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Misconception
Cedar Rivers is on a strange errand. A doctor sidelined into the strange world of the first dot-com boom, he has come to Albany, New York, in between business in Iceland and home in Silicon Valley, to meet a woman he hasn’t seen in twenty years. Then a Chuck Taylor–shod proto-Goth with chipped black nail polish, Kat is now a literary up-and-comer who needs Cedar to vet her memoir—an account of the summer they were sweethearts. As if that weren’t enough, she’s written parts of it from his point of view. Through an intense weekend in a snowed-in motel room, Cedar and Kat relive their most painful Before they had a chance at first love, Kat’s mother and her new fiancé dragged Kat off on a family trip. Kat returned with a secret, one which—when she shared it with Cedar—set off a series of drastically miscalculated assumptions that dominoed into a moment of startling tragedy. Misconception is a startlingly original debut novel—a smart and provocative coming-of-age story, and a fresh and witty comment on the unreliability of memory and storytelling—that establishes Ryan Boudinot as one of the most promising talents of his generation.
First published August 25, 2009
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About the author
Ryan Boudinot
18 books149 followersRyan Boudinot is the author of the novels BROKEN UTOPIA, BLUEPRINTS OF THE AFTERLIFE, and MISCONCEPTION and the story collections THE OCTOPUS RISES and THE LITTLEST HITLER. His work has been shortlisted for the PEN/USA Award and the Philip K Dick Award and published in translation in Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
January 31, 2010
boudinot! boudinot! gosh, that's fun to say... maybe that's why he name-drops himself in the middle of this book.it sounds like he is one of my people, so we will allow such behavior. so this book - imagine the highest three you could ever imagine. that's what this is. i really liked it - it does everything a good book should do as far as originality and developing characters and creating atmosphere. but when it was over, i wanted more, a little. it was rrrrrr to me. because it is practically a novella (is there an official page count for a novella - is it fewer than a hundred?) it's definitely a one-day book, but i still wanted to be reading about them, and could not. so that could go either way - it could result in a three-star for not giving me enough book, or a four-store for intriguing me into wanting more. he'll never learn if i indulge him now. so - three stars it is!!
April 22, 2019
This is supposed to be the story of two friends 20 years later, told through the lens of the female character's memoirs, but it's almost as if the author forgot his own conceit because it doesn't always read with that framing in mind. There are a lot of typical male MFA tropes but it was a quick read, easy to cross off my TBR from ten years ago.
August 14, 2009
Attention Karen: I believe this book to be fantastic.
I read this book two weeks before it is out!!!
Do not let the jacket confuse you this book is not terrible. Although nothing on the outside screams Ryan Boudinot (it screams Chbosky honestly, which is not so enticing [although the harkaway paperback also looks crap so maybe it's a fad:]) the first sentence is the Ryan that we know and love from littlest hitler, "I was suspended in the eighth grade for bringing my semen to science class." It just gets better from there. It is a bit of a confusing meta-novel at first (and perhaps always, a bit derrida recreates the characters feelings [yes Karen I know you hate philosophy:]) although still utterly fabulous. There are a lot of levels and it feels a bit like he wrote the stories as those little russian dolls that sit inside each other. I hate to do this to authors (or I don't) but this is what cloud atlas should be, not that what it is isn't also good this is just better. All those people who loved the other book should read this one, and hopefully you will love it as much as me.
I read this book two weeks before it is out!!!
Do not let the jacket confuse you this book is not terrible. Although nothing on the outside screams Ryan Boudinot (it screams Chbosky honestly, which is not so enticing [although the harkaway paperback also looks crap so maybe it's a fad:]) the first sentence is the Ryan that we know and love from littlest hitler, "I was suspended in the eighth grade for bringing my semen to science class." It just gets better from there. It is a bit of a confusing meta-novel at first (and perhaps always, a bit derrida recreates the characters feelings [yes Karen I know you hate philosophy:]) although still utterly fabulous. There are a lot of levels and it feels a bit like he wrote the stories as those little russian dolls that sit inside each other. I hate to do this to authors (or I don't) but this is what cloud atlas should be, not that what it is isn't also good this is just better. All those people who loved the other book should read this one, and hopefully you will love it as much as me.
March 23, 2011
First line: "In eighth grade, I was suspended for bringing my semen to science class." Hooked!
***
Well, it kinda went downhill from there, though. Here's why I wanted to read this book. From the Powells.com review: Turning the last page of Misconception, you'll be certain that you love Seattle author Ryan Boudinot's style. Oh, you'll like the story fine. It sends readers bouncing into long swoops and back again, the volcano-boarding of this year's literary fiction. In other words, the fun kind of crazy, and vice versa. But the way Boudinot chooses to snap together words into description and dialogue is where he excels.
Other than that weird "volcano-boarding" (wtf?), this was made to sound meta, quirky, and really cool. It kind of wasn't, though. I mean, I guess there was some meta-ness? It's like a book about one character showing the other character the book she wrote about their teenage years together, and it seesaws back and forth from her memoirs (written by her from his point of view) to his actual memories, so that's meta. And there's one part where he Googles her and finds a review of her previous book on Amazon written by (wait for it) Ryan Boudinot. Clever. And the story itself was fine; a more or less typical teenage romance, with fucked up families on each side. Some of the characters were pretty good, him and his family I liked. But she was pretty cliché (in the past and in the present), and the main central aha twist was waaay overdone, especially because it was obvious from almost the beginning of the setup who had made what mistake, and what the fallout was likely to be.
I dunno. I liked it all right while I was reading it, but it's only been a month since I finished, and I remember it hazily at best, and with an unpleasant overlay. Sorry Ryan. You get a big meh.
***
Well, it kinda went downhill from there, though. Here's why I wanted to read this book. From the Powells.com review: Turning the last page of Misconception, you'll be certain that you love Seattle author Ryan Boudinot's style. Oh, you'll like the story fine. It sends readers bouncing into long swoops and back again, the volcano-boarding of this year's literary fiction. In other words, the fun kind of crazy, and vice versa. But the way Boudinot chooses to snap together words into description and dialogue is where he excels.
Other than that weird "volcano-boarding" (wtf?), this was made to sound meta, quirky, and really cool. It kind of wasn't, though. I mean, I guess there was some meta-ness? It's like a book about one character showing the other character the book she wrote about their teenage years together, and it seesaws back and forth from her memoirs (written by her from his point of view) to his actual memories, so that's meta. And there's one part where he Googles her and finds a review of her previous book on Amazon written by (wait for it) Ryan Boudinot. Clever. And the story itself was fine; a more or less typical teenage romance, with fucked up families on each side. Some of the characters were pretty good, him and his family I liked. But she was pretty cliché (in the past and in the present), and the main central aha twist was waaay overdone, especially because it was obvious from almost the beginning of the setup who had made what mistake, and what the fallout was likely to be.
I dunno. I liked it all right while I was reading it, but it's only been a month since I finished, and I remember it hazily at best, and with an unpleasant overlay. Sorry Ryan. You get a big meh.
November 4, 2009
Wow! I had to stop myself from reading this all in one sitting because it's definitely a book worth savoring. My faith in fiction is restored.
February 24, 2026
Well, it wasn't boring I guess. Horny asshole adults reflect on when they were horny asshole teens. One of them is writing an autiobiography of sorts focusing on a specific summer they shared; no idea why because a) all she's really done fame-wise is write a collection of poems she admits aren't that great and b) what's so special about this particular summer? Things happen certainly, things that I'm sure affected them, but what about the story is worth telling? It sets up the idea that they remember the events differently but does barely anything with that idea beyond chapter 5. I did like the prose even if I kept skimming through the gross sexual moments (sex in a book doesn't bother me but the way it's written feels icky; at least it isn't glamorizing horny teens I guess). The title feels misleading because the 'misconception' feels less like a misunderstanding here than one character purposefully misleading another: . Instead of teens failing to communicate because they're immature teens and it leading to disaster, it's a teen making up an awful lie to avoid a small consequence and it leading to an entirely different disaster.
January 9, 2017
was habe ich grade gelesen?! war das erste was ich mir dachte als ich das Buch beendet hatte. Ich war auf eine Komödie eingerichtet gewesen aber dieses Buch ist alles andere als lustig. es ist ein Familien Drama, irgendwie düster und ich habe nur die ganze Zeit mit dem Kopf geschüttelt. Ich weiß nicht mal wirklich wie ich dieses Buch bewerten soll. aber ich würde es weder ein zweites mal lesen noch weiter empfehlen.
September 24, 2011
I read this book in two and a half hours this morning, and I was disappointed in it. I've read short stories by Boudinot before and enjoyed them much more, though in retrospect they show the same tendency toward a kind of exaggeration that rings false. I loved his short story "The Littlest Hitler"--the idea of sending a kid to school for Halloween dressed as Hitler was hilarious and brilliant. But even that story goes too far when another elementary student shows up in the same class dressed as Anne Frank. There's a level of farce, I guess, but sometimes I think Boudinot would do better if he knew where to stop.
This book was the same way for me. Boudinot writes wonderfully--his prose is full of great phrases that knock you out of your complacency, and there's always a cleverness that I appreciate. In this instance, part of the cleverness is that the narrator of the book, Cedar, meets up with a former high school girlfriend who tells him that she's writing a memoir, parts of it narrated in his voice. There's also some p.o.v. shifting in the novel, and it includes a book review written, of course, by someone named Ryan Boudinot. So he's admirably playing with ideas about authorship and who owns a story. Cool.
But it all becomes gimmicky here. Not enough is done with the convention and too much is done with it. There were too many years unaccounted for and too much that just wasn't believable or that wasn't rendered fully enough to understand. That Cedar would inspire the murder (or attempted murder) of one man and the suicide of another and that he would have told several people about his reasons and that his reasons were lies his girlfriend told him--all believable. But that he would not realize she had lied--and that the police would not be asking a lot of questions and that no one would mention what he had blabbed about--until twenty years later? No dice. The plot was full of such gaps, and the cleverness couldn't quite cover that.
I'll give Boudinot another chance some time--but this disappointed especially in light of all the critical hullabaloo about it. It reads like a good first draft that needed two or three more.
This book was the same way for me. Boudinot writes wonderfully--his prose is full of great phrases that knock you out of your complacency, and there's always a cleverness that I appreciate. In this instance, part of the cleverness is that the narrator of the book, Cedar, meets up with a former high school girlfriend who tells him that she's writing a memoir, parts of it narrated in his voice. There's also some p.o.v. shifting in the novel, and it includes a book review written, of course, by someone named Ryan Boudinot. So he's admirably playing with ideas about authorship and who owns a story. Cool.
But it all becomes gimmicky here. Not enough is done with the convention and too much is done with it. There were too many years unaccounted for and too much that just wasn't believable or that wasn't rendered fully enough to understand. That Cedar would inspire the murder (or attempted murder) of one man and the suicide of another and that he would have told several people about his reasons and that his reasons were lies his girlfriend told him--all believable. But that he would not realize she had lied--and that the police would not be asking a lot of questions and that no one would mention what he had blabbed about--until twenty years later? No dice. The plot was full of such gaps, and the cleverness couldn't quite cover that.
I'll give Boudinot another chance some time--but this disappointed especially in light of all the critical hullabaloo about it. It reads like a good first draft that needed two or three more.
December 30, 2009
Spoiler alert.
This book was okay, not great. The whole hook is that the narrator's first girl friend is writing a memoir about their relationship and wants him to read it before it's published to assure her that he won't sue. The hook with the memoir - story within a story- is that she writes chapters as if from his point of view.
I found this confusing in that there were chapters where I wasn't sure if the narrator was talking, or it was the girlfriend (Kat) pretending to be the narrator. It's fine to have innovative devices, but I don't think you should confuse the reader too much which can get in the way of telling the story.
My bigger problem with the story relates to the title. The "misconception" at issues arises midway through the book. In a flashback the girlfriend Katreveals she's pregnant. She had not slept with the Narrator, Cedar, but he goes with her to the clinic for a pregnancy test. There Kat spills the story. I read the story and thought, oh, she hooked up with this guy she met on vacation and got pregnant. A chapter later, Cedar reveals to his parents, and later to others, that Kat's soon to be step father raped her. Bad things ensue as a result. Except, I'm scratching my head wondering - why does Cedar think that. Seems pretty clear the step father did not rape her.
At the end of the book it is revealed that her stepfather did not rape Kat, which I assume most readers knew all along. This would not be a problem, except the story seems to hinge on the misconception that it was a rape.
This book was okay, not great. The whole hook is that the narrator's first girl friend is writing a memoir about their relationship and wants him to read it before it's published to assure her that he won't sue. The hook with the memoir - story within a story- is that she writes chapters as if from his point of view.
I found this confusing in that there were chapters where I wasn't sure if the narrator was talking, or it was the girlfriend (Kat) pretending to be the narrator. It's fine to have innovative devices, but I don't think you should confuse the reader too much which can get in the way of telling the story.
My bigger problem with the story relates to the title. The "misconception" at issues arises midway through the book. In a flashback the girlfriend Katreveals she's pregnant. She had not slept with the Narrator, Cedar, but he goes with her to the clinic for a pregnancy test. There Kat spills the story. I read the story and thought, oh, she hooked up with this guy she met on vacation and got pregnant. A chapter later, Cedar reveals to his parents, and later to others, that Kat's soon to be step father raped her. Bad things ensue as a result. Except, I'm scratching my head wondering - why does Cedar think that. Seems pretty clear the step father did not rape her.
At the end of the book it is revealed that her stepfather did not rape Kat, which I assume most readers knew all along. This would not be a problem, except the story seems to hinge on the misconception that it was a rape.
August 22, 2010
This is a fantastic book, told with great humor and pace, using a scenario very believable in today's memoir-saturated moment, to get to the heart of what telling stories is really about, wether they be a tell-all memoir or a bar-stool yarn: processing the past, coming to terms with what you've done, and what those around you have -- and maybe, if you're lucky and open -- why they did it. It's about catharsis through acknowledgment and intensely scouring one's memories, looking at one's past -- in this case, it's a man being forced to look at his first love, from her perspective, in an awkward weekend meet-up: her publisher demands she have him sign some legal forms after reading the parts in her memoir about him, and all they went through. That's all I'll tell. This book speaks pretty well for itself. It's hilarious and poignant, and does some amazing things with narrative. By the climax, you love and understand all of the broken characters, and going into a showdown of sorts don't hope for one's winning over the other, all you can do is watch, and see who will lose the most, and who will come out okay, hoping you'll be able to sigh a sigh of relief at the end.
There is no reason why Zach Braff or one of his far more talented peers shouldn't have made this into a film already. This book is ripe for that. Someone -- do it.
And keep an eye out for Boudinot. This guy, I imagine, is going to keep getting better and better.
There is no reason why Zach Braff or one of his far more talented peers shouldn't have made this into a film already. This book is ripe for that. Someone -- do it.
And keep an eye out for Boudinot. This guy, I imagine, is going to keep getting better and better.
November 25, 2012
My review from back in 2009:
"LOL" is an overused expression, but over and over again while reading Ryan Boudinot's "Misconception," I found myself laughing out loud and having to read passages to my husband. This is a short book and a quick read, and despite falling down a tiny bit in the last act, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.
The humor of "Misconception" is sharp and crass. The dialog is impeccably naturalistic. This is how people talk! I love it when an author manages to capture real contemporary American conversation this way, with all its incomplete sentences and dangling, half-finished ideas. I will agree with other reviewers who say some of writing feels self-consciously clever, but I never found it distracting and gobbled the book up in a few sittings.
Don't be fooled by the book's blurb that makes it sound like the story is all about the adult Cedar and Kat: most of the story takes place in the past of the Pacific Northwest in the '80s, not in the more contemporary Albany motel room. While the contemporary segments share a decent story, the vast majority of the action and story development takes place in the past.
The ending leaves much to the reader's interpretation ... perhaps a bit more than I would have liked, but I can appreciate the author's open-ended approach.
I haven't read Boudinot's short story collection, but if this short debut novel is any indication, dude's extremely funny and definitely one to watch.
"LOL" is an overused expression, but over and over again while reading Ryan Boudinot's "Misconception," I found myself laughing out loud and having to read passages to my husband. This is a short book and a quick read, and despite falling down a tiny bit in the last act, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.
The humor of "Misconception" is sharp and crass. The dialog is impeccably naturalistic. This is how people talk! I love it when an author manages to capture real contemporary American conversation this way, with all its incomplete sentences and dangling, half-finished ideas. I will agree with other reviewers who say some of writing feels self-consciously clever, but I never found it distracting and gobbled the book up in a few sittings.
Don't be fooled by the book's blurb that makes it sound like the story is all about the adult Cedar and Kat: most of the story takes place in the past of the Pacific Northwest in the '80s, not in the more contemporary Albany motel room. While the contemporary segments share a decent story, the vast majority of the action and story development takes place in the past.
The ending leaves much to the reader's interpretation ... perhaps a bit more than I would have liked, but I can appreciate the author's open-ended approach.
I haven't read Boudinot's short story collection, but if this short debut novel is any indication, dude's extremely funny and definitely one to watch.
November 5, 2011
This is a quick and enjoyable read. I love Boudinot's humor and phrasing. What I read to be symbolism (less it actually be apophenia on my part) was hit or miss with me; at times it seemed too blunt but other instances felt perfectly subtle (and perhaps there were some so subtle as to be undetected by me).
My biggest gripe is hinging a good deal of the narrative on Cedar's belief that George raped Kat. I believed this until maybe the next time it was mentioned in the text when it became far too unbelievable an event for the characters as established. While I don't have a problem with knowing something that will be revealed later in the narrative, it seemed like this information was presented in a manner (through Cedar's subjective view) that was meant to make the reader think that it was actually what had occurred. I would think that Cedar, being a generally skeptical person, would at least entertain the notion that she had slept with someone else (especially given the story "made up" during the meeting with their counselor/teacher). But perhaps he was trapped in a blinding first love that predates a healthy cynicism. And perhaps I'm projecting too much onto Cedar. Regardless, I liked this book and look forward to Boudinot's next.
My biggest gripe is hinging a good deal of the narrative on Cedar's belief that George raped Kat. I believed this until maybe the next time it was mentioned in the text when it became far too unbelievable an event for the characters as established. While I don't have a problem with knowing something that will be revealed later in the narrative, it seemed like this information was presented in a manner (through Cedar's subjective view) that was meant to make the reader think that it was actually what had occurred. I would think that Cedar, being a generally skeptical person, would at least entertain the notion that she had slept with someone else (especially given the story "made up" during the meeting with their counselor/teacher). But perhaps he was trapped in a blinding first love that predates a healthy cynicism. And perhaps I'm projecting too much onto Cedar. Regardless, I liked this book and look forward to Boudinot's next.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2014
My daughter saw me reading this and said "Dad, why are you reading a Young Adult book?". I replied that I didn't think it was a YA book because I didn't find it in that section of the library, but yeah, the cover sure looks like one. And um, I didn't tell her this, but yeah, it's mostly a story about a couple 8th grade kids. When I got to the end of the book and found the last several pages were "questions for discussion, suggestions for further reading, and suggestions for films" I realized that she was completely right.
I'm a 55 year old dude that just read a book for teenagers.
Oh well, as Frank Zappa said, "A mind is like a parachute...it only works if it is open". I'm not above reading a YA book if it is good, and this one is pretty good and it's a fast enjoyable read. It has a great opening, the characters are interesting, and the writing is quite good. I may check out his other book as well, but I guess I'll have to hide it from my daughter and read it in secret otherwise she'll probably have me committed to an insane asylum, which is probably where I belong. Might not be a bad thing, I'd have more time to read.
I'm a 55 year old dude that just read a book for teenagers.
Oh well, as Frank Zappa said, "A mind is like a parachute...it only works if it is open". I'm not above reading a YA book if it is good, and this one is pretty good and it's a fast enjoyable read. It has a great opening, the characters are interesting, and the writing is quite good. I may check out his other book as well, but I guess I'll have to hide it from my daughter and read it in secret otherwise she'll probably have me committed to an insane asylum, which is probably where I belong. Might not be a bad thing, I'd have more time to read.
January 24, 2012
I picked this up because Mr. Boudinot is a friend of a friend and was one of my fiancee's writing instructors when she was getting her MFA at Goddard.
I figured I'd whip through this really quickly and I did.
Mr. Boudinot really has a good eye for detail, effortlessly capturing that weird period between childhood and young adulthood. His character Cedar seems a bit more self-aware than most 14 year olds, but maybe I'm just misremembering my own early adolescence.
Nonetheless, I found the story to be affecting, even though I should've seen the ending coming from a mile away.
Even so, I'm surprised Cedar was so casual about the big revelation at the end of the book. Kat screwed him and just about everyone she supposedly cared about over. You'd think he'd be at least a little angry about that.
I figured I'd whip through this really quickly and I did.
Mr. Boudinot really has a good eye for detail, effortlessly capturing that weird period between childhood and young adulthood. His character Cedar seems a bit more self-aware than most 14 year olds, but maybe I'm just misremembering my own early adolescence.
Nonetheless, I found the story to be affecting, even though I should've seen the ending coming from a mile away.
Even so, I'm surprised Cedar was so casual about the big revelation at the end of the book. Kat screwed him and just about everyone she supposedly cared about over. You'd think he'd be at least a little angry about that.
December 22, 2014
I LOVED The Littlest Hitler, and think that Mr. Boudinot is a rare talent for detail and feeling when conveying an era, a place, an emotion �����as such, this book feels like the literary equivalent to a modern and heart-wrenching John Hughes and when I mean modern, I don't mean he is dealing with the now �����as I believe a lot of the current media that revolves around the late 70's and early 80's and has resonance owes something to Mr. Hughes.
Also, Mr. Boudinot has created an interesting framework in which to tell the story with opposing and shifting viewpoints in a story within a story format that I thought was clever.
That said, I didn't enjoy it as much as Mr. Boudinot's short works �����but do look forward to reading more from him in the future.
It is a quick read and I DO recommend it.
Also, Mr. Boudinot has created an interesting framework in which to tell the story with opposing and shifting viewpoints in a story within a story format that I thought was clever.
That said, I didn't enjoy it as much as Mr. Boudinot's short works �����but do look forward to reading more from him in the future.
It is a quick read and I DO recommend it.
September 25, 2012
This one is a snapshot of struggling families, first loves, hard moral dilemmas, violence and all the other things that go with being an adolescent in the imploding family. The narrative jumped back and forth in time but not in a jarring way. In the end there is no satisfactory resolve, as is usually true in life, and you are left with a snapshot of a domino situation gone horribly wrong.
I feel, as I did with the author's collection of short stories The Littlest Hitler, that the shock content is a little too forced. I'm thinking that this is just his style and it's not for me, but the only complaint I have is the wide-eyed showcasing of horror and otherness. The story would be just as full, just as alarming, without the added gesturing.
I feel, as I did with the author's collection of short stories The Littlest Hitler, that the shock content is a little too forced. I'm thinking that this is just his style and it's not for me, but the only complaint I have is the wide-eyed showcasing of horror and otherness. The story would be just as full, just as alarming, without the added gesturing.
September 2, 2009
I picked this up at Elliott Bay along with all the other books that are going to have a visiting author in September.
At first it suitably engaged me. Heh. Then it slumped into unpleasant scenes, without relief or wisdom, and overdosed on crass. Bleh. It wrapped up in mediocrity. Meh.
There are some promising empathies, some catchy descriptions. But there's no greater overarching theme. The idea about the fallibility or ex post facto creation of memory is an interesting one, but its connection to the book is one that mostly seems to have been superimposed by reviewers and the book-club questions section at the end of the paperback version.
At first it suitably engaged me. Heh. Then it slumped into unpleasant scenes, without relief or wisdom, and overdosed on crass. Bleh. It wrapped up in mediocrity. Meh.
There are some promising empathies, some catchy descriptions. But there's no greater overarching theme. The idea about the fallibility or ex post facto creation of memory is an interesting one, but its connection to the book is one that mostly seems to have been superimposed by reviewers and the book-club questions section at the end of the paperback version.
October 18, 2009
okay, i really appreciate a lot of what this book does in addressing an idea that i think about an awful lot, which is the gap between truth and fiction in memoir and nonfiction...
BUT. i feel like the structure of the book was a little bit bogus. it's compelling, and i actually am not ever really grossed out by stories about what teen boys masturbate to and how often, but setting the story inside a story about the characters as adults feels like a big cheat, because there is very little development of the adult characters. also i groaned aloud when the author mentioned his own name in a fictional review of kat's book. ahhh
BUT. i feel like the structure of the book was a little bit bogus. it's compelling, and i actually am not ever really grossed out by stories about what teen boys masturbate to and how often, but setting the story inside a story about the characters as adults feels like a big cheat, because there is very little development of the adult characters. also i groaned aloud when the author mentioned his own name in a fictional review of kat's book. ahhh
April 13, 2010
awesome book. it reminded me of The Pact a lot...minus the murder and all that. but i liked the characters and how the author depicted each of their problems and struggles.
i was surprised at a lot of parts, like when you find out that Kat really did cheat on Cedar, and that she wasn't raped by George. things like that where you should've believed it but you didnt, i cant think of other things off the top of my head but i know there's more. i liked how everything fell together, how it all played out. i reallyy enjoyed this book.
i read it in about 3 days. super easy and fast read, plus the story makes you want to keep reading. i like this author a lot.
i was surprised at a lot of parts, like when you find out that Kat really did cheat on Cedar, and that she wasn't raped by George. things like that where you should've believed it but you didnt, i cant think of other things off the top of my head but i know there's more. i liked how everything fell together, how it all played out. i reallyy enjoyed this book.
i read it in about 3 days. super easy and fast read, plus the story makes you want to keep reading. i like this author a lot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2009
This clever page-turner can be read in an afternoon. There's a page-turning story that seems ripe for a screenplay, and there's enough narrator switcheroos to keep book clubs talking.
It's the story of a teen romance told in flashback. There's teen lust, crappy parents, meaningful trips to Burger King, and a finale that ends with shootings. At times it seems a bit too pat, and certain charactes aren't fleshed out, but there are amazing scenes that will stick with you. I needed something to read on a long train trip, and this sufficed nicely.
It's the story of a teen romance told in flashback. There's teen lust, crappy parents, meaningful trips to Burger King, and a finale that ends with shootings. At times it seems a bit too pat, and certain charactes aren't fleshed out, but there are amazing scenes that will stick with you. I needed something to read on a long train trip, and this sufficed nicely.
March 16, 2012
Boudinot's panache carried me away, just as the latest black clouds and rambling thunder swept over the house. The storms departed with less than expected rain and I turned the final page. Reviewing one's progress is essential here. It struggles along the terrain of Sense of An Ending but with the last sentences being but another pomo contortion of the kaleidoscope. The leap between this and Blueprints of the Afterlife is far wider than even between The Bends and OK Computer. There is much to ponder in that progression.
September 6, 2009
I liked this book. It was entertaining and kept me interested. I had to keep reminding myself that the characters are supposed to be in 8th-9th grade however. Some of the dialogue was just so grown up. I enjoyed the remembrance of being 14, but there was a lot of masturbation that I wasn't expecting.
Overall I enjoyed it and read it in about three days. In think it is aptly titled.
Overall I enjoyed it and read it in about three days. In think it is aptly titled.
September 22, 2010
This book is about semen, perception and truth, although perhaps not necessarily in that order. It shifted narrators and time periods in a very interested way, as if I was examining the same object from many different angles. The book also shifted tones, going from funny to sad to sweet to ominous, naturally as the story progressed. Interestingly told.
October 29, 2009
This book took approximately three hours to read and I'm a slow reader.
Author is writing a novel/memoir about her teen years and contacts her jr high b/f to have him read the book and sign some papers promising not to sue her. While he reads the book, they reminisce.
It's an easy, fast, non-thinking read...try it on a plane or train ride.
Author is writing a novel/memoir about her teen years and contacts her jr high b/f to have him read the book and sign some papers promising not to sue her. While he reads the book, they reminisce.
It's an easy, fast, non-thinking read...try it on a plane or train ride.
June 21, 2015
I read this book as part of the Fiction Expert reader/reviewer program while working at Borders. It is one of the few I read as part of that program that I didn't like. In retrospect I would classify it as "noirish." Not my cup of tea. About the only redeeming quality is that the story did hold together...
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January 5, 2010The Oregonian published my review on September 3, 2009, and here's a link to it:
http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index...
(If the byline is incorrect when you view this, please know that that's being corrected.)
http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index...
(If the byline is incorrect when you view this, please know that that's being corrected.)
October 13, 2009
I've been waiting ages for Ryan's next book to come out, and it did not let me down. Great writing. At one point, I had to put the book down and laugh at the way he wrote himself in. Brilliant. I started it last night and set my alarm to get up early to finish it...that good.
October 10, 2009
Boudinot strikes again. After his stellar collection of stories, he brings us a novel that somehow manages to be simple but complex--a fiction about memory, memoir, and well, in many ways, sperm. Boudinot is just so good at making reading fun and funny--and this is one fun book for sure!
May 25, 2010
A quick read, read it in a couple of hours. Witty, believable (even in it's clever falseness), and also incredibly painful. Boudinot (who taught a class I attended) perfectly captures the horror of love and memories.
September 7, 2012
There is a lot to love about this book, but it also left me wanting more in some areas, and confused in others. Perhaps that was intentional? In the end it's beautifully written and funny and sad and affecting and all that good stuff, so I say yay and 4 stars it is.
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