Summer Reading Blog

As some of you may have seen, one of the books I had out on my list for this summer was The Iliadand I have some unfortunate news…

As many of you may know summer is just too short, and with that often comes unfortunate compromises that must be made for stuff like, well, my blog. And this is one of them.

I will not be doing The Iliad, as it is a verrrrry long book. And one that’s so jam packed with story, dialogue, characters, and more. That I worry I won’t be able to do the rest of the books this summer, that, and I have to do a book for APUSH (AP US History) that is also jam packed. And also an essay on said book.

So I have made a compromise:

I will be doing reviews of each chapter of The Jungle, in place of The Iliad, I know a lot of you guys really wanted me to read The Iliad but I do really want to take APUSH next year for school, as I hope to major in history for college, and I also feel that The Jungle is going to be a very interesting book to do, as it is an eye into an era long dead, The Gilded Age, but resembling our own era in many ways as well.

I will be posting reviews tomorrow, as I am doing both Chapter 1 and 2, so join me as we take a look into the vile, diverse, without FDA or Labor Laws, era. That is The Gilded Age. With The Jungle, from 1906!

BOOK REVIEW!

Overall, with Be More Chill, I would say that with my first thoughts with this book (before reading it) were that it was going to be like a sort of grounded sci fi type deal. Maybe with some typical YA stuff with Jeremy trying to be cool. But not as much.

That wasn't really the case.

I'm going to split my thoughts into different sections, not like how their split in the book (Pre Squip, Squip, and Post Squip) but more so on how I feel the characters changed, events, and all of that jazz. Get weady :3 

Chapter 1 - 14 (so bad its good): Soooooo to say that my thoughts on the book during this time weren't the best to say the least is an understatement. I mentioned some of this in the first post I made about the book, but I feel like I should state them again since that was like, forever agoooo. Basically, I felt like:

Jeremy was a massive playboy, whose only desire was to get with Christine (ala Ben from Paper Towns ew)

Michael was similar to Jeremy, but was a lot more obnoxious, and kind of a terrible friend(ala Jared from Dear Evan Hansen)

and that the book was going to be more like a John Greenifed version of High School Musical, but sci fi...and that is NOT WHAT I GOT THE BOOK FOR!

I think the main reason why I thought this was the case is simply because of these chapters feeling more like introductions to setting, characters, and the general tone of the book, without much else to them. Would the stuff in the book that would be introduced be extremely important later? Absolutely! I now think the general tone introduced lays a nice groundwork for it to later be kind of destroyed later, especially during and after the house party. But Vizzini really should've added a better conflict (in my opinion) at the start then Jeremy just trying to win Christine, obviously, it does come back later, but it's only made worse with the end! (Which my comments on that will also be in a spoiler box!) That, and Vizzini also doesn't really show who the characters really are in this section, I wish we had at least a glimpse at what they are fully later on.

Chapter 14 - 35 (Stars for it!): This section is probably the best section of the book! It's where the characters are able to fully form, Jeremy goes from playboy to someone who the reader can relate to more, desiring to be cool and when getting the Squip, actually kind of maturing from it, Michael is actually considerate about Jeremy, like in the scene where he tells Jeremy that he's going to be in his mom's car when he's driving just so that Jeremy is safe, but I think the real strong pull for this section. The thing that makes this book a thousand times better.

Is the Squip.

The Squip is such an interesting character, melding the uncaringness and following ordersideas showcased in other media like WALL-E, but also still having enough of a personality where you can actually understand where the Squip is coming from, a lot of its personality being showcased in its jokes, oh my god its jokes are so good! It was probably the funniest character throughout not just this section, but the book as a whole. It brings so much more energy and dynamics to the book than ever seen in the first section. Even if the only dynamic is with Jeremy, it effectively is the one that changes Jeremy and with that each modification it makes to Jeremy brings more jokes, more topics, more everything basically. And I think the book really needed that. Even with some scenes like the one with Brooke, the Squip still leveled it up, turning a 5 out of 10, into a 7 out of 10 in my opinion. 

This section is really good, and I would say if you're able to plow through the first section with no Squip, you will be so glad you did!

Chapter 35 - 49 (the mixed one): So, this section is really an odd one. And unfortunately, a very mixed one...

This section, while including the Squip, and also important events like the house party, the fire at said house, and of course the twist ending. All of which really drive the story, and are very important for the characters development, like Jeremy realizing that he doesn't want to be a "cool" kid anymore...there are quite a lot more issues to it than the second section. So, I'll just make some bullets for each one:

Unnecessary Moments: This section included quite a lot more moments that were either out of nowhere, or just never brought up again. Whether it'd be 35 with its stuff with Stephanie harming herself and the jokes about her scars. Or much of 47 with its moments of just having Jeremy get made fun of and suffer from his (admittedly stupid) date proposal to Christine during A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Squip's Decreasing Role: You remember how I said that the Squip was kind of a heavy lifter for the book? Yeah, during this section, it just starts to not be used as much, I understand that you have to let other characters develop of course, but generally speaking the Squip doesn't even crack as many jokes and what not, only coming back with the scenes after the house fire, such as with Christine and Jeremy talking about people mourning Jake and Rich, but besides that, it just disappears (quite literally doing so from 46 - 48 when it shutdown)

Possible Problematic Stuff: This book is heavily 2004, it references Eminem, uses terms like r*tard and m*ngoloid, it references Palm Pilots for god's sake. But man, there is a lot of stuff in this section that stood out to me in really gross ways...like how Nicole, the Asian girl that Michael met on a rap site, is the only one to talk in ways like using the word "aight" and "this one's too skinny", or the aforementioned scene with Stephanie with her self harm being played almost for laughs in 35, and the general issues with how women are protrayed in the book (as a whole) but reallllly showcased here. Like how none of them, besides Christine, have much besides just being "Hot Girls" or plot devices, which is kind of sad to me. Since women, especially when their teenagers, also experience a lot of insecurity and disliking of themselves for not fitting in, and the showcase of said problems in the musical is something I will absolutely give it credit for.

Obviously if you've seen my review for 48 and 49, those were spectacular, second section territory basically with how good they are. With 49 being a fitting and revealing end to the book showing what it was this whole time. But that's not going to save a section FILLED with problems.

Overall, with all its issues and great moments, I give this book:

8.5/10

see y'all for the next one!

Chapter 48 and 49:

Okay, I’m gonna put this one in a box since there is a major plot twist that basically changes EVERYTHING about the book. So you are advised for spoilers!

So this chapter starts relatively the same as 46 and 47, with Jeremy getting made fun of by Michael for completely embarrassing himself, and being asked why he didn’t just wait till the cast party to do all of that. Which isn’t very interesting besides some stuff about his brother having almost gone insane by the squip he had.

Then the squip comes back! It telling Jeremy that it basically stopped working from the “unexpected” failure of Jeremy asking Christine to go out with him during the play. Jeremy’s still mad at the squip, when Michael has a moment of genius that changes everything:

“Just tell her…when she hears it made you do that, she might understand.”

And this causes everything else.

After some hesitation from Jeremy about having to explain everything, the squip tells Jeremy that it remembers everything Jeremy has done perfectly, and that it could do a data dump of his memories into a file. And after some debate on the formatting of said file…until Jeremy comes up with it:

“A book.

A BOOK?

A book?”

And they all agree to make the book for Christine, with the last part being the squip telling Jeremy to basically kill it. As it had become unstable. With this being the last passage:

“So…you’re going to leave? But when are we going to write this book?

TONIGHT

Oh.

TONIGHT, AND THEN YOU SHOULD FLUSH ME. YOU KNOW MOUNTAIN DEW CODE RED?

Yeah.

IT’S THE FAILSAFE. IF YOU DRINK A BOTTLE, I DISSOLVE.

I explain that to Michael. And then I laugh in my head, and then aloud, and then with my friend, and then with the whole night and all of New Jersey and this big stinky planet.”

And as showcased in 49, with the label of Part 3 post squip:

“So here you go, Christine. It’s not a letter; it’s a whole book. I hope you like it.”

This book. Is that book. Hopefully Christine liked it!

And with one last overall, and one last rating of a 9/10.

The first book of the Summer Reading Book Blog comes to an end.

Chapter 47:

This one is just sad, and not like how 42 was sad. I mean it more so you just feel bad for Jeremy, obviously again, the thing with Christine was never gonna work out. But it just feels sort of unnecessary, since it already feels like the last chapter did enough to showcase the situation he’s in now. But this one just has him leave the play (getting a talking to and replacement with Mr. Reyes), Christine crying off play, and Jeremy heading out to the curb of the school with squip not working at all.

I don’t even really have a quote that standouts besides the last one with Jeremy at the curb:

“I cry like I’m trying to make icicles.”

So I guess it has that

Overall,

Chapter 46:

If you are not a fan of second hand embarrassment, this chapter is not for you. In it, Jeremy finally does his thing during the play where he asks Christine to go out with him during A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and it goes about as well as you think…

And there’s not much else to it besides that, with my only real feeling during it (besides one scene I’ll get to) was just feeling bad for Jeremy, with him ending up going back to lying on the ground again as Lysander. Was Jeremy ever going to actually get Christine? Of course not! Did the scene need to be dragged for 3 pages? Not sure….(though of course it’s just personal preference)

The only real part that I really enjoyed was Christine’s response to fit in the play:

“Forsooth, a curious dream hath overtaken this one! He talks in his sleep like a thing possessed with love!”

Idk it’s kinda funny and a nice and fitting jab, even if it transitions back to Jeremy’s embarrassment.

Overall,

Chapter 45:

So this chapter really feels like a Segway between 44 and 46. And that’s kind of showcased with how little this chapter kind of has, as it follows Jeremy at the start of A Midsummer Nights Dream, with there not being much else besides that, Jeremy being guided by the squip and whatnot.

The only standout moments from it being 

the reference to Jeremy’s parents being divorce lawyers when Jeremy mentions his relatives 

“Nameless relatives, basically a jury.”

and some cool little bits of writing from Jeremy, including:

“There isn’t really one curtain in a play - there are two, one in front of the other, like the lips of a clam.”

“I have to do this thing with Christine. I have to get up there and do it. I’ve been planning on doing it for so long, like with the chocolate Shakespeare way back when, that now it’s almost a religious thing, like I have to do it or I’m going to hell.”

But besides that and a lot more smaller stuff, it doesn’t have much and is just kinda average.

Overall,

I have a book to do for APUSH called “The Jungle” and I have found it very important to try to get this work done as quickly as possible…

So I have a question

Do you guys want me to blog about it? Or not?

Chapter 44:

This chapter is pretty basic, and also a bit boring. That’s not necessarily because it’s a bad chapter, it’s decent, it’s got a decent plot with it being on Jeremy getting ready for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, some decent jokes like this one after Jeremy sees some girls who are wearing fairy wings:

“I wonder why I love them so much, why I’m not happy with girls as they are, why I always want them to have wings or tails or…additions. Am I a freak?”

Or Jeremy knowing the specific amount of days “teenager party debauchery” is reported for):

“Tv stations will cover New Jersey teenager party debauchery for about five days.”

There’s also the surprise come back of Mark Jackson, a guy who, after his first scene being crashing out on Jeremy over a video game, has now warmed up to him. Another surprise, and a sort of funny one, being that Jeremy’s therapist (who his mom got him after telling her about everything that had been going on) turns out to also have a squip!

But honestly, besides those surprises, and those jokes, when met by 40,42,42 and 43. This one just doesn’t have a chance to stand out. And kinda drags.

So overall,

Chapter 43:

This chapter is another really good one, and while the most emotions I’ve gotten lately from this book is sad and serious, I would say this one was actually I would say both serious but also pretty exposing of what Jeremy’s high school is really like. All of the scenes at the school so far, especially in the beginning, depicted it as a typical high school musical type deal. With popular kids, dorks, “Hot Girls”, and all of that. But this chapter really just showcases the reality of it, like with this passage:

“ “Yeah. Nuts.” I think about Rich’s squip. Is it dead? Then, without any of the hallmarks of a natural bell-no overtones, no undertones, no hammer banging anything-the Martian sound that passes for a bell in our school rings.”

Even just the description of a school bell is enough to showcase what the schools really like, or has become after the house fire. And it’s just really interesting to see the perspective on the school change.

I wouldn’t say this chapter was really much besides that though, not sure if I’ve mentioned this yet, but these chapters aren’t really joke filled, even with Christine around and Jeremy being at the school in this chapter. And this one’s no exception, with the two only real jokes I could find/found funny being this one, a response to a banner hung up at the school after the house fire saying WE ARE MIDDLE BOROUGH and squip correcting Jeremy when he talks about how a similar message was put up at Columbine High School:

“Well, duh. But weren’t we Middle Borough before?

APPARENTLY NOT.”

And this other squip-Jeremy joke after Jeremy asks Christine what validate means (with her making fun of him after he asks if he’s weird in a good way):

“Oh. Well, fine.” I cross my arms. “I don’t need vali-dali-dation.” Christine giggles.

THIS FEMALES GREAT. WHAT AN IDEA. I’M NOT GOING TO VALIDATE YOU EITHER.

You shut up.”

But overall, with its interesting look into the high school culture, and also some more interesting developments like Rich and Jake possibly having started the fire,

Chapter 42:

So if chapter 40 is the closest this book has ever gotten to making me scared, this one is the closest the book has ever gotten to making me cry :(.

In it Jeremy basically spills what’s been happening this whole time to his Mom, telling her about what happened at the party, squip, the car, everything.

And while there is stuff like the good pacing and also really great immersion with descriptions like:

“I’ve also never seen anything resembling the remotest, tiniest body of water create any kind of reflection in her eyeballs. Until now.”

The main standout of this chapter is the plot, more specifically the sadness of it, Jeremy’s mom is depicted in a surprisingly realistic way, the most character we’ve ever seen from her. And it genuinely tugged at my heart strings when that last line/paragraph hit:

“Mom holding my head and wondering out loud where she went wrong and telling me that she loves me so much, her only son, at least I wasn’t burned in the fire.”

In fact, this is one of the few chapters where the squip doesn’t really have a huge part of the plot, much like 41, and I really think that worked well!

Overall,

Chapter 41:

This chapter starts out with continuing the house fire plot, with Jeremy still being stressed and talking to Michael over the phone. With Michael detailing to Jeremy what Jeremy has already learned from the squip. But then it takes a surprising turn to be about Jeremy and Christine, as Jeremy and her talk about the fire, their parents, school, friends, and all that stuff. It’s a nice little break from the drama with the house fire that crashed down in the last chapter. 

And even if there’s nothing that necessarily makes it stand out from the rest in humor, or pacing, or anything really, (besides the squips jokes about Jeremy’s embarrassing moments being steps to Eunuch hood, and another step on the Eunuch ladder.)

It’s still a nice chapter, and it’s good to just have a calmer bit of Jeremy and Christine just being teenagers outside of the sci-fi of the squip (though it still has comments of course) or drama of the house fire.

Overall,

Chapter 40:

This is probably the darkest chapter yet so far in this book. As the plot of it being that, while Jeremy’s trying to fall asleep, the squip tells him that Rich (and later Jake) have been hospitalized by a fire at the house party, which causes Jeremy to panic and worry for not only Rich and Jake, but also how the house party is gonna get exposed because of said fire via police interrogation and what not on what happened.

The two main stand out parts of this chapter are

The differences between Jeremy and the squips handling of the situation, while Jeremy is understandably worried, the squip is relatively neutral and even sees it as an opportunity for things like talking to Christine. But it’s not necessarily because it’s evil, but more so because of something it explains: “THEY SHOULD HAVE PREPARED YOU FIR SITUATIONS LIKE THIS. I’M NOT PROGRAMMED TO COUNSEL HUMAN SHOCK AND SORROW. I’M MORE ABOUT RESULTS.”

The last scene. The last paragraph. Is the closest this book has gotten to a horror ever, I’ll just put the quote down because after reading it, you get why: “F__k. I ask the squip for help and it drops my synapses off into sleep, but it can’t control my dreams: Rich all charred up, making fun of me, with no face, holding his head out for to slap it like a hand, with a pill swimming in alcohol inside.”

overall,

Chapter 39:

In this chapter Jeremy drives Chloe, Brock, Christine, Nicole, and Michael home. With him having to deal with issues, like almost getting into an accident with two fire trucks, trying and failing to be cute with Christine, and Jeremy, Nicole, and Michael having to push Michael’s car out of the driveway.

And though it may seem like this chapter would be one that would have a very hard to follow pacing, or have less opportunities to have good jokes with all the events in the chapter. I would say this was actually pretty above average!

Like with the first incident with the fire trucks where Jeremy is about to go on a tangent, before the squip interrupts him:

“I wonder how fast I’m going; I look down to see a disappointing 50-

WATCH!”

Or the kind of cursed part where Jeremy talks about the squip laughing:

“It’s horrible. Keanu Reeves laughing in your mind? Must be what schizos hear.”

The only parts that kind of stick out in a negative way, is really just Nicole, both how she’s described (Chapter 38 all over again) and also some weird choices with her dialogue. The descriptions here aren’t as bad, but again, combined with Micheal’s fetishization of Asian girls, it’s kind of weird..

“She wears a kiddie size T-shirt, bringing to the forefront some assets that weren’t evident in the bathtub.”

And then her dialogue:

“I’ll help too, this one’s too skinny.”

“You a’ight?”

Obviously some of this can be attributed to it being 2004, along with the fact that she’s a fan of stuff like rap, but idk it’s just weird to me that the Asian character is the only one who talks like this, even Michael, who literally is dating her doesn’t really talk like this.

But overall I guess,

Chapter 38:

So this chapter I’d say while begins as strong as 37 was…kind of declined with some strange lines and interactions through out it, and also the fact that, Jeremy decides to use the squip with Christine, which does make some sense as Jeremy asked if the squip could help in the last chapter. But it just seems slightly odd because he seemed capable enough with her in the last chapter as well, but I’ll mainly let it slide.

Some of the weirder stuff in this chapter isn’t necessarily bad in the material itself but just seems slightly unnecessary, some examples being:

Jeremy calling Stephanie a “crazy self abusing Hot Girl” (again this is from 2004 but that year, and the fact it was written by a guy who self harmed and later killed himself, is doing a lot of lifting for me to not critique it as much)

This description of the Asian girl Michael (who is found in a bathroom) is with:

“Oily looking lump”

Nothing necessarily wrong with it, it’s just a really weird description, though I guess it could make some sense if they were making out? I have no clue why Vizzini would write this otherwise…(and I do have to agree that Michael’s whole thing with Asian girls is pretty weird and fetishized).

The only other part that stuck out to me in a positive way, was when Jeremy starts to talk about the “Millennium of The Woman” which he read in Time Magazine, it felt like a nice nod to early in the book when Jeremy was having a similar conversation with Christine about how man had reached peak evolutional form and what not, little Chekov’s Gun type deal (not completely obviously).

Overall, besides some of the weirder stuff, it was kind of average, 

Chapter 37:

In this chapter, Jeremy gets to talk to Christine again after over 10 chapters of no real interactions with her. And I would say it’s well worth it!

In it we see how Jeremy has really matured since his first interactions with her at the school, and a lot of it’s without the squip! (Unless you count it telling Jeremy the name Rich gave to his “you know what”) and it’s kind of neat to just see Jeremy be a more matured, but still kind of dorky guy we know him as.

Like when he starts to spiral a bit about how much a month can feel like a month in you’re own room, before getting brought back when Christine says:

“Jeremy? Still with us?”

Just small stuff like that is nice!

And there’s also this line from the squip that basically confirms my idea that one of the main (possible) themes of the book is toxic masculinity:

“YOU NOW REJECT THE NOTIONS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN FED BY TELEVISION AND THONGS AND XXX THE MOVIE AND XXX ON THE INTERNET.”

After Jeremy tells the squip he just wants Christine.

Which is honestly a fitting closure to Jeremy’s journey with his ideals of being cool and like the kids who pick on him and what not, he just wants someone he knows might actually want him, Christine.

Overall,

Chapter 36:

This is a huuuuge chapter in my opinion, because it feels like it’s the split between the Jeremy before the party, and Jeremy after the party.

In it, Jeremy leaves the bathroom and meets with Rich, who leads him to a room where Jake (the supposed boyfriend of Christine) is…doing stuff with another girl Katrina. With a bunch of jocks and cool kids surrounding the room to watch. And while at first intrigued, Jeremy ends up leaving, ashamed of himself and really, who he’s become with the squip.

It’s kind of insane how this was the same guy who in the beginning was obsessed with to try to b*ng Christine and any of the hot girls, and was jealous of people like Rich.

Not that there isn’t any humor to it, like when a “pyramid” of guys watching collapses and one of the guys, Eric, lands in Jeremy’s calf, or when Rich says this:

“Jeremy, what’s wrong with you? Even with a squip you can’t get l*id? What-“

Which is a bit wild, even if it’s true (kind of).

And of course that last line I think sets up the rest of what Jeremy is gonna be in the book:

“All I’m good for is *** on the internet. Shutdown.”

Overall,

10/10 chapter!

Chapter 35:

So this one is definitely something…and not in the best way.

Something that I have noticed in this book, and that I think I’ve mentioned before but I wanna state again, is how Ned Vizzini’s girl characters aren’t really characters. But more so plot devices or…just there?

And this chapter is a definite highlight of that, in it Jeremy (while hiding in the bathroom from Brock) sees Stephanie (one of the “Hot Girls” at his school) and he decides to…flirt with her? It’s not completely that, since later on he says he just needed something warm, like a pillow, but he ends up hugging her leg and then talks to her, where we get some weird scenes, like when she says that the reason she was throwing up was because she cut herself, and then her cuts are seen by Jeremy as:

“Neat, razor like, laser like, potent, shallow, and thin.”

And while she also calls them “pretty” and “only beauty in her world” it’s just kind of out of nowhere…and really strange (I know this was 2004, and that suicide and self harm is also showcased in Vizzini’s more well known book “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” but this just rubs off on me the wrong way).

Besides that, it’s got decent pacing?

Yeah I don’t know how to feel about this one…

overall,

5/10 chapter