January 31, 2005
YA18: Big Mouth and Ugly Girl
I'll admit I picked this one because the cover and title intrigued me, but then I read the back at some point and decided not to try it (something about school shootings i thought). Then, the other day after my shift at the library I thought I'd pick up a tape for the drive and saw it again. When I saw that it was being read by Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe, I knew I had to give it a try. A friend wrote a review dismissing the author's style, and I'm not sure I would have liked the book as much if I was reading it. But having it performed was completely captivating, and its made the last six hours of driving just fly by. I reached the end of the last tape on the way home from work today and really missed hearing it (not to mention my NPR station is doing pledge breaks, which get old really fast even if you are a loyal supporter).
Big Mouth & Ugly Girl
Joyce Carol Oates
New York : HarperTempest, 2002
Big mouth & ugly girl [sound recording]
Joyce Carol Oates
New York : HarperCollins Publishers, p2002
Set in a suburban high school in the post-Columbine world where jokes can get you in a world of trouble, Matt Donaghy's big mouth does just that. Ursula Rigg, warrior woman basketball star calling herself "Ugly Girl" and not caring about what other people think, steps in to defend Matt (who was only joking) and the two become friends. The chapters alternate between the two of them, sometimes using emails back and forth, and we learn about their lives, their friends, their families and the growing friendship.
PW says: "Readers will relate to the pressures these two experience, both at school and from their parents, and be gratified by their ability to emerge the wiser." School Library Journal: "Oates has a good ear for the speech, the family relations, the e-mail messaging, the rumor mills, and the easy cruelties waiting just beneath the veneer of civility. Matt's character and especially the heroic Ursula's are depicted with a raw honesty. Readers will be propelled through these pages by an intense curiosity to learn how events will play out. Oates has written a fast-moving, timely, compelling story." The AudioFile review claims: "Screen celebs Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe deliver alternating chapters in perfect counterpoint, superbly capturing the divergent emotional journeys in affect, tone, and pacing." Booklist's Starred Review finds: "Distinguished novelist Oates' first young adult novel is a thought-provoking, character-driven drama about the climate of hysteria created by school violence in America, and how two teenagers find the courage to fight it and to find themselves in the process."
Ages 13-up. Grade 8+
Posted by Emily at January 31, 2005 10:25 PM