Monday, February 6, 2012
Big Splash
No lie, I finished this book in less than a day. My feelings are neutral regarding it. It was a good read, and I would tell others to read it, but I cannot rave about it. Definitely entertaining, and its suspenseful nature, or the whole "whodunnit?" quality had me reading until two in the morning. I did tend to laugh when the kids had conversations about the squirt guns and such matters and I saw how easily the conversations could be seen being had by men and women three times their age, with slicked back hair, next to a black Cadillac in a dark alley, with some nine mm's and some body bags! I was extremely disappointed when we never found out what was between Mr. Carling and Matthews's mom, AND what happened to Matt's dad. Why give us the clue about the mysterious typed up "code" if he was not going to tell us what it meant???Made me think there must be a sequel! Or maybe we have to figure it on our own... don't know but that upset me! Overall though, I liked it, and I even really liked the character Matt, at first I thought I'd feel about this book the way i did about Deadline, but this never tried too hard to be something it wasn't like Deadline did...
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Cassandra--
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear you enjoyed the book overall, and I am interested to dig into the book tonight and read. I think that I will enjoy the mystery aspect of the book, as I think it will give it a good, fun twist.
I would agree about the author typing a code and letting you figure it in your own sense. That is something simple that I think especially younger readers look forward to when flipping through the pages. I anticipate trying to figure it out myself. It sounds like there is a lot in this book the author wants you to decipher in your own way...time for me to start reading! :)
I'm almost done with the book and feel the same way about it as you do. I am neutral. I hate to be stereotypical, but I definitely see more boys liking this book. I got bored sometimes with the water guns and goofy things that the kids were doing. (Though after teaching middle school, I know the goofy things are really not that far off). I have some student readers in mind that I think would really enjoy it, but I don't think this is a book that I would want to do as a whole class read.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is because I am a boy, though I don't necessarily want to buy into the sterotypes as I did on my own blog, but I enjoyed this book. I agree that it felt like there should be a sequel, however I am not sure it had to be to explain what happened to Matt's father and what went on between the Mom and Mr. Carling. I certainly would have liked to have known the later more than the first. Personally, I like the idea of not knowing what happened to the father. I think that makes it more appealing to kids especially in so-called "broken homes" like Matt. I am a little confused about your last statement claiming that "Deadline" tried to be something it wasn't but that is a different post entirely. I am glad that you enjoyed the story but I have to agree to disagree with the book appealing more to boys than girls especially this day and age. What I liked about this book is the fact that it was more than just a good story but a book that raises a lot of discussion among readers. Discussions that focus on so many contemporary issues such as bullying and sterotypes. Though it was slow to get into, this is perhaps my favorite book that I have read this semester.
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