Brian KatcherRecensioni
Autore di Almost Perfect
Recensioni
When the two boys spend time at Marley's fishing camp, a fond place for Kyler, but one Aaron never got a chance to visit, they're surprised by a scruffy dude who doesn't know they're there, and after they chase him off, Kyler finds an envelope with numerical clues. It's Jessica who realizes they're GPS coordinates and what ensues is a road trip to a park in South Carolina that unfolds like a Hope and Crosby road picture crossed with PG rated Bonnie and Clyde.
All four teens come to interesting realizations during this adventure and, while it at first seems like they've lost, the opposite is true and the book ends with a neat teaser. I hope that turns into a second book.
No wonder he wants me to read this. XD
From Stonewall-winning author of Almost Perfect (about a boy falling in love with a trans girl in Missouri, though the original synopsis written by the publisher is off-putting and the author advises ignoring that to the extent possible).
The book is fine, prom happens by the first third and the rest is Deacon coping, somewhat badly, with his new viral internet fame.
Still, I liked this book. Read it twice.
Hello, dear reader! We need to talk about this book. More specifically, I need to talk about this book, and why I believe that both cis and trans readers should avoid it at all costs.
Here is a fair warning that I’m likely going to be heavy on spoilers. I don’t particularly care because 1.) the spoilers I will be including will be heavily problematic, and 2.) hopefully if I spoil the book for you and you haven’t read it yet, you’ll decide to spend your hard-earned money on some other book (how about If I Was Your Girl instead?).
***BEGIN SPOILERS***
Let’s start with all of the transphobia in the book. Logan, our narrator, makes a pretty big deal out of the fact that he doesn’t see Sage as a girl, and even when he does recognize her as a girl, he does it in a way in which he makes it clear that she is a “different” kind of girl or “not fully” a girl. This is never resolved. Logan never gets over this. The only redeeming thing Logan has going for him when it comes to Sage’s gender is that he almost never uses incorrect pronouns for her after his initial confusion over what pronouns he's supposed to use… EXCEPT for that one time out of spite where he uses “she/he/it” to refer to her. He makes it clear that he says this because he’s angry, but he never apologizes for this, and this is a problem because it’s really not okay to misgender someone just because you’re angry with them. Sage is never recognized as the full woman that she is throughout the entire book, and it’s rather sickening.
Additionally, there is a massive amount of focus on Sage’s appearance throughout the book. Logan sees her as this tall, strange-looking girl with a deep voice when they first meet, and even though at this point she is passing without a hitch and Logan doesn’t know that she’s trans, he still can’t help but point out how different she is and how some of her behaviors are things that other girls would never do. A lot of these behaviors are coded as being “guy behaviors” and try to connect the idea that Sage isn’t really a girl back to the way she behaves. On top of that, after Sage comes out to him Logan will not stop scrutinizing Sage’s body in an attempt to find the “masculine” parts of her. This includes obsessively staring at her crotch in order to try to locate her penis as well as spending multiple pages talking about how shocked he is to find out that OH MY GOD THIS TRANS GIRL HAS REALLY BIG BOOBS AND THEY’RE REAL HOW IS THIS A THING WHY DO I LIKE THESE BOOBS (side note: you know that a book is written by someone who has never in their life worn a bra if they make a huge deal out of 36B being a gigantic size when, relatively speaking, it’s really not because that size is for roughly a 36-inch underbust and a 38-inch overbust, which is only a 2-inch difference. In fact, most of the people who wear that size are most likely wearing the wrong size bra. Check out r/ABraThatFits for more information on proper bra sizing.) While he hadn’t viewed her as such before she came out, Logan also refers to Sage as “burly” and discusses features that now look masculine to him that he didn’t see that way previously. Overall, this kind of scrutinization of Sage’s body comes off as obsessive and creepy, and it’s so not okay. Once again, this is something that Logan does not get over at all.
The discussion at the end of the book about whether Sage should “go back to being a boy” was also incredibly offensive. Sage is a girl. Being a girl wasn’t her choice; presenting as one was. Sage’s sister Tammi, whom I liked up until this point, decides that because of how Sage is treated for being trans, she shouldn’t have been supportive and it’s her fault that Sage is getting beat up by random strangers because Tammi wanted to have a sister, wanted her parents to let her do things and scrutinize Sage instead, and decided she really shouldn’t have encouraged Sage the way she had.
No. No no no no no.
The only supportive person Sage had in her life was Tammi. Tammi was the only person who saw Sage as her sister and not as “something” else. What is the author thinking by taking that last little shred of support away from Sage? Why would you do this? This is beyond disgusting and an excellent example of what not to do, be it with a character you are writing or an actual human being.
The set-up for Logan to “convince” Sage that she shouldn’t de-transition was eye-rolling. Logan has not been supportive and he still hasn’t learned a damn thing about trans people. Why is he the character doing this, exactly? Oh, yeah. Because he wants to redeem himself. The execution here fell incredibly flat — trans people do not need cisgender, transphobic white dudes telling them who they should be. They just don’t. Logan is out of his depth and out of his lane.
Much of the language used to describe trans people in this book is also offensive. “Transgendered” is a verb. Trans people are not verbs. Do not use this word. “Really a boy” is bullshit. Sage is not a boy. Sage is a girl. Additionally, using that phrase to come out is incredibly unrealistic — no passing trans person is going to look at another person and say “I’m x-gender-that-I-was-assigned-at-birth.” It’s just not going to happen because the person doesn’t actually believe that they are that gender they were assigned.
Logan is extremely homophobic and also pretty damn violent when it comes to learning that Sage is trans. First off, the very first thing he says about “what’s the worst that could happen?” when pursuing Sage, before her big “trans reveal” is that he found out what the worst could possibly be. He actually said, as a narrator speaking in the past tense, that what had happened — Sage being trans — was the worst possible thing that could happen. He was so focused on her genitals that even though he had real feelings for her, he could not view her as a whole person on her own and that her being who she is was actually terrible for him. Oh, poor Logan.
The literal first thing he does when he learns that Sage is trans after he kisses her is to run off and vomit. Real nice, Logan. He then spends several pages (and many other points throughout the book) ruminating over the fact that kissing a trans person might make him gay, going so far as to using the f-slur and thinking about putting her in the hospital and calling her a “sicko.” Then when some guy actually does that to Sage later, he can’t possibly imagine why someone would want to do that to her. Really now? because 200 pages ago, Logan, you were literally contemplating the exact same thing.
Let’s take a second to discuss the choice of setting. I grew up in a town that was half the size the one Logan lived in, so I can say with quite a bit of confidence that the transphobia and the homophobia present in the book’s setting was realistic. Having said that, if Sage’s parents really wanted to make sure that no one they knew would find out Sage was trans, then why the fuck did they pick a small town to move to?! Sure, they knew no one there when they moved, but they’d meet people eventually, and if someone did out Sage to others, it would spread through that small town like wildfire and then everyone would know. If they really wanted to keep it quiet, they should have picked a large city where they know nobody because gossip does not spread in a large city like it does in a small town. In a large city, a few people will know, but hardly any of them are going to say anything about it, and it’s nearly impossible for everyone to find out about something. In a small town, though? Every single person is going to find out about the latest gossip in the span of a week. And then what do you do? Do you just keep hopping from small town to small town for the rest of your life? This decision boggles my mind. To be fair, based on Sage’s lack of knowledge about small town life, it’s possible that her parents didn’t know what a small town would be like, either. This decision just feels so, so unrealistic to me though. You don’t move a child that sticks out like a sore thumb to a homogeneous, transphobic, homophobic, microscopic town in hopes that they’ll blend in and stay out of trouble. You just don’t. I feel like the setting was placed as it was just so that transphobia and homophobia (and conservativism in general) would be more rampant so that the author could try to hit his point home harder.
Logan is the world’s worst friend, and not only toward Sage. His “best friend” Tim, who is that one stereotypical “Asian” kid in the tiny high school, is mistreated by Logan at every turn. (Side note: I really want to know how the author, who is not Japanese, pronounces “Tokugowa,” Tim’s last name. “Tokugawa” was the surname of the military government during the Edo/Tokugawa period, and considering how large that name was I kind of wonder if he was going for “Tokugawa” instead. They are not pronounced the same.) While racism towards Tim is a problem, what’s a larger problem is how frequently Logan fat-shames Tim. Logan cannot see Tim once without commenting on his weight. Tim is fat, and while we don’t see enough of him to know for sure, it doesn’t look like it bothers him all that much. It does, however, seem to bother Logan to no end. He endlessly comments on how much and how often Tim is eating, and how fast Tim eats his food, and he seems genuinely disgusted by his friend. He also states at one point that Tim “obviously” isn’t seeing anyone without giving any further explanation, and the implication here is that Tim can’t find a date because he is fat. Spoiler alert: Tim has a happy relationship and him being fat doesn’t seem to affect it at all. After finding this out, Logan doesn’t show any sort of guilt for his negativity towards Tim’s dating life, and it’s pretty disgusting how little support he gives his friend because he is fat. Additionally, Logan makes comments about some girls being “too skinny.” These things combined with all of the focus on Sage’s body show that Logan seems to have a real problem with people not looking the way he thinks they should look, and this is pretty controlling and creepy.
Sage says that Logan is her best friend, and I find this incredibly sad because she could do so much better than him. Why couldn’t she ditch him and go find other friends? Other people at their school exist. She plopped down in front of him in class and apparently made a pretty terrible choice in friend. We don’t see how her other classmates (other than Logan’s other friends and ex-girlfriend) see her at all — who’s to say that none of them would be willing to be her friend? Logan invalidates her gender, has violent thoughts toward her, considers her gender to be the worst possible thing that could happen to him, and yet he still thinks that he is worthy of being her friend even though he never actually progresses on any of these issues except for the violence. He still doesn’t see her as a girl — he sees her as something like a girl, but not as an actual girl. Logan is selfish and doesn’t actually care about Sage — he just cares about how he looks when he interacts with her. She deserves better.
***END SPOILERS***
I vehemently disagree with anyone who says this book is important. I am a nonbinary trans person, and the last thing I needed was a cisgender guy “oh, maybe trans people aren’t so bad after all” story. This book invalidates the gender of trans individuals, and it serves as an incredibly poor example for cis readers as well. It teaches them that trans people are people, yeah, but it perpetuates the idea that trans women aren’t really women and that being trans is a choice, and it never fully addresses that. It never fully addresses that a straight guy being attracted to a trans girl is not gay (though Sage says this is not true, Logan’s constant ruminating over this serves to invalidate her statement). And it makes the story about the hardships of being a trans teenager all about the poor, sad, so terribly distressed cis straight white male teenager who happens to be attracted to her.
I’m embarrassed that this book won a Stonewall Award. Trans teens, your gender is valid and real, and you deserve so much better than this book. Cis teens (and all other cis people), do not take your cues on how to interact with trans people from this book. Again, have you tried If I Was Your Girl yet? That book handles all of this so much better, and it deserves to be read.
Final rating: 1 out of 5 stars
2 
bennivampie | 26 altre recensioni | Sep 1, 2017 |
bennivampie | 26 altre recensioni | Sep 1, 2017 | Characterization: Good
Recommended: Yes
Level: High School
Deacon Locke Went To Prom, by Brian Katcher is a twenty-first century teen novel about the extremely tall high school senior, Deacon Locke. The writing style had me laughing out loud with the relatable and quirky one-liners Deacon produces throughout the book. The combination of him being a tall, shy and awkward giant makes him one lovable and unforgettable narrator. The story happens in two very well defied acts, act one being his promposal and the prom itself, and act two being the consequences of what happened at the prom. Act one was rather bland in my opinion, but it did have enough flavor to keep me reading into the much more interesting act two. The characters could of been more developed, the story focuses on many different relationships Deacon has, and makes in the story, and I believe that Kutcher's resources were spread too thin, and he didn't have time in the book to add depth to many characters. About five of the eight main characters are very one-dimensional, and well can be entertaining, serve very little purpose. All in all I would recommend this book as something of a romantic comedy, and I definitely enjoyed reading this book.
I could write an essay about this book, what it meant to me, and how I feel about it. I loved it and I hated it. I was afraid to read another chapter, and I never wanted it to end. My head wants me to wrap Brian Katcher in my arms and thank him for such an amazing story, even as my heart wants me to pound on his chest and demand that he rewrite the ending.
I fell in love with these characters – Logan as much as Sage, to my surprise – and didn’t want to let them go . . . especially not like that.
Instead of an essay, though, I’d just like to touch on the things that Brian did so well:
1. He perfectly captures the awkwardness, the joy, and the sorrows of growing up. I didn’t go to high school with the characters, but a part of me wishes I did. It’s a small cast of characters we’re presented with, and there’s no space wasted on clichéd high school conflicts that don’t contribute to the story.
2. He has written a carefully-plotted story that is driven by a romance, not a romance that comprises a story in itself. There’s a significant difference there, in both style and approach, and it’s what makes this such a compelling read.
3. He presents us with a story that’s real, complete with all the flaws and all the unanswered questions of life. As much as my heart craves a tidy, happy ending, he really couldn’t (and shouldn’t) have ended it any other way. Having said that, I would not be at all disagreeable to reading a sequel that catches up with Sage somewhere down the road.
4. He sprinkles in just enough humour to relieve the tension, but never at the expense of the characters or the situation. The moments of humour are completely appropriate and very much appreciated.
5. He offers us an honest exploration of gender identity and expression, filtered through the eyes of an outsider. As fascinating and heart-breaking as Sage’s story is, it’s only by putting us inside Logan’s head that we’re able to truly appreciate her struggles. It’s what makes the story so widely accessible, while also helping to preserve the emotional and physical mystery.
Ultimately, this could just as easily been a story about racial, religious, or cultural identity. The elements of the story could have worked with any other struggle at the heart, but I dare say the book would not have been as powerful (or nearly so interesting). Through the question of Sage’s gender identity we also get to explore questions of sexual identity/orientation, particularly with Logan, who struggles with what it means to love a girl who used to be (and, from a purely biological standpoint, still is) a boy.
Brian Katcher’s novel is as brave as it is bold, and he’s to be applauded as much for his choice of subject, as for his talents as a story teller.
Overall, I found "The Impossible Theory of Ana and Zak" a fluffy, mediocre novel that was rather disappointing.
The novel alternates between Ana and Zak’s points of view. Ana is very type A. She is overscheduled all in hopes of getting scholarships for college. She has no patience for laziness. Head of the quiz team, she has invited her brother to join as well now that he goes to the high school, too. Zak is pretty laid back. He’s unhappy about his stepfather and is surly when at home. Otherwise, he’s very popular with his friends.
When his faculty advisor tells him that he will fail his class for using Wikipedia on an assignment (constituting cheating), Zak accepts a deal. He will go on a weekend trip with the quiz team as a member. His teacher knows that he is smart and doesn’t live up to his potential. Therefore, he can delay graduation and go to summer school or he can spend one weekend on the quiz team. He obviously takes the deal only to learn that it’s the same weekend as Comic-Con, which he ALWAYS attends. Ana’s brother is fascinated on the bus trip with the stories from Comic-Con because Ana’s parents are very strict and have already kicked out the oldest of their children; he wants to have fun for a change. When he disappears, Ana enlists Zak’s help to find him. Zak is shocked because Ana has never been particularly nice to him even though he flirts with her. Upon arriving at Comic-con, chaos ensues. Everyone knows Zak, but Ana is determined to bully her way through causing havoc. Everything that happens is comedic. Poor Zak has everything happen to him, and it’s not his fault. Ana begins to see how interesting Zak truly is.
I enjoyed reading the novel because it revealed a great theme while having fun. The Comic-Con section was a little long, but not so much that I was annoyed, just ready for the next part of the story. You’ll feel sorry for Zak while smiling. I’ll be ordering this novel, so look for it to come in soon!
Quick & Dirty: A fun romance about geeky Zak and responsible Ana that all happens in one crazy night.
Opening Sentence: “Zak!”
The Review:
Ana is uptight, responsible, and lives in constant fear after her sister was kicked out years back for one wrong move. Her parents expect only the best from her, and her whole life she’s been the best child she could be, but their demands are sounding less and less reasonable. Zak, on the other hand, is a slacker; his goals are low and he’d rather spend his time watching TV and playing video games. When Zak’s horrible grades get him forced into a last-minute extra credit opportunity, he and Ana are put in the same hotel.
That night Ana’s brother Clayton runs away to Washingcon, where geeks of all kinds dwell in the thousands – only Zak’s expertise can help Ana to get her brother out of trouble before their parents find out. But before they know it, an uneasy alliance begins to morph into something more, as they seem to attract more and more trouble. They’re making enemies of all kinds trying to find Clayton, until what should be an easy task becomes a wild goose chase that might end with deadly consequences.
This book did not go where I expected it to. I didn’t think that Ana and Zak would be such different people, but they were basically polar opposites. Ana was responsible to an extreme and Zak was a slacker to the extreme. One crazy night together helped them both to balance out their priorities, and I really liked watching both characters evolve. Their story was cute, and I loved the unique setting it grew in. I’d never read a book quite like this one, completely immersed in fandoms and geekiness, and it was a lot of fun.
There were some alternate plotlines happening alongside the others. For one, there was this whole thing with Ana’s parents, and their complete authority over her. She was such a strong, confident, snarky character; it was hard watching her shiver in fright to her own parents. Like any story, there was two sides to that one, though, and I liked the depth it brought. Another story was Zak and his father. He died a couple years back, and Zak hides his pain with a carefree facade. Now that his mother is married to another guy, he feels almost like he’s been betrayed, and doesn’t want to make any effort to try to know Roger. Both of these other plots developed and I really like where they were taken.
Altogether, I really enjoyed this book. It was unique and unexpected. Never has there been such a fun and unprecedented setting, and the characters were very cool to read from. It made me laugh out loud a couple times there, so it had a humor aspect as well. The different point of views were never confusing and helped give clarity to both of the characters and their actions. I flew through this book pretty fast, so it’s a quick read, and I think that any lover of romance will enjoy this novel!
Notable Scene:
And I’ll go to college, and study every night, and get some kind of job that requires eighty hour weeks and lots of meetings. I’ll rarely see Nichole and Clayton. I’ll marry some good-looking, safe guy and have two kids. I’ll make my parents proud. I’ll never go to one of these stupid conventions again.
Never see Zak again. (…)
Because that’s the way life works, isn’t it? You can work hard and be miserable, or do nothing and be happy. I wish I’d realized that before I wasted all those years on the former.
FTC Advisory: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperTeen provided me with a copy of The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
Zak “Duke” Duquette is the geek. He spends his free time in the library with his friends playing games in costume. He goes to conventions, his favorite being the comic con, Washingcon in Seattle. He has a multilayered personality; very happy-go-lucky on the outside but he carries a deep hurt that he hides through his laid-back persona. It’s really easy to get lost in Zak’s enthusiasm and want to just drop everything and run around with him (even if he does seem to attract unsavory characters). He has issues with his stepdad who always tries to get him to play sports but gets along well with his mother. Unfortunately for him, he’s blackmailed into the school quiz team by a teacher on the same night of Washingcon. The poor soul.
Ana is the overachieving nerd that always obeys her parents. She’s really an annoying character at first, but that’s what character development is for. Ana eventually immerses herself into Zak’s geek culture and gets a bit of a sassy attitude which makes her character way more likable.
Clayton is Ana’s younger brother, a genius at 13 years old, and undeniably a major brat. But a lovable brat. He sets Zak and Ana on the entire crusade through the convention to find him in the first place, and he doesn’t make it easy for the pair. It seems like he’s always just a few steps ahead.
For the story, just remember Murphy’s law: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong; an angry viking stalking Zak, a drug dealer, a mob a zombies with destroyed playing cards, con security, and one very annoying (but helpful) Strawberry Shortcake cosplayer.
What’s best about this? Pop culture references!
Honestly, what geek would read this book and not point out each and every fandom they are a part of?
And have you seen Tumblr? Fandoms are scary, and Ana learns the hard way in the story just how obsessed people can be about their fandoms/games/OBSESSIONS. The poor girl didn’t have a chance.
Overall, The Improbably Theory of Ana and Zak is a great book for geeks and light romance readers.
www.ReadingBifrost.com
****THE WRITING****
When I realized The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak was not only written in dual first-person perspectives but also written in the present tense, I was suitably impressed. Dual points-of-view are pretty hit or miss with me, but I have always found present tense fiction to be extremely difficult to connect with and to write. You have to have a spectacular talent for writing to have me overlooking verb conjugation, and that is exactly what Katcher did.
****THE STORY****
Most of The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak took place in a 24-hour time line, so I was unsurprised by how fast a pace the book had. I’ve realized that I’m starting to like this type of book. Remember when I read Bright Before Sunrise? It had the same type of time frame and I really enjoyed it. This is definitely the type of book you find yourself speeding through, but loving every minute of it! I’m guessing it is also the perfect book to take a reader out of a reading funk. I haven’t had to test my theory (yet), but I wouldn’t drag my feet at re-reading The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak because I had a blast!
Let me just warn you guys that this isn’t the most realistic contemporary YA read. Two reasons:
If it was, the book wouldn’t be such a grand adventure.
Ana and Zak would probably be dead.
If you are like me and don’t care if the ending was entirely too hand delivered with a happily ever after or that they escaped serious injury more often than would ever happen in the real world, then you will probably enjoy this as much as I did.
****THE CHARACTERS****
Ana’s thirteen-year-old brother Clayton is on the lam in Seattle, Washington at Washingcon – the biggest science fiction convention in the area, Ana has a very limited time frame before she has to have him back to escape punishment, so she in dire need of help from Zak the-slacker-video-game-enthusiast to pull him out of the horde of freakishly dressed people and back to the hotel where the quiz bowl team is staying for the night.
Four Reasons I enjoyed these characters so much
They are your average high school students when it comes to looks. “Average” when it comes to appearance is not the usual for romance at any age level, so it was fun that the author gave to average high school students a chance at not only a romance but a kick-ass adventure, too!
They both have emotional wounds that are raw and oozing. I love that the author gives them a unique way of healing each other.
Both Ana the bitchy A-type overachiever and Zak, the geeky slacker, experience a ton of growth within the fast-pace of this novel, but at different speeds.
The best part is the happily ever after. I know I said it was too unrealistic for some (it was), but it made me awhh. It pretty much showed how much the two changed in such a short period, and I liked it. Plus, it was nice to see something actually go right for these two.
2 Reasons this book might irritate you (at first)
Ana is bitchy and whiny and is slow in the character growth department, but she does want to change – and eventually is redeemed, so she didn’t irritate me too much. But there were a couple intense moments where I wanted to punch her, so I felt I should warn you.
Zak was also whiny and had his moments of supreme jerkiness. Thankfully, he got over it and so did I.
****THE END****
All-in-all, The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak was both a surprising adventure and an adorable love story. I can’t wait to read more from Brian Katcher and am eternally grateful for the opportunity to read an ARC from the publisher.
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