THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN by Sherman Alexie had me laughing from the first paragraph. Sweet, sad, true. Junior is flat-out irresistible. And yet…it’s hard for me to gauge my overall reaction to the book, since I’m not sure what to make of the ending. On the one hand, it’s very realistic. On the other…it petered out. Everything that was going to happen, happened, and then there’s extra pages about other things.

Still, I haven’t laughed aloud like that from a story for a while, and will definitely look for other of Alexie’s books to read. ABSOLUTELY is on my list-of-books-to-buy-once-I-get-myself-to-give-this-copy-back-to-the-library.

lust, fear, and flat-out stupidity

HUSH HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick has sexy teenage lust down to a science, steamy scenes abound, but the outcomes are all Twilightesque. (The characters do, eventually, kiss later in the book.) It’s a fun page-turner, and I enjoyed the escapism.

On the BUT side, I’ve got three things:
1) Fear for your personal safety isn’t sexy. Sure bad boys and the aura of danger can be attractive -- but if you are honest-to-God afraid of being alone with him? It’s time to back up, find your pepper spray, and get the hell outta Dodge. To reiterate: IF YOUR GUT IS SAYING THIS MAN MIGHT/WILL DO YOU BODILY HARM, THEN (and I seriously cannot stress this enough) DON’T GO OUT WITH HIM!!!! This is dating basics 101, or What Your Parents Should Have Taught You When You Were Twelve. Or Seven. Or Straight Out Of The Womb.

Getting into the whole Nora/Patch romance was, at times, near impossible. If a guy frightened me as much as Nora was frightened of Patch, I’d be calling 911. You should too.

Just so we’re clear on that point.

2) I’m still not entirely sure who Patch is, as in his personality. HUSH HUSH is written in first person from Nora’s viewpoint, so most of my interactions with the boy involve Nora’s a) fear, and b) lust which don’t mix well.

3) The antagonist has a monologue. Actually, a series of monologues. I almost wished he’d go ahead and kill the protagonist so we could just get on with things. I have no respect for bad guys who feel the need to explain themselves to their victims. I’m not talking justification, but the whole let-me-draw-you-a-picture-of-why-you-need-to-die.
(Side note: monologues are especially monotonous when listened to in Audible format.)

However, on the plus side, the story had loads of atmosphere and some very creepy occurrences. And I like Nora. She annoyed the hell out of me sometimes, but then most good (as in, well written) characters tend to do that now and again.

Hush Hush

THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN

I couldn’t find an official book trailer, but I did find a video of the author reading his work:

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