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Summary: a fantastic, post columbine story
Review: I just finished reading big mouth and ugly girl and I really enjoyed it. The story takes place in New York after the events of Columbine. In it, Big Mouth, a high school boy who tends to let his mouth just go without thinking about what he is saying, makes a joke about violence and it the joke is misunderstood. He becomes a misfit with many other troubles. Then, Ugly Girl, a very tall, different girl who doesn't care what people think of her, befriends him when he has no on else. They realize how alike their families and lives are and work together to get justice. This book was unpredictable and very well written. It has a very believable story line and is captivating. Although it flashes between an omniscent narrarator, Ugly Girl(whose real name is Ursula) and Matt(Big Mouth)'s point of view, it is easy to follow and is pieced together perfectly. This is one of the books that will really leave an impression on you and make you want ot be a better person. I really recommend it to anyone, any age.
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Summary: Its a good read.
Review: I liked this book even though it didn't relate to my life (I like books i can relate to). The ending was a little predictable and some parts were slow but I still would recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: It's a good read.
Review: I thought this book was really good except for some parts were really slow and the ending was a little predictable. I did enjoy reading this book and I would recommend it. It didn't really relate to my life in any way and I like books that I can relate to but I still liked this one. Hope this helped!
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Summary: very interesting high school story
Review: In post-Columbine America, Matt Donoghy has been taken from class by the police due to accusation of making remarks that he will blow up the school. Only Ursula Riggs (Ugly Girls as she calls herself) does not believe in the rumors (which catch like wildfire and make the news) and ignores her parents strict instructions to not get involved. She comes forth and talks to the principal about what really happened. Matt, meantime, is a social ariah.The story jumps between the perspectives of Ursula and Matt, who don't even really know each other at school. Ursual, being bigger and meaner than most of the girls her age, is having a tough time with her home life and school and is truggling to figure out who she is. Matt is dealing with the blight on his reputation and losing his friends. Throughout winter and spring, they start to figure out this mess and even start to be friends, despite what the school and town dictates. It is an interesting and timely tale, well-written and engaging.
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Summary: not bad
Review: It starts out when Matt says something like he's going to blow up the school and it gets him in trouble because someone tells the principal what he said. Ursula is the only one who is brave enough to come forward saying he didn't do it. Then, it all leads out to something you didn't really expect and no, it's not that they start going out. You'll be really surprised when you find out who told the principal too. It's a really good book. It tells a lot about two different people and how they're there for each other when no one else is. Ursula also doesn't really believe in herself (she calls herself the ugly girl) and when Matt comes along, he changes that for her. They help each other out. It's a good book for friends to read.
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Summary: Big Mouth, Ugly Girl
Review: Joyce Carol Oates did a wonderful job of tying the unusual pair of an unpopular girl and the guy that everyone likes into a book. It takes place in the high school world where dating and friends matter. If you enjoy the comedy and mystery about high school, I highly recomend this book.
Ursula Riggs has always been the Ugly Girl in school. She's a loner who thinks she doesn't need a boyfriend or friends, for that matter. She keeps to herself and she has no problem with that what so ever. Until what she hears Matt Donaghy say becomes her business. Read this book of mystery, friendship, and comedy to see how these two unlikely people need each other more than they think.
Matt Donaghy is the guy that everybody wanted to be friends with. When two school officials came into his classroom, nobody, especially Matt, would think that he would be accused of threatening to set a bomb of in Rocky River High School. It's too bad for him that the only person who knows the truth about what Matt said is Ursula Riggs, a person that Matt doesn't want to hang around with.
Read this book about two high-school students we can all relate to.
The Ups: Anybody who has been a geek or popular can relate to this book in some way.
It's a great book to read when you're in high school and you can understand the many struggles of keeping your reputation.
The Downs: There is only one down to this book, in my opinion; and that is that the "jocks" in this book are described like they're bad people, except for Matt. Anybody can be a bad person, "jock" or not.
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Summary: It's Oates... but not Oates.
Review: Joyce Carol Oates, Big Mouth and Ugly Girl (Harper, 2002) Okay, I admit it. I'm a sucker for books like this. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl into pickle. Boy gets girl out of pickle. Boy gets pickle into girl. They all live happily ever after. Now turn that formula on its head. Big Mouth is Matt Donaghy, class clown. Popular guy, suddenly arrested one afternoon as a suspect in a bomb scare. Ugly Girl is Ursula Riggs, captain of the basketball team, anything but popular, a witness to the events surrounding Matt being a suspect. As with many high school kids, Ursula and Matt know each other by sight, but have never really talked. Still, Ursula feels compelled to go to Matt's defense, immediately sparking rumors that the two of them are an item. Which is ludicrous, right? Despite Ursula's growing feelings for Matt, that seem to be reciprocated when she can pull her head out of her posterior long enough to notice. In other words, your basic coming of age novel. Which is all well and good but, well, this is Joyce Carol Oates we're talking about. And this is the first Oates novel I've read that's missing the common Oates (and Rosamond Smith, too) thread-the overwhelming sense of dread and despair that culminates in the horror of human tragedy. The house burning in Beasts. The child molestation in Cybele. The son killing his father in A Garden of Earthly Delights. Teddy Kennedy plunging off the Chappaquiddick bridge in Black Water. Oates novels end with a massive display of human-tragedy fireworks, don't they? Well, they all have up till now. Oates fans will be expecting the other shoe to drop, and will likely be sorely disappointed. Not to say the ending that's here is bad, it's just, well, somewhat predictable. What is classic Oates in this novel are the characters and their development. Oates is a master at subtleties of character, and Ursula Riggs is one of the most real high school students to come along in a novel in a very long time. She alone is worth the price of admission, all the other good stuff is just icing on the cake. ***
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Summary: This book is great!
Review: Matt (a/k/a "Big Mouth") is sort of a popular guy, until one day he says something that gets misinterpreted. Ursula (a/k/a "Ugly Girl") is a loner who doesn't care what anyone thinks of her -- but she knows the truth about what Matt said. When Ursula comes to Matt's defense, the two are thrown together in an unlikely friendship. This book is really realistic about the way teenagers relate to one another. I especially liked the parts with the e-mails. The characters were interesting, and I wanted to read it again and again.
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Summary: Oates reflects upon the school shooting era.
Review: Oates' oeuvre is ominous. Since 1964, Oates has been a machine, often times releasing three books in a single year, and then going on to release three more the very next. The list of novels, then, is obviously a long one, with titles like "them" (1969), "The Triumph of the Spider-Monkey" (1976), "Lives of the Twins" (1987), "Soul/Mate" (1989), "I Lock My Door Upon Myself" (1990), "Because It is Bitter, and Because It is my Heart" (1990), "Nemesis" (1990), the Oprah pick "We Were the Mulvaneys" (1996), "Blonde" (2000) and "Middle Age: A Romance" (2001) among them. In 2002, Oates only released two titles: "Beasts" and, as if her extensive biography were not enough of a threat to struggling authors already, her first young adult book, "Big Mouth & Ugly Girl." But it's not enough that she's simply written it. No, it has to be good, too. In fact, the book is so good, one wonders why Oates hasn't been writing for young adults the whole time. This is the best offering in that genre to come along in a while. It's written intelligently, is provocative, timely and strong. High school student Matthew "Matt" Donaghy (the big mouth) suddenly finds himself being led out of class by the police one day. The reason? He's suspected of making bomb threats against the school, Rocky River High. Ursula Riggs (the ugly girl) doesn't believe a word of it. She knows Matt is a clown, a goofball, a joker, and that if he did make threats against the school it was all in jest. But Ursula seems to be the only one who knows that. By the end of the day, Matt's name hasn't been released to the general public, but everyone in school knows he was the one who was suspended for three days while the administration tries to figure out how to handle the situation. Matt's friends won't e-mail him back, except to tell him that they're not talking to him on the advice of their parents and their parents' lawyers. Only Ursula believes in his innocence, even though she and he have never really talked to each other. "Big Mouth" is a tough read, because Oates doesn't flinch from her portrayal of human emotion. Even when Matt is cleared, the kids at school still don't quite treat him in the same manner they did before. And the community is outraged when Matt's parents sue the school over the damage to their reputations and the undue stress of the accusations. The topical issues that arise (we all remember Columbine) are difficult to take too. Readers will leave the book angry, hopeful, scared, happy, sad - a wide range of emotions. Good. These are thoughts and feelings that shouldn't be swept under carpets, and Oates is courageous enough to put them out there. If you never read another Oates book again (and there are many; although it seems it would be impossible to ignore her), make sure you read this endeavor. And if you've never read her before, let this one be the first.
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Summary: Oates shows her mastery in yet another genre.
Review: Often when "adult" authors try their hands at young adult fiction, the result is less than wonderful; not so with the astounding and incomparable JCO. She brilliant adapts her unflinchingly darkly romantic style for slightly younger readers. We are accustomed to literally climbing into the heads of her all-too quirky, all-too real characters and we get to that here too. There is a difficult section in which Big Mouth's pet golden retriever is dognapped and for a couple of chapters, reader hearts can expect to move upwards into throats. YA audience or not, this is classic Oates. One can only hope she'll deign to do some more for younger readers, that we older adults can enjoy as much as her even grimmer, grittier, and utterly readable usual fare. Actually, young adults would certainly also enjoy her BLONDE, BEASTS, THE RISE OF LIFE ON EARTH, them, DO WITH ME WHAT YOU WILL, all of her suspense novels, written as Rosamund Smith, and many of her short stories.
Oates may well indeed be our greatest living American novelist.
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