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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » The Big Crunch

The Big Crunch

1 rating: -2.0

A book by Pete Hautman

Gr 8 Up-June has attended six schools in the last four years and is once again the new kid, this time at a Minnesota high school. First on her agenda: find some friends and a boyfriend. Wes broke up with Izzy just before school started and he doesn't … see full wiki

Tags: Books

Author: Pete Hautman

Publisher: Scholastic Press

1 review about The Big Crunch

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It's not Pete Hautman, it's me

Feb 15, 2011

by missprint
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Rating:

-2

The Big Crunch by Pete Hautman (2011)

After reading How to Steal a Car I was pretty sure I was done with Pete Hautman. It isn't that his writing is bad or anything but it's very stark and the characters are sometimes thin, a little flat. And I also have a hard time identifying with the disaffected youth of America who seem to just have a massive case of ennui.

Anyway, I gave The Big Crunch a try because I fell in love with its cover (beautifully illustrated by Frank Stockton). I knew it would be a book I would either love (as much as I love the cover) or it would be the book the convinced me to part ways once and for all with Pete Hautman.

The latter happened. I wish him all the best but his books will have to muddle along without my reading them.

The Big Crunch is a love story, but not that kind of love story. Wes and June don't fall in love at first sight, they don't swoon. But eventually after orbiting and watching and thiking, Wes and June sort of collide. But not in a really romantic way.

This is a subtle love story, maybe a little too subtle for my tastes.

The story alternates between Wes and June's perspective but it's very rapid (like every other paragraph somtimes) and makes it hard to really feel involved with either protagonist.

The book reminded me a lot of How to Say Goodbye in Robot which was all about friendship and attachments in the face of deeply NOT wanting to get attached. Ultimately though The Big Crunch lacked the verve and, yes, spark to set it apart as something special. It might not be a convential love story but it felt a lot like something I've heard before.

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