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Boy Minus Girl
LES WANTS the girl. He thinks she’s amazing, exotic, perfect. But he doesn’t know how to talk to her, kiss her, or make her realize that he’s the best and only guy for her in the whole wide world.
Once he masters these things, she’ll be his! Easy-peasy, right? The gulf between dreamgirl and realgirl is explored and made somewhat less vast in this bawdy yet romantic not-quit...more
Once he masters these things, she’ll be his! Easy-peasy, right? The gulf between dreamgirl and realgirl is explored and made somewhat less vast in this bawdy yet romantic not-quit...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
December 9th 2008
by Knopf Books for Young Readers
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The jacket description is a little misleading, but it was an...interesting book. It was advertised as a boy-likes-girl-but-can't-have-her story. In actuality, boy, Les, likes girl, Charity, but soon discovers that while Charity likes Les, she is a lesbian, so Les has no chance with her. But he and his friend Howard are able to get a lot of advise about girls from her. He also has to deal with a bully at school and prepare for the school's talent show where he is debuting as a magician, the Great...more
Maybe 2.5 stars. I read it because many copies were donated to a pediatricians office. A copy was then given to a local youth issues celebrity who gave it to her daughter who claimed it to be horribly inappropriate for kids. Yes, it is inappropriate for kids and probably shouldn't be in a pediatricians office, but to give it to this local media person to evaluate annoys me. Anyway, it is the story of Les who is trying to "score" for the first time. He gets bad advice from his wayward uncle and f...more
I hated, despised, the first hundred pages of this book. And then suddenly, I was hooked. Lester Eckhardt starts out as a caricature of your typical fourteen-year-old boy living in a small Kansas town: he's obsessed with girls and sex, struggling through his teenage awkwardness, and bored out of his God-fearing mind. Contained in every other paragraph, for the first fifty pages or so, is a mention of masturbation. Stick with the book, though, and you'll find a rather profound story that explores...more
It wasn't horrible but it sure wasn't good. The plot was dull. I didn't care about the characters, bad things happened to them and I went "eh." The writing was pretty bad though, I had to keep re-reading passages because I felt I had missed an action but I hadn't. In one scene it jumps from a character asking Les to try some ice cream to immediately having the ice cream in his mouth.
Don't read it. The only reason it got "banned" was because each chapter started with a "seduction tip" (those are...more
Don't read it. The only reason it got "banned" was because each chapter started with a "seduction tip" (those are...more
I picked up this book because it ended up on a banned list (well, technically it was just "moved" to a higher age group). While I'm not for banning books, I'm glad it was only so because I became aware of the cute read. This story could totally fit in with something seen on the cable channel, ABCFamily, with the exception of a few curse words (f-word and GD curse). In fact, several times when it mentioned masturbation, I thought about a line from the movie Parenthood -- "that's what little dudes...more
Each chapter opens with a Seduction Tip that often made me chuckle at its absurdity. What scares me most is that these tips were probably real and not made up by Richard Uhlig. In that case, what sort of man would even follow these tips in hopes of becoming a "Seductive Man"? I guess, the answer would be young boys who don't know any better like Les.
As I said before, Boy Minus Girl was a little too much boy perspective for me. I found it somewhat amusing, but nothing too spectacular.
Complete rev...more
As I said before, Boy Minus Girl was a little too much boy perspective for me. I found it somewhat amusing, but nothing too spectacular.
Complete rev...more
I liked that this story took place in the 80's, when I was the age of Les Eckhardt. It was fun visiting that time period. I loved how Les reads "the Seductive Man" in hopes of getting laid. I think it should be standard reading for every teenage boy and man. However, I kept waiting for him to find out that it was written by a women, because that is what it felt like from the excerpts, but that didn't happen in the book. For living in a small town, a lot of exciting things happen to Les...but wil...more
Les spends eighth grade fending off a bully, crushing on a girl he knows he'll never be able to get (it's not that she doesn't like him, she just has a long-distance girlfriend in St. Louis), preparing his magic act for the local talent show, and lot of time thinking about girls and sex.
When Les' cool uncle shows up, much to the horror of Les' uptight mother, Les thinks this might be the best thing that ever happened to him. Uncle Ray drives a cool hair, has cool hair, and freely dispenses advi...more
When Les' cool uncle shows up, much to the horror of Les' uptight mother, Les thinks this might be the best thing that ever happened to him. Uncle Ray drives a cool hair, has cool hair, and freely dispenses advi...more
Sep 02, 2010
Terry
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Boys for whom "Carter Finnally Gets It" is too long.
Shelves:
guy-books,
brought-to-rhs-library
The book got better as it went along, and by the end I was happy to have read it. It starts out as a typical "Boy-feels-like-a-loser-and-can't-get-the-girl" story, like Swim the Fly. There are several detailed references to masturbation and other sexual issues, which means it is probably too controversial for most middle school libraries. Of course, some readers will love the same naughty bits that will give others pause. Our protagonist, Les, is in 8th grade, so the book won't appeal to many ol...more
The jacket description is a little misleading, but it was an...interesting book. It was advertised as a boy-likes-girl-but-can't-have-her story. In actuality, boy, Les, likes girl, Charity, but soon discovers that while Charity likes Les, she is a lesbian, so Les has no chance with her. But he and his friend Howard are able to get a lot of advise about girls from her. He also has to deal with a bully at school and prepare for the school's talent show where he is debuting as a magician, the Great...more
I really thought the idea of this book was intriguing and all the recent hype from WoodTV made me want to read it even more. I started reading this full of enthusiasm and got 6 pages in. The writing is atrocious. You can't pay me to finish this.
i thonk the book was a really good book it was the kind of book that yhu would use for some girl and boy advice but it was a WONDERFUL book i would read it again and i would recamond this book to teenagers because some kids can relate to this book
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I agree with the review by my colleague Nancy, that the first half is funny and the second half is surprisingly serious and dramatic. The 80s setting is great.
I did NOT like this. I stopped reading it halfway through, and I rarely put down a book in the middle. This deserves -100 stars. xP
Read for professional review.
Mar 16, 2013
Brianna Waters
marked it as to-read
Mar 10, 2013
Fred21
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Feb 28, 2013
Angelika Magno
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Marc
marked it as to-read
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