Thursday, October 17, 2013

Book Review: Reality Boy, by A. S. King @AS_King

A. S. King has done it again with Reality Boy. She always manages to write such authentic, realistic teen characters, but puts them in the most unusual situations. Even so, I never have difficulty getting sucked right into the plot as I do while reading some unlikely stories.

Gerald is famous (or infamous.) He's now 16, but when he was 5 years old he threw such violent fits that his mom wrote a letter and his family was on The Nanny, a reality TV show where some woman, posing as a nanny, came in and tried to help Gerald and his parents get control of their children. Gerald was so rebellious that he started pooping all over. The most famous scene is when he was caught on film pooping in the middle of the dining room table.

Eleven years later, he's known at school as "the Crapper." He has no friends, and is still seeing a counselor for anger management. Gerald's family is totally dysfunctional. I don't want to say too much about their problems, because part of the story is making those discoveries, but let's just say Gerald's behavior was rooted in some real heavy issues.

Gerald works at a hockey arena in the concession stand -- always at register #7. He has become very interested in the girl that works at register #1. He's been told by his therapist that getting involved with a girl is not a good idea, because girls will do things to make you angry. But, Register #1 Girl is becoming more and more friendly with Gerald, and he likes it.

The development of their relationship is priceless. It turns out Register #1 Girl has her own family issues, which helps Gerald realize that everyone else doesn't live the perfect life he thinks they do.

The relationship grows, and Gerald grows. It's a heartwarming transformation, and I really felt Gerald's struggles and setbacks as if they were my own. I really enjoyed the ending of Reality Boy...and that's all I'll say about that.

I don't really have a lot of "auto buy" authors, but I've learned that A. S. King is one of them for sure. I can recommend all of her books to teens as well as adults. Reality Boy is no exception.

Published by Little, Brown BFYR, October 22, 2013
ARC obtained from Around the World ARC Tours
353 pages

Rating: 5/5





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5 comments:

  1. Great review! I'm really looking forward to reading this one. King is also becoming one of my auto-read authors as well. I love how her books are completely different from one another in subject but resonate with the reader and a wide range of audience.

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  2. I have heard so many good things about this book. I wasn't interested in it at all at first. After your review I am sold. Awesome review!

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  3. Can you believe I haven't read anything by A S King? I'll certainly have to try this one now. Great review Annette.

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  4. I ordered this for my library because the reviews made it sound like a great read. Your review has convinced me ..... I'm totally grabbing this book!!

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  5. This looks like a good one :) I loved A.S. King's "Ask the Passengers."

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