Rating: 
Summary: Much ado about . . . what exactly?
Review: Okay. Big problem here: so, when is it wrong to report to authorities when a fellow student threatens to blow up the school? It's not the person overhearing it to decide whether it was done in jest or not. This is exactly what kids are taught to do, isn't it? Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold made similar jokes w/ their friends. I guess we as readers need to take away from this book that it was an admirable thing to overlook those "jokes." I think this is a pretty irresponsible message to put out there.I thought the plot was over the top. Okay, so Matt was reported to the principal. So he was questioned by police. Makes sense, right? Standard procedure. Oh, they found out that it was all taken out of context? Sorry, Matt. But you understand, right? You DID say those inappropriate things, right? Why didn't this happen in BMUG? Because there wouldn't have been a story left, that's why. But this is what would've happened in real life! And all that social commentary/ anti-conservative/ Republican agenda peppered throughout the book -- lauding President Clinton and sneering that the adultery situation was just so ridiculous, comments on gun control, even bringing up the "gay" issue, bashing conservative Christians (um, couldn't you be a little more creative than that old stereotype?) -- just made me want to heave ho. Most, if not all, had nothing at all to do with the plot. All right, I did like the character of Ugly Girl. She was pretty cool. Matt -- well, he was a dork who was feeling sorry for himself over a situation his BIG (stupid) Mouth (hence the book's title) brought on his own head. If you even attempt to scrutinize this book, you'll see it's brimming over with flaws. I know that Ms. Oates is an amazing writer w/ a resume a mile long. But come on -- call a spade a spade.
Rating: 
Summary: Misfits
Review: The book Big Mouth and Ugly Girl is about two kids Matt Donaghy (big mouth) and Ursala Riggs (ugly girl). The whole story starts when Matt is taken out of study hall and finds out that someone has accused him of a bomb threat. Well he trys to tell them that it was not true but they don;t believe him so he is suspended from school for three days. Then Ursala Riggs heard the whole thing and told the principal and so the principal starts to beleive well then he get back to school nobody will talk to hi and his parents start a law suit. Then they start hanging out together ursala and Matt. Then there is another bomb threat but at this time Matt is in class and so they find out who it was but you have to read it to find out who.
Rating: 
Summary: Book review by Laura from Berlin
Review: The book is mainly about two teenagers, Ursula Riggs and Matt Donaghy, two very different personalities. Matt has been blamed for wanting to blow up Rocky River High, but Ursula knows about his innocence and wants to help him. In the course of the book both begin to like each other more and more.
Matt is a popular, nice and intelligent guy with many friends in contrast to Ursula who is an outsider. It's interesting that this fact doesn't seem to impress her much, but in fact she's insecure and feels ugly. It's furthermore important to mention that she's an adorable basketball player and a good pupil, too. Neither knows the other. But after Matt is been arrested because of threatening to blow up the school, his friends start to avoid him and Ursula is the only person helping him during this crisis. It's the story of a strange friendship under unusual circumstances with ups and downs. It's a nice young adult novel and the first novel of this type by Joyce Carol Oates. Exceptional are the passages in the book Matt and Ursula are contacting only by courtesy of e-Mails. The language is easy to understand and through its 273 pages the novel is quite short. That's why it's possible to read it here and there. The open ending makes the reader curious and incites him to end the story in his own mind. I think it refers to some events in the past at American schools where real massacres through students has happened. At the beginning I thought the story is kind of boring, but after some chapters it really accosted me. All in all I would recommend you to read the book if you want to read an unusual story of friendship with a touch of small town life which is well written, but not very difficult to read. It's ideally to read it in between and you can learn something about sincerity, prejudices and misunderstandings and as the most important thing something about friendship.
Rating:
Summary: Big Mouth&Ugly Girl
Review: The novel "Bíg Mouth&Ugly Girl"written by Joyce Carol Oates deals with a boy named Matt Donaghy,who is accused of threating to blow up the Rocky River High School.There is also a girl,named Ursula Riggs who even really knowes Matt Donaghy but she is the only one who knowes what Matt really said and she is the only one who can help him.The main contens of the book is the development of the friendship of Matt and Ursula.
Matt the protagonistof the book is a comic charakter.He is a computer freak,a team player and a perfectionist.He is good at school but often he is sacastic and bad temperd.
Ursula Riggs the other protagonist is an giftet athlet,a good student and she is very self confident.She has hardly friends,because she is introverted and sometimes very aggrassiv.
The message of the novel "Big Mouth&Ugly Girl"is that friends can help each other,it doesn't matter whether you know another very well and that kids make mistakes and that they learn from their mistakes.
All in all I would recommend the book because it is an interesting story of which you can get a lot of advices for your own life and the life ióf your children.
Rating: 
Summary: "What a Great book!"
Review: The story of how a "big mouthed" boy and an "ugly girl" come together to prove the accused is innocent is remarkable! The book, Big Mouth & Ugly Girl, by Joyce Carol Oates, is an interesting combination of humor and misfortune. The author has an excellent technique of writing. Her technique allows you to feel and see the characters points of view. In each chapter you see the problem through the eye of a different character. This book is outstanding!
Rating:
Summary: The Mouth that cried Wolf
Review: The Young Adult book field is not one that comes to mind when I think of the body of Joyce Carol Oates'work. Yet here it is from the prolific Oates, "Big Mouth and Ugly Girl."
BMUG chronicles the high school and family life of Ursula Riggs(known to herself as "Ugly Girl") and Matt Donaghy (Big Mouth).
The plot is very simple and up-to-date newspaper headline-wise as Matt is accused of plotting to blow up his high school and Ursula, though heretofore not a friend of Matt's, comes to his rescue out of a sterling sense of "what is right."
Both Ursula and Matt suffer from what most of us suffered in high school: self-esteem problems, not feeling part of any group, hating our parents and siblings, etc.
Oates,being the master craftswman that she is, takes this rather tepid plot and fills it with telling details of both Matt's and Ursula's life after the accusation which sets the plot in motion:"It was like Matt had been wounded somwhere on his body he couldn't see, and the wound was visible to others, raw and ugly. When they looked at him, they saw just the wound. They weren't seeing Matt Donaghy any longer."
Under normal high school clique circumstances Matt and Ursula would have never made a connection. But through Ursula's sense of what is right and her acting upon it; and despite her parents objections, Ursula and Matt become a couple.
The moral of the story is simple but definitely needs restating to teenagers, but not only to teenagers, especially when it is restated in the glorious, tight and controlled prose of Joyce Carol Oates.
What Oates has done is pare down her gorgeous style to the bare minimum of words necessary to convey a mood, a thought or an emotion. What lessons and morals are to be learned can be easily picked off like so many berries off a tree. But in no way whatsoever does the storytelling seem didactic or obvious or over-simplified.
Joyce Carol Oates has fashioned a novel for teenagers brimming over with morality and resposibilty but has done it in a way that does not talk down to her specific audience. All of we Oates fans need not be wary of this book as it is wriiten on the highest level of craftsmanship and deserves a special place in the oeuvre of one of our finest contemporary writers.
Rating:
Summary: Bookreview Big Mouth & Ugly Girl
Review: The young adult novel "Big Mouth & Ugly Girl" by Joyce Carol Oates is about a popular boy named Matt and an outsider-girl named Ursula. Matt has got many friends, gets good marks and he often makes people laugh about his jokes. Ursula has got only some wrong friends in her basketball team. She is an outsider and like to do everything alone. Because of a bad accusation Matt and Ursula find together and plot rises... .
Both caracters are real-life characters. Ursula is a moody but self-confident girl who doesn't care about pretty High School stuff. Matt is known and liked by a lot of people. Matt isn't the best looking guy but in spite of his braing and comic manner he writes for the school newspaper and and is the vice president of the school. To my mind Joyce Carol Oates intention os to make the people understand and to persuade the reader not to leave your friends whatever will happend. And that you should fight against all prejudices in every case!
My personal opinion is that the book and the contents is easy to understand. The author used a simple sentence structure and hardly colloquial language. I think the novel can be read easy alone at home for example. Another possibility is that you read the novel in groups or in classes. All in all the story isn't as exciting as a oscar-nominated movie but the plot and its development is interesting and often change unexpected.
I liked to read the book very much, you should try it, too!
Rating:
Summary: Bookreview Big Mouth & Ugly Girl
Review: The young adult novel "Big Mouth & Ugly Girl" by Joyce Carol Oates is about a popular boy named Matt and an outsider-girl named Ursula.
Matt has got many friends, gets good marks and he often makes people laugh about his jokes. Ursula has got only some false friends in her basketball team. She is an outsider and likes to do everything alone. Because of a bad accusation Matt and Ursula find together and the plot rises... .
Both characters are real-life characters. Ursula is a moody but self-confident girl who does not care about pretty High School stuff. Matt is known and liked by a lot of people. Matt is not the best looking guy but in spite of his brainy and comic manner he writes for the school newspapers and is the vice president of the school. To my mind Joyce Carol Oates' intention is to make the people understand and to persuade the reader not to leave your friends whatever will happend. And that you should fight against all prejudices in every case! My personal opinion is that the book and the contents is easy to understand. The author used a simple sentence structure and hardly colloquial language. I think the novel can be read easy alone at home for example. Another possibility is that you read the novel in groups or in classes. All in all the story is not as exciting as a oscar-nominated movie but the plot and its development is interesting and often change unexpected.
I liked to read the book very much, you should try it, too!
Rating:
Summary: big mouth and ugly girl
Review: This book got me from the moment i read the title. It seemed like with every page i read, I could relate to big mouth or ugly girl. I really enjoyed how Big mouth like Ugly girld for who she was and she didnt have to worry about how or what other people thought of her! I think that this is a good book for anyone who enjoys a book about people growing up and becoming more mature. I would love to read this book again and develope with the characters once more before i close the book for good!
Rating:
Summary: A Golden Novel...
Review: This book is a true eye opener. It didn't end the way I had expected it to end. It didnt begin the way I had expected it to begin. It was a refreshing shock, reading this new tale by Joyce. Matt Donaghy is a popular boy who finds himself in the midst of a school scandal. A prodigal jokester, he is indignant about this wrongful accusation. Big Mouth... Ursula Riggs is a strong tomboyish girl, who won't take any mess from anyone. A rebellious athlete, she finds herself in cahoots with Matt after an encouraging email. Ugly Girl... They develop an uncanny friendship, funny and acute. They find they have a lot in common. And they push through this struggle together. All in all, I was surprised by the freshness of this book. Joyce connects with teens in a way that is virtually unseen in may of today's literature. I definetely reccomend this to anyone in search of something to relate to.
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