Book Review: Underdogs by Markus Zusak
By: Markus Zusak
Published by Scholastic Press
Release Date: August 1, 2011
Genre: Young Adult
Source: hard copy provided by This Is Teen
My thoughts:
This book was definitely not what expected- but then again, that's not always a bad thing.
For the first half of the book, Cameron and Ruben Wolfe spend a whole lot of time doing not much, very much like typical unattached, unemployed teen boys. These boys are the youngest two of four children, and they bask in the youthful freedom. They hatch schemes of minor criminal activity that they rarely follow through on, they pound on each other out of boredom, and they generally complain about the rest of their family.
Just when the reader is really getting the feel for what it is to actually live these boys' lives, the plot really starts kicking in. They start trying to make a positive contribution to the family. They start trying to find something about themselves that they can be proud of. The start. . . trying. And after having gotten to know them early on, it's fun to observe. It makes the reader a bit proud of them, as well.
I fully recognize that this is one of those books that I probably would have a much more rich appreciation for if I was a teen boy rather than an adult woman. I will recommend this one for teen boys I know who are actively trying to figure out their place in the world.
For the first half of the book, Cameron and Ruben Wolfe spend a whole lot of time doing not much, very much like typical unattached, unemployed teen boys. These boys are the youngest two of four children, and they bask in the youthful freedom. They hatch schemes of minor criminal activity that they rarely follow through on, they pound on each other out of boredom, and they generally complain about the rest of their family.
Just when the reader is really getting the feel for what it is to actually live these boys' lives, the plot really starts kicking in. They start trying to make a positive contribution to the family. They start trying to find something about themselves that they can be proud of. The start. . . trying. And after having gotten to know them early on, it's fun to observe. It makes the reader a bit proud of them, as well.
I fully recognize that this is one of those books that I probably would have a much more rich appreciation for if I was a teen boy rather than an adult woman. I will recommend this one for teen boys I know who are actively trying to figure out their place in the world.
Summary from GoodReads:
Before THE BOOK THIEF, Markus Zusak wrote a trilogy of novels about the Wolfe Brothers: THE UNDERDOG, FIGHTING RUBEN WOLFE, and GETTING THE GIRL. Cameron and Ruben Wolfe are champions at getting into fights, coming up with half-baked schemes, and generally disappointing girls, their parents, and their much more motivated older siblings. They're intensely loyal to each other, brothers at their best and at their very worst. But when Cameron falls head over heels for Ruben's girlfriend, the strength of their bond is tested to its breaking point.
We're proud to present these novels together for the first time, and to be introducing American readers to THE UNDERDOG, never before published in the United States. Fans of THE BOOK THIEF won't want to miss reading the novels that launched Markus Zusak's stellar career.
Isn't 499 pages a lot for YA? I thought they were supposed to be smaller in size.
ReplyDeleteAnn
@Cozy in Texas: There doesn't always seem to be a hard and fast rule with page lengths in YA. Most of them tend to be shorter than adult books, but that's not always the case. This one, however, was a collection of three novels, which made it a bit lengthier than one might expect.
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