No, this is not the name of the book; it's what I did at page 85. I'd had enough.
No offence to anyone who enjoyed Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman, but I found the plot to be contrived and implausible from the start.
So a Yr 12-er is at the door waiting for his exam results. He is a straight A student (of course) and is desperate to get to the preferred course at a lucrative university. Bing bong (yes, onomatopoeia) and it's not the post man, but rather, a beautiful (of course) young woman with whom he'd had an intoxicated one night stand a year ago.
She is holding a baby. His baby, as it turns out, and she has had enough. So as all mothers do (sarcasm) she is dumping the child with him and leaving for good.
Don't misunderstand. The issue of unwanted pregnancy is as important today as it ever was. I just didn't appreciate the cheesy packaging of Blackman's writing. It was too 'neat', too 'convenient'. I like my novel choices to be as chaotic as real life, that's why I deplore romance novels.
So by the time the protagonist's brother comes out of the closet (the foreshadowing for this was that he was able to cuddle the infant, unlike the father of the child) I knew that I was done. Sorry, Blackman, this novel was death by cliche. Let me know what you think, Year 9.
Miss ^__^
Good to see your Year 9s are reading your blog and posting comments! LOL. Don't think I'll bother with that book now. However, I quite like a bit of romance - to make up for the paucity of it in real life! Who cares? As long as the old man keeps cooking, who needs romance? Have you read The Hunger Games yet?? It's a 'must read'. Tell your Year 9s. Get your librarian to buy the trilogy if he/she hasn't already. Cheers. See you soon, and not on Skype!!
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