, a teenager who is against consumer America. Destroy All Cars, titled after James’s AP English class essay on how to save the environment we need to eliminate all cars, James is forced to live his hippy lifestyle in suburban America with peers who do not get it. Now I do not know why James got into AP English. If this is the best writing he can do, I do not believe he will be able to pass the course. I believe he has good ideas about the environment, and as a fellow environmentalist, I understand where James is coming from. However, purposely cutting holes into your shirt, and complaining about CONSUMER AMERICA (always in all caps), without actually trying to educate your peers is where I think James went wrong. This is why Nelson introduces Sadie, our activist girl who James loves but also does not think she’s actually making a difference. This comparison of James knowing what's wrong but does not try to help, vs. Sadie who does not see the full picture but is still willing to try, made for an interesting dynamic, plus threw in a past relationship to add some drama. Unfortunately, this novel has a lot of whine and very little plot, This novel is very teenager that my mid-twenties could not handle, as I found James and Sadie to take themselves too seriously even though they are doing low-scale good community work, and treating it like their at the white house. 

Characters:
James Hoff is a junior in high school and a hater of all things America. Sure he lives in society, has friends, goes to school, and consumes, but James hates it. Refusing to get a car or think about college, James writes mediocre essays in AP English, telling Mr. Cogwiller all the things going wrong in the world, and how there is nothing they can do. Pessimistic and a realist, I think James is the kind of person you either like or hate. He is whiny, he does think he's better than his peers and is content with watching the world burn and not doing anything about it. Thus I love how Nelson gave us Sadie and tied her to James for being his ex-girlfriend, and something James cares about. Sadie is a do-gooder, she tries her best, is involved in everything, and believes that she can make a difference. Both are strong characters who are self-assured in their abilities to do something (Sadie) or do nothing (James). They are well-developed enough characters, in the sense that Nelson wrote them as true teenagers - self-absorbed, with no real idea of consequences, and kind of just going through life. Sadie wants to feel her “freedom”, and James feels like “no one understands him”, and more classic teenage ideologically that after a time does get boring. 

Plot and Writing:
The plot in this novel is not consistent, as there is really nothing going on, no big event, not one conversation that gives this novel its climax. Nelson truly just gave readers a glimpse into James’s life, and what he is going through in middle America. Divided into six parts, what I absolutely love is how fast-paced Nelson kept the novel with barely a page per chapter. Starting from January with the first essay on destroying all cars, Nelson takes readers into early June with James, with each day almost being like a diary entry from James as he just seems to talk to the readers about life, thoughts, and his conflicted feelings towards Sadie. Not that I would call this novel a romance, but that is a part of the plot, same with how James is an environmentalist, and this novel, I think, is just a realistic take on society in a pessimistic way.   

Conclusion: 
This novel is really about a teenager with no real plot. We have emo boy James Hoff who hates consumer America despite being part of it, wants to love Sadie but does not know how, and all in all just trying to survive and pass AP English. With its short chapters, I would recommend this novel, but not for readers to take it seriously and to just enjoy this silly ride. 

[Helena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Before I start this review I'd like to disclaim that I've read "Destroy all cars" in school. I don't know if this is only my group of friends and I, but any book we read in school normally ends up criticized even stronger than it would have been anyways.

Now to a little summary of the story: We follow James Hoff, a 17 year old high schooler living in Portland. He is against consumerism and often writes essays in which he states his frustration about the environment in America.
However, James also starts to regain feelings for his ex girlfriend Sadie. Sadie, a much more positive soul and fellow environmentalist, tries to save a pond somewehere in their home town.
James helps her because he wants to spend time with her.

If you think this plot sounds very dense and boring up until now, that's because it is very dense and boring. To make the entire thing even more ridiculous: That is the entire plot.
But here are a few things that make the entire book even worse for me:

1. We'll start with something soft. The essays James writes and sends to his teacher are horrible.
They have no structure, no actual arguments and aren't written in a neutral, professional way.
As mentioned before, I read this book in school and an essay he received a B for, would have hardly gotten a D in actual school.

2. It is a very weird type of writing. The essays are partially used to describe the feelings of our protagonist, which are (as mentioned before) bad. Then there are these "chapters" that describe the events of a day within 10-15 lines. Thus luckily making the read a very short lived one. Once in a while there are chapters that are longer which wouldn't have to be that long. There is a chapter which goes over several pages in which the vacation of James and his family is described and it kind of does nothing to the story except introducing a creepy, irrelevant-to-the-plot character.

3. The characterization in this book is absolutley hideous. I never thought I could be this annoyed by a protagonist. James is supposed to be a year older then me and I've never been this unable to relate to a main character in my entire life.
As mentioned before. He does not like consumerism. Meaning he walks around judging people writing essays about them and sending them to his freaking teacher(that happens more than once).
He also is a huge hypocrite. He judges his best friend and his family for owning a big car, does however not mind being driven around by said best friend and family. He also enjoys criticizing the way other people try to improve the environment. Sadie, his ex is the leader of an activist group at his school which he only refers to as "do-gooders". His school gains a student which fights waste by taking the leftovers of his classmates and James calls him an idiot.
Would you like to know what James does to improve the earth he nags on so badly? Nothing.
He sits around, raging in his badly written essays and is then mad if he gets a well deserved D on them.
Normally if I don't like the main character I try to pay more attention to one of the side characters but there are so little characters in this book with an actual personality, that this would be impossible to do.

To sum it all up: Only read this book if you really don't have any other choice.

[Petty Lisbon · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5
I don't really know why I read this because I think I'm definitely aging out of young adult books but I guess I feel some kind of loyalty to Blake Nelson because I liked his book Girl. This is the third book by him that I've read and I feel like Girl was the radically different outlier. This one was almost entirely like The New Rules of High School, where some misanthrope male somehow still has an entire network of friends and a dating life and can't get over his ex (I have to suspend my disbelief that high schoolers have the one that got away). Like Girl, this book tries to mix up some journal entries, papers, and even a Facebook notes survey (it was published in 2009, and I got severe whiplash thinking of how many Friday nights I spent looking for new ones to fill out and how to get my passive aggressive point across) into the format but it doesn't do anything interesting like Girl did.
I think something interesting about this book is that Nelson probably thought that the main character's environmental and anti consumerist views probably would make him alienated from the audience and unlikeable, but if anything, it just made me feel self conscious about all the times I forget to use a tote bag at the store or all the iced coffee and frappucino cups that get thrown out after one use. I guess it was interesting to see him think that things like petitions for recycle bins or whatever were useless, but the people who organized those thought that his doom and gloom approach didn't solve anything either, and I guess that kind of debate on practicality is something I wouldn't expect to find out of a 208 page young adult novel.

[sabisteb aka callisto · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Hoff ist 17 und ein Idealist. Er sieht, wie die Konsumgesellschaft um ihn herum die Umwelt zerstört. Er erkennt, wie sinnlos Statussymbole sind und versucht sich dieser Gesellschaft so gut es geht zu widersetzen. Er schreibt wütende Aufsätze als Hausarbeit, Manifestos gegen die amerikanische Konsumgesellschaft, die er verachtet. Diese Verachtung färbt auch auf seine Familie, besonders auf seinen Vater ab, der diese Konsumgesellschaft verkörpert als erfolgreicher Telefonverkäufer.
Bei all dieser idealistischen Ablehung des american way of life kommen James dann auch noch immer wieder die Hormone dazwischen. Da ist seine on-off Beziehung mit Sadie Kinnell und diverse andere Mädchen, die er durchaus anziehend findet.

Das Buch ist eine Mischung aus coming of age Geschichte, High-school Geschichte, erste Liebe und Manifest gegen die Umweltzerstörung durch sinnloses Konsumieren. So gesehen ein Buch wie gemacht als Schullektüre. Dementsprechend gibt es im Anhang auf Arbeitsaufträge, denn lesen ohne Arbeitsaufträge geht in der Schule sowas von gar nicht.
Das Buch selber ist eher unaufgeregt. Ja, es gibt diese Sicht auf die Welt durch die Augen eines zynischen Idealisten, die durchaus unterhaltsam ist. Besonders seine Essays, die er als Hausaufgabe schreiben muss sind unterhaltsam.
Insgesamt aber passiert halt wenig. Eine Bestandsaufnahme eines halben Schuljahres. Hausaufgaben, Dates, Verliebtheit, ganz OK.
Kann man in der Schule sicherlich gut lesen zum Thema "consumerism" in Klasse 12/13, ist sicherlich unterhalsamer als die Texte im Lehrbuch.

[Jorge · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to middle school kids that are looking for just a quick book to read. It would be even better on a trip in a car to a very far place. The book may seem like it's mostly all about cars from the title. Also how he wants to destroy all cars because he thinks it's very bad for the environment. The thing is you are wrong this book is mostly about him and Sadie. Sadie is a girl who James haven’t dated since his sophomore year and they both have something in common which is saving the world.




James is all about destroying all cars while in the other hand Sadie is about raising awareness and getting people to sign her petitions. Since James still has something for Sadie he agrees to help her out. In the other hand he doesn’t know if she feels the same way. You will have to read it to find out. What if them getting back together solves all James problems would he be able to be happy again!


The reason I gave this book a two star was because it started off really slow and off the top. It's a very easy book to catch on since it talks about young love and what someone would do just to be close to that person so if you are interested in this kinds of books then this is the book for you. Otherwise don’t read it because you will get bored by the 5th page. I recommend this book if you are a nature person that likes to help out in your community.

[Jaeden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is filled with comedy so i would definitely recommend this book to everyone who would ask about this book. The thing i like about this book it has to do with cars and i like books that deals with cars. One thing i don't like about this book is that it is repetitive always talking about the same thing and always doing the same thing. For this book to be the best book of its genre it would have to be less repetitive so you don't feel like your reading the same thing over and over and over again. Overall this book is a very good it actually shows real issues we could be faced with even though not really soon but it will probably definitely be talked about some years from now.

[Susana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Para mi este libro es diferente a todos los que hasta ahora he leído. La verdad que cuando empecé a leerlo no tenía muchas expectactivas, el título no me llamaba la atención, además de ser una lectura obligatoria. Pero al finalizarlo cambié de opinión rotundamente. El protagonista es un poco arrogante, realista, con un humor diferente y sin duda me caería bien a mí si estuviera en mi escuela.

Solo te pido que lo leas, sin saber nada de la trama, y déjate llevar. Te aseguro que te agradará y luego estarás como yo, que no sabe muy bien cómo explicar con palabras todos los sentimientos que me transmitió este libro.

5/5 estrellas.

[Abraar Mohammed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up solely cause the title suggest ‘Anger’ and ‘Aggression’ directed towards fuel guzzling automobiles (I may not be a big advocate of public transport but I know that’s the way to go). But I was pleasantly surprised that the book took the POV of teenage angst directed towards mindless consumerism and misguided approaches to save the planet along with genuine issues one might prioritize at that point in life. My only personal concern is that I am reading this as a 30 year old already in the environmental engineering industry and not as the 17 year old cynic that I once was (and still am sometimes mentally).

[Jocelyn White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because I enjoyed Paranoid Park, I gave Destroy all Cars a chance when it first came out. As a Sophomore in high school I felt that in ways I could connect with the protagonist, which is why I enjoyed it so much even though it didn't feel like it was on par with Paranoid Park. It also taught me that instead of complaining about the things you don't like about the world, you should try to make those changes happen even in small ways. That is a lesson I learned after reading the book and being annoyed/understanding of the MC's emo-esque mentality.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typically, I find the straight-forward storytelling of YA novels to be a welcome guilty pleasure. But this main character's attitudes toward consumerism struck me as a little too simplistic. Perhaps my response was due to a current context of what feels like a concerted effort to avoid addressing the nuances and complexities of issues. At least, however, I was reminded that I have grown out of most of my knee-jerk reactions. I would hope other grown-ups who read this book would see themselves as beyond this type of immaturity as well, but I'm not so sure.

[jo lö · Rating 4 out of 5]

i thought this book was a little pretentious, self-indulgent, and whiny but it is written in the first-person from the perspective of an upper-middle class teenage boy who considers himself one of the greatest radical minds of his generation. so i want to err on the side of saying this author has done a very good job at capturing the voice of someone like that and i enjoyed this book.

[Ema · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this and I think that James is absolutely incredible and I love his cynicism and realism and thoughts about life and the relationships he had were so cute and so beautifully high school and wow this was great.

[Clay Greer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teen angst with a splash of fat left modern liberalism. This could be the diary of any of the black bloc Antifa kids plaguing campuses across this country. I loved it.