Annotation:
Tired of rude, obnoxious customers? Hire local teens to harass them! Guaranteed revenge, or your money back! Caveat Emptor!
Justification for Rejection:
Mitch, too young to work at the mall, hangs out there instead, hence the mallrat of the title. He has sort of befriended “The Chair,” an extremely successful, and sycophantic (to the customers anyway) shoe salesman. One customer though, pushes him over the edge, and The Chair hires Mitch to get revenge by uttering the phrase, “Caveat Emptor” (buyer beware) and creep her out as she enters her car. It works, and before Mitch can realize what has happened, he has become popular at school, and the go-to-guy for revenge on customers throughout the whole mall.
Soon, Mitch gets his friends involved, including one, Jimmy Biggins. Jimmy is a trouble maker, and relishes his new “job” to torment customers. Things get out of hand quickly, as the number of incidents sky rockets, and Jimmy accidentally assaults a man and ends up wanted by the whole town. Soon, Jimmy becomes a martyr to all of the teens when he goes into hiding, which causes many teens to wonder about the mall chanting Big-gins, and freaking out customers. Mitch soon comes to the conclusion that the only way to put a stop to it is to turn himself in. He and his friends are sentenced, with Jimmy’s fate left unknown, though Jimmy may end up in juvenile detention.
OK, so why does this book get a rejection you may ask? Well, it is an entertaining read, and a good book, but it doesn’t quite meet my expectations. Although Mitch is quasi-idealistic, and takes up a quest to plague customers. The book is told in first person narrative, which starts out OK, but doesn’t really delve into the character, Mitch’s emotions. First person would be a great way to get into Mitch’s head, but the author doesn’t do it much. Instead, we get quasi-elaborate explanations of the secretary’s hair color, which he notices in the principal’s office. He suspects the principal of knowing about his “business,” and tries to look innocent in the office, and this is all that’s described. He thinks about how likely it is that he has been caught, but there is no mention of his emotions the whole time he is in the office, just descriptions of scenery. Another example is when he enters the interrogation room at the police station, we get a great description of how the room compares to those seen on TV, and what the table and lighting are like, but nothing about say, a gut wrenching, sweaty palm feeling upon entering. He then negotiates with the police captain like a grownup/seasoned criminal, which is a little hard to swallow given his circumstance. Young adult novels should show empowered teens, but this is not realistic (which the story is). To contrast, earlier in the novel, he talked about the uneasy feeling, and the excitement he got from scaring customers when he started.
The author also does little to address the character’s morality. He does get a little bit into how Mitch wonders if he’s wrong, or if his parents found out, but Mitch really has no internal conflict when he does these things. He does realize later on that he’s in trouble, and seeks to put a stop to it, before it escalates, but something is lacking. His thoughts on the matter are not portrayed that well. The first half of the novel, we get a sense of increasing danger, and thrill, but then suddenly Mitch stops the train, and the rest of the novel deals with the school kids harassing the mall, how can he help Jimmy, discussions with his father about what he should do, and how does he stop it. The remainder of the novel doesn’t really deal with the repercussions of what he did, and the thrill element is gone. I would expect the thrill to turn into panic, or something, but the story just coasts to the end. It ends with kind of a Deus ex machina ending, with the character getting off with a slap on the wrist for his crimes, and things are really no different than in the beginning.
Overall, this book is mildly entertaining to read in the beginning, but after the “let’s turn ourselves” bit, it falls short of a satisfying ending. Even after Mitch gives his statement to the cops, the drama of a trial, and Jimmy’s fate is skipped, and left open. The epilogue instead focuses on his father’s lecture about urban sprawl, and the community coming together, which was a very loose theme throughout the novel. Teens may be confused what the point of the story is, and may even think it’s a good way to earn money, especially since the kids got away with it (mostly).
In short, decent story for fun, hits a few points of teen development, but not that well. It falls short of being worthy of a nomination, because it is average. Read it for fun, enjoy it, but don’t expect award material. The one thing you should take away is be nice to the people working in the mall, you never know when someone will follow you to your car and say, “Caveat Emptor.”
Genre: Fiction, Problem Novel
Tired of rude, obnoxious customers? Hire local teens to harass them! Guaranteed revenge, or your money back! Caveat Emptor!
Justification for Rejection:
Mitch, too young to work at the mall, hangs out there instead, hence the mallrat of the title. He has sort of befriended “The Chair,” an extremely successful, and sycophantic (to the customers anyway) shoe salesman. One customer though, pushes him over the edge, and The Chair hires Mitch to get revenge by uttering the phrase, “Caveat Emptor” (buyer beware) and creep her out as she enters her car. It works, and before Mitch can realize what has happened, he has become popular at school, and the go-to-guy for revenge on customers throughout the whole mall.
Soon, Mitch gets his friends involved, including one, Jimmy Biggins. Jimmy is a trouble maker, and relishes his new “job” to torment customers. Things get out of hand quickly, as the number of incidents sky rockets, and Jimmy accidentally assaults a man and ends up wanted by the whole town. Soon, Jimmy becomes a martyr to all of the teens when he goes into hiding, which causes many teens to wonder about the mall chanting Big-gins, and freaking out customers. Mitch soon comes to the conclusion that the only way to put a stop to it is to turn himself in. He and his friends are sentenced, with Jimmy’s fate left unknown, though Jimmy may end up in juvenile detention.
OK, so why does this book get a rejection you may ask? Well, it is an entertaining read, and a good book, but it doesn’t quite meet my expectations. Although Mitch is quasi-idealistic, and takes up a quest to plague customers. The book is told in first person narrative, which starts out OK, but doesn’t really delve into the character, Mitch’s emotions. First person would be a great way to get into Mitch’s head, but the author doesn’t do it much. Instead, we get quasi-elaborate explanations of the secretary’s hair color, which he notices in the principal’s office. He suspects the principal of knowing about his “business,” and tries to look innocent in the office, and this is all that’s described. He thinks about how likely it is that he has been caught, but there is no mention of his emotions the whole time he is in the office, just descriptions of scenery. Another example is when he enters the interrogation room at the police station, we get a great description of how the room compares to those seen on TV, and what the table and lighting are like, but nothing about say, a gut wrenching, sweaty palm feeling upon entering. He then negotiates with the police captain like a grownup/seasoned criminal, which is a little hard to swallow given his circumstance. Young adult novels should show empowered teens, but this is not realistic (which the story is). To contrast, earlier in the novel, he talked about the uneasy feeling, and the excitement he got from scaring customers when he started.
The author also does little to address the character’s morality. He does get a little bit into how Mitch wonders if he’s wrong, or if his parents found out, but Mitch really has no internal conflict when he does these things. He does realize later on that he’s in trouble, and seeks to put a stop to it, before it escalates, but something is lacking. His thoughts on the matter are not portrayed that well. The first half of the novel, we get a sense of increasing danger, and thrill, but then suddenly Mitch stops the train, and the rest of the novel deals with the school kids harassing the mall, how can he help Jimmy, discussions with his father about what he should do, and how does he stop it. The remainder of the novel doesn’t really deal with the repercussions of what he did, and the thrill element is gone. I would expect the thrill to turn into panic, or something, but the story just coasts to the end. It ends with kind of a Deus ex machina ending, with the character getting off with a slap on the wrist for his crimes, and things are really no different than in the beginning.
Overall, this book is mildly entertaining to read in the beginning, but after the “let’s turn ourselves” bit, it falls short of a satisfying ending. Even after Mitch gives his statement to the cops, the drama of a trial, and Jimmy’s fate is skipped, and left open. The epilogue instead focuses on his father’s lecture about urban sprawl, and the community coming together, which was a very loose theme throughout the novel. Teens may be confused what the point of the story is, and may even think it’s a good way to earn money, especially since the kids got away with it (mostly).
In short, decent story for fun, hits a few points of teen development, but not that well. It falls short of being worthy of a nomination, because it is average. Read it for fun, enjoy it, but don’t expect award material. The one thing you should take away is be nice to the people working in the mall, you never know when someone will follow you to your car and say, “Caveat Emptor.”
Genre: Fiction, Problem Novel
No comments:
Post a Comment