false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168082538m/30681.jpg 30681 4 <I>New York</I> magazine's witty, cheeky book critic Walter Kirn rides high in his exhilarating second novel, and so does his protagonist, Minnesota teen dweeb Justin Cobb. Justin's hippie dentist may have hypnotized him out of his socially perilous thumbsucking habit, but he can't suppress the boy's "oral gift." Justin's mouth just won't quit: beer, decongestants, nitrous oxide, cough syrup, Midol, and Ritalin go in, and out spritzes hilarious commentary on his eccentric yet authentic life and times. Our hero's mood larks and plunges erratically, but Kirn's prose is alert, artful, under control. The debate coach's skin is "the neutral hue of turkey meat." One of Justin's realistically inconclusive crushes is a redhead "with freckles the color of new pennies." Her dad is a Limbaughesque columnist who calls welfare recipients "food tramps." Meanwhile, Justin's dad, Mike, is "the Führer of fly-fishing," an ex-gridiron hero obsessed with deer hunting (and eating). He's also prone to spouting his vile old coach's preposterous apothegms ("Until you're broken, you don't know what you're made of"). Mike is funny and poignant--a tricky note to hit. <p> Like a mucked-up modern Huck Finn plying his own stream of consciousness, Justin drifts into weird scenes: a job at a gas station fated for torching, a visit by his mad Winnebago vagabond grandparents, a kidnapping caper to rescue a pothead infant from sinister hick parents, Grit and Munch. Chapter 4, about a Chippewa City debate meet and rather chaste orgy, is dazzling teen satire. Not that <I>Thumbsucker</I> is flawless: Justin's nurse mom is a vague character, his more vivid kid brother is inexplicably ignored, the satire of the Hazelden celeb rehab is lame, and, like Huck's, Justin's adventures sort of peter out instead of leading up to a slam-bang finale. The family's conversion to Mormonism seems arbitrary, though richly detailed, since Kirn was a small-town Mormon kid. <p> Flaws, schmaws. <I>Thumbsucker</I> is the truest book about adolescence I've read since <I>This Boy's Life</I>, and Kirn is some kind of comic genius. <I>--Tim Appelo</I> 2246252 19 10 1999 Thumbsucker total:412|5:61|4:139|3:151|2:52|1:9| 412 1427 558 44 3 0 false false Thu Jul 09 17:45:33 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 18:45:55 -0700 2009
The book's weakness was in its characters. While they were all well-communicated and identifiable, I didn't really feel what was going on with them. Fun misadventu...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 09 08:43:20 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 09 09:02:35 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sat Feb 21 07:07:40 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 07:09:29 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jan 28 20:01:32 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 20:01:55 -0800 2009 4 0 true false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 11 13:59:37 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 11 14:00:30 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 true false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 17 06:27:17 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 11:51:14 -0700 2009 1 4 0 false false Sun Apr 05 22:33:45 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 05 22:34:18 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 06 10:57:09 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 10 09:34:53 -0800 2008
Told in a wry voice, the book explores his strange world and eccentric family. I found some chapters to be crossi...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 26 19:01:23 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 19:10:59 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sat Jan 03 19:13:55 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 19:14:31 -0800 2009 This book picked me.]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 11 13:33:05 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 12 21:59:16 -0800 2008
Thumbsucker opens with a Sherwood Anderson quote from Winesburg Ohio and I found it fitting, especially for content...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri May 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue May 20 16:51:29 -0700 2008 Sat May 24 20:45:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 true false Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Fri Apr 20 04:17:35 -0700 2007 Fri Apr 20 04:20:52 -0700 2007
It reads like an indy film--which is why I ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 04 17:03:06 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 04 17:06:17 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 01 12:53:28 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 01 12:54:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Nov 13 15:59:30 -0800 2007 Tue Nov 13 16:03:31 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 02 13:13:02 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 07 09:36:06 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Apr 29 14:14:15 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 29 14:14:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 27 21:40:37 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 05 13:29:57 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue Jun 05 12:44:48 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 05 12:46:33 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=30681