YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

Nanette O'Hare is an unassuming teen who has played the role of dutiful daughter, hardworking student, and star athlete for as long as she can remember. But when a beloved teacher gives her his worn copy of The Bugglegum Reaper--a mysterious, out-of-print cult classic--the rebel within Nanette awakens.

As she befriends the reclusive author, falls in love with a young troubled poet, and attempts to insert her true self into the world with wild abandon, Nanette learns the hard way that rebellion sometimes comes at a high price.

Chapter 1-2 (4%)



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Ok, that was weird.

I'm sorry but I didn't get any Buddhist, or minimalist, or existentialist, or even nihilist implications from the Wrigley story. I hope I wasn't supposed to...

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Chapter 3 (5%)
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So, I guess I hit the nail on the head when I called the Wrigley story weird above. Now that I know that "weird" is a complement in the world of this book: Mr. Graves and Nanette are "weirdos" and Mr. Graves said "all great writers were 'weirdos,' too--that our best artists, musicians, and thinkers were first labeled weird in high school or 'when they were young.' That was 'the price of admission."

Got it. So it's supposed to be weird. Am I not a great writer or thinker if I don't have anything at all in common with this Wrigley guy?
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Chapter 4 (9%)
Okay, finally something in this book I can get on board with:
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Booker says, "Just because you're good at something doesn't mean you have to do it."

Good point.

But I can't relate to the need to be a nonconformist. Probably because I came from a family which didn't send out portrait Christmas cards and never coordinated our outfits. Probably because my parents, as opposed to Nanette's, did not try to mold me in their image, but encouraged me to be myself and think for myself.

Nonconformity comes natural to me, whereas Nanette has to force it.

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So, of course I had to look up Bukowski's poem.

The Genius Of The Crowd

there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average
human being to supply any given army on any given day

and the best at murder are those who preach against it
and the best at hate are those who preach love
and the best at war finally are those who preach peace

those who preach god, need god
those who preach peace do not have peace
those who preach peace do not have love

beware the preachers
beware the knowers
beware those who are always reading books
beware those who either detest poverty
or are proud of it
beware those quick to praise
for they need praise in return
beware those who are quick to censor
they are afraid of what they do not know
beware those who seek constant crowds for
they are nothing alone
beware the average man the average woman
beware their love, their love is average
seeks average

but there is genius in their hatred
there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding solitude
they will attempt to destroy anything
that differs from their own
not being able to create art
they will not understand art
they will consider their failure as creators
only as a failure of the world
not being able to love fully
they will believe your love incomplete
and then they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect

like a shining diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock

their finest art

Charles Bukowski (1920 - 1994)
http://hellopoetry.com/poem/9438/the-...

Chapter 5 (10%)
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Well, I knew Nanette was a loner, but could she really be that clueless?! Come on! Kissing her teacher?! What did she think his reaction would be?
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Chapter 7 (14%)
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I get Nanette's feeling imprisoned (in her world of luxury) as all the choices are being made for her.
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Chapter 8 (19%)

I think social networking, such as Goodreads and Facebook, has made it easier for "lonely people team up" and share their creative ideas.

Hey, I just realized that Nanette is happy now, for the first time during the book, because she found a buddy reader to discuss her book with. Cool. :D

Annus Mirabilis

Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

Up to then there'd only been
A sort of bargaining,
A wrangle for the ring,
A shame that started at sixteen
And spread to everything.

Then all at once the quarrel sank:
Everyone felt the same,
And every life became
A brilliant breaking of the bank,
A quite unlosable game.

So life was never better than
In nineteen sixty-three
(Though just too late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

Philip Larkin
https://allpoetry.com/Annus-Mirabilis

Here's an interesting article about the sexual revolution (and scandals) in Britain:
Sex began 50 years ago, Larkin said. How has the Earth moved since 1963?
http://www.theguardian.com/society/20...

Ch1-10. Nanette is a character that it's quite easy to identify with. She has everything that many would desire, but at heart she is unhappy as she doesn't get to make her own choices. The concept of dealing with others' expectations is a fairly typical 'coming-of-age' one, but Nanette's relationship with author Booker means we get an older character who seems to diffuse the 'poor me' sentiment that we get at times. Quirky feel to this, with lots of references to other texts which all hold resonance for the ideas in the novel.

Ch11-18. The introduction of another character highlights the quirks Nanette and Alex have. I wonder if they're reading too much into Booker's story.

Ch19-24. Turned into something of a mess in some ways, but Nanette really is proving quite an entertaining character.

Completed. Won't give anything away, but this really threw me into places I wasn't expecting. I liked Nanette, for the most part, and think Quick has captured the fears of many perfectly in this novel.

Chapter 11 (26%)

Karen wrote: "Ch1-10. Nanette is a character that it's quite easy to identify with."

I can't identify with Nanette at all. I can't identify with any characters in this book.
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I have absolutely nothing in common with Nanette, except that I was good soccer player in high school. But I loved soccer. I can't imagine staying on the team just to please my dad...
Eating lunch alone with her teacher, letting her parents dictate her future (so far) -- I can't even imagine.

I also can't identify with her "friend" Shannon. And the middle school girls giving high school boys blow jobs thing -- wtf?!!! And Nanette's mother being more worried that her middle-school daughter might be gay than that her middle-school daughter might be giving high school boys blow jobs? Huh? And her father buying goals? And her teacher leaving the school (and leaving teaching) because one teenage girl tries to kiss him? And Booker hanging out on the fringe of nonconformist society?

Now Little Lex I like. I can't identify with his character in the slightest, but I like him. I have a friend like him (who also got me to read Bukowski poetry... ;) ). I don't agree with Bukowski's thinking or my friend's, but I can discuss...

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Chapter 12 (30%)
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I have a very strong suspicion that the author of this book has not actually played competitive soccer.

"...all in an effort to kick a ball into a net more times than girls from other schools did."

I've heard soccer being described in this manner before -- but never from actual players, but rather people who couldn't even imagining playing.

It's interesting that Booker used the term "organized soccer" -- as if it were something like "organized religion." Maybe that's why Nanette's father is so upset -- his daughter is rejecting his religion...

I also understand a bit better why Nanette took so long to start making her own decisions -- Nanette's doing what the parents wanted was holding the family together. As long as Nanette's parents had a common goal -- Nanette's future (school, good grades, soccer, soccer scholarship, college), they could pretend that they had something in common and they could work together. When Nanette started to make her own decisions, the farce that was her parents' relationship fell apart.
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Chapter 16 (47%)
I am annoyed by every single character in this story, except Oliver and the twin (who I hardly know). Get over yourselves and your existential Angst, already! It's getting old...

I'm beginning to think that Booker is not (view spoiler)[nonconformist by choice like Bukowski, but rather he is nonconformist by default, by not making choices at all... (hide spoiler)]

I also think that Sandra is the wrong twin because she is too positive, and not all whiny -- like most people in this book.

Chapter 19 (58%)
Yay! Finally someone I can identify with in this book! I like June. I like her a lot. And she is saying what I have been saying (and thinking) throughout this entire book.

Chapter 23 (73%)
I officially like this book now. I now think that the story was set up to annoy the heck out of me at the beginning -- so that I could make the journey along with all the annoying and annoyed people in this book.
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So, Nanette is no longer annoying me (despite the 3rd person thing, which I always find annoying), Nanette's parents don't annoy me anymore, nor does Booker. Oliver, June, and Sandra never did annoy me. So the only annoying ones left are Alex and his Dad.

I haven't read Alex's Spiderman poem yet, but I hope that he is not suicidal. I also hope that Nanette won't just quit Alex.
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Finished

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Uggg. Well, I definitely liked the final fourth more than the first whiny three-fourths.

But still...

Can't anyone in this book think of an alternative to "quitting" life like Nanette chooses, or to drunken parties and meaningless sex like Shannon engages in, or to the rebel-without-a-cause choice Alex makes? Anyone?

Come on!!! Can neither teenager nor adult think of some options for Nanette (and Alex for that matter)?

Nanette and Alex's families have money, so that's not the issue. How about studying abroad for a year? Learn about some other perspectives and cultures. Get your life of leisure where the folks buy you Jeeps into perspective. How about going to India and learning about Buddhism or Hinduism (and poverty)? How about taking a year off to build an irrigation system in Africa? How about using all that pent up energy and desire to help the oppressed that Alex has to build houses for Habitat for Humanity? Is the best thing Alex's father can come up with for Alex really reform school? Seriously? Is the best option Nanette's parents and therapist can come up with her going to drunken parties and engaging in meaningless sex? Are you kidding me?!!!!

When I was in high school, I, like Nanette, found the superficial high school scene of parties/football games/pep rallies/cruising the strip seriously lacking. I joined the Explorer Scouts and backpacked, cliff dove, learned to sail a square rigger, white water rafted, canoed, cave crawled, repelled down mountains sides, snorkeled in the Caribbean, etc. For my feeling of purpose, I joined the church youth group where we engaged in social outreach programs to help the less fortunate, and built and repaired homes for the underprivileged.

And what's the big deal about playing soccer? If it can get you a full scholarship, so what if you don't love it? I didn't love picking up trash at the local fairgrounds as my summer job to finance college, I didn't like working 60-hour weeks at a diner, a deli, and an Italian restaurant to fund a year abroad. Suck it up, Nanette. There are worse things you could do for money than kick balls into goals.

I seems to me absolutely ridiculous that no one can offer some decent suggestions for our protagonists. Alex was not suicidal, and in my opinion not "troubled" -- troubled maybe by the inequalities and unfairness in the world, but other than that... He just needed guidance and a cause (or two). Nanette too. Could she seriously find no like-minded kids in her entire school? Kids who liked to read and discuss books, kids who were looking for more than the superficial party scene had to offer? Anybody other than the "middle-school blowjob scandal" trio and their cohorts?

And June, the therapist, was correct in pointing Nanette toward the 7 billion people she had to choose from, but couldn't she have given her a shove in the direction of going out to find like-minded people? An internship in the city? A year in the Peace Corps? A study-abroad program?

The people in this book, and their inability to do more with their lives than just whine and complain, frustrated me to no end.
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Here is my (long-winded) review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...