Into the Great Wide Open

Rating:
Summary: Hope for a Hopless Romance
Review: This is a great book for teenagers to relate to the struggles of teen relationships. Although, it seems that Kenny has become hoplessly envovled with someone who doesn't care, your heart will clench to the hope in his voice as he will not let it slip away so easily. This novel portrays a virtue that should be in everyone's hearts..."there are to many mediocure things in life to deal with and love should not be one of them, anything less than extrondinary is a waste of time."-Dream for an Insomniac

Rating:
Summary: excellent book with a prose that read like poetry.
Review: This is the fist book were I was compelled to underline passages and mark pages, to go back and read again and again. Canty has a wonderful rhythem to his writing, and delivers eliquent prose that reads like poetry. An overall literary masterpiece that shows off Canty's intellect and insight. The only caution I have is that the material may be a bit mature for early teenagers.

Rating:
Summary: INTO THE GREAT WIDE MUDDLE
Review: This tedious book is about two touchy, humorless, ultra-delicate teenagers constantly taking offense at each other, then apologizing, and then criticizing themselves for apologizing. In a way, though, this reflects the "samsara," the Buddhist cycle of endless misery, to which the author makes reference several times. The main character, Kenny, sometimes wants to get off the cycle, but not half as bad as we want to get out of this book. This is a retrospective story, told by the adult Kenny. Unfortunately, the adult Kenny's voice mingles with the teenage Kenny's implausibly. For example, what teenager, however smart, would think, "it's better to regret what you have done than what you haven't?" Kenny does a lot of this kind of cogitating. That's the adult Kenny talking, but we don't have a firm enough grip on the adult Kenny to know who's who. This is a serious structural problem. Sometimes telling undermines the showing: "The lake... dark gray... with dark purple shades... This landscape looks depressed." We don't need to be told it looks depressed. If this review seems harsh and overly "judgmental," just try spending some time with Kenny. The only difference between me and him is that I'm not apologizing!

Rating:
Summary: Ahh Youth!
Review: While it took me a little while to get into the characters, I grew to care about Kenny and Junie. Junie was annoying at first, with her insecurites and her "come here, go away" attitude. Actually, she was rather annoying through the whole novel. But the book is a successful first attempt and did bring back many of the emotions and fears that I recall from my own intense high school romance.