Rash by Pete Hautman - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

Nov 05, 2008 Jonathan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who likes alot of action

Recommended to Jonathan by: a libarian

This book starts out with a kid named Bo, he's driven to be the best at running but also has a very bad temper. A tauting rival at school ends up pushing Bo to physically and verbally lash out at him which ends him up in jail. The book takes place in the future and so you can pretty much go to jail for any kind of violence. Luckily in jail a friend named bork who is a artificial intelligence that Bo was working on for a science project locates him in jail and acts as a lawyer to get him out of j...more

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Sep 28, 2007 Shannon rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: adolescent literature lovers

Can you imagine a world where safety procedures rule…literally? Dropping fruit, failing to take medicine, and walking without a “safety helmet” is actually illegal is the late 21st century U.S.S.A. (The extra “S” stands for safety.) Not surprisingly, up to one-third of adult citizens are in corporate-owned prisons at any one point of time. After all, someone has to do the “dangerous” jobs that keep the country and economy going. (Did you ever realize how dangerous it is to produce frozen pizzas?...more

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Mar 29, 2008 Abby rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Anger management takes on a whole new meaning in this smart, funny teen novel -- set in a dystopian future USA (renamed the USSA, for United Safer States of America) where public safety concerns have replaced personal liberty. Anything bad for you -- alcohol, cigarettes, junk food -- or dangerous -- contact sports, skateboarding -- has been outlawed. And if you let your temper get the best of you, you might wind up in jail. This is what happens to Bo Marsten, a teen who is sentenced to 3 years o...more

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Aug 30, 2007 Boyd rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of dystopian fiction

Shelves: youngadulthighinterest

Welcome to the future: a United States so safe that it's been renamed the USSA (United Safe States of America). Here everything from football to skateboarding to drinking has been banned. Walking down the street requires protective pads and a safety helmet. Everyone's safe and happy. Or at least that's the theory. Rash by Pete Hautman tells the story of Bo Marsten who doesn't exactly fit into this cowardly new world. He causes a skin rash outbreak at his school and finds himself packaging pizza...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Austin Maunu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Rash
By: Pete Hautman
This book is about Bo Martinson a kid who runs into a little trouble. The year is 2074 its takes place in USSA (United Safer States of America). He likes this girl named Maddy and he hates this guy named Carlos, Carlos is always flirting with Maddy witch gets Bo a little mad.

First Bo gets in a fight with Carlos over who can run the fastest. Then Bo has to go to the office to receive his punishment. He talks to the principle and gets a strike if he gets into on more fight h...more Rash
By: Pete Hautman
This book is about Bo Martinson a kid who runs into a little trouble. The year is 2074 its takes place in USSA (United Safer States of America). He likes this girl named Maddy and he hates this guy named Carlos, Carlos is always flirting with Maddy witch gets Bo a little mad.

First Bo gets in a fight with Carlos over who can run the fastest. Then Bo has to go to the office to receive his punishment. He talks to the principle and gets a strike if he gets into on more fight he has to go to juvenile court. After this all happens he goes to social studies (Carlos is in this class with him). He is talk to Carlos when he and Carlos get into an argument over who is allowed to talk to Maddy. The all of a sudden Carlos starts breaking out in a rash and gets acne almost instantly. Then he falls to the floor and the teacher calls the nurse, the nurse comes and calls (911).

When the paramedics get there they ask who did and everyone ran out of their desk to get far away from Bo. They grab him and put him in a body bag and take him away. When he wakes he is at home in his room he ask his mom what happened and she said (you were constrained until the figured out what was wrong with you, o yeah and we have to go to court on the third of march).

He knew that they could not afford a lawyer so his grandpa represented him. After court was done he had a six month jail time. As soon as he got to jail he meet Rhino (his sell mate) he was four-hundred pounds he got sent to jail for being too heavy. When you got sent to jail you had to make pizzas for McDonald’s.

After a wile there was a meeting out in the yard he saw hammer (the warden) who was holding a foot ball (which was illegal to play). He was going to draft people to make it on the football team. After it was all done Bo, Rhino and two other drones (inmates).They needed to practice they have never played football or any sport. In the next week they had a game against another prison. After they practiced they tried to take them strait on (Not looking like a professional team) more like a pack of monkeys. They were tied seven to seven but everyone was getting hurt they stopped the game. They had another game against the same team in a month they practiced and practiced until the game cam.

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Jan 04, 2012 Karin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008-reads, youngadult

Picture, if you will, life in the year 2076. You are living in The United Safer States of America and things such as obesity, verbal abuse, and dangerous activities are against the law. The legal driving age is twenty-six. Even sports such as football are illegal. Sports that are allowed are hindered due to all the safety gear the participants are required to wear. This is the world that sixteen-year-old Bo Marsten inhabits.

Bo has inherited a bit of a temper from his father who has been in pris...more Picture, if you will, life in the year 2076. You are living in The United Safer States of America and things such as obesity, verbal abuse, and dangerous activities are against the law. The legal driving age is twenty-six. Even sports such as football are illegal. Sports that are allowed are hindered due to all the safety gear the participants are required to wear. This is the world that sixteen-year-old Bo Marsten inhabits.

Bo has inherited a bit of a temper from his father who has been in prison since 2073 for road rage. He has been in trouble at school many times for "failing to control his antisocial impulses," but when he is falsely accused of causing a rash that spreads throughout the school, his anger gets the best of him and he assaults a classmate. This action lands him in a work camp in the middle of the Canadian tundra that is surrounded by hungry polar bears.

The work camp Bo is sent to is a factory that makes pizzas. He becomes a member of a four man team with the responsibility of using the pepperoni gun. Each pull of the trigger on the pepperoni gun delivers twenty-six pepperoni on each pizza. When the team works in sync, life isn't so bad. There is only one group that causes Bo problems while he is there, the Goldshirts. The Goldshirts are an elite group at the pizza factory that have special privileges like a variety of food, when the others only have defective pizzas to eat for every meal, every day. The Goldshirts main job is to play football for the warden.

All new editions to the work camp eventually have a tryout in front of the warden. This entails running and catching a pass. If you catch it, you become a Goldshirt and are placed on the team. Bo makes the team and experiences physical activity without protective gear for the first time in his life. The warden requires that the team practice every day for several hours in order to prepare for an illegal game with another work camp. If you want to remain a Goldshirt, you play even if you are injured.

After surviving work camp and brutal football games, Bo, with the help of an unlikely attorney, is released from his sentence and allowed to go home. Bo begins to think about life in the USSA and considers where else he can go that would allow more freedom.

Pete Hautman has written a unique sports novel for the sci-fi/fantasy lover. This interesting look at what might happen to a society more concerned with safety than freedom is a page-turner. The reader will enjoy comparing today's life with the life Hautman has created.(less)

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Dec 01, 2011 Nigel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Nigel.M “Rash” Reading Review Dec,1/11

I had no idea, what the future might be like, until I read Rash by Pete Hautman, the author of Godless, the National Book Award winner. Pete Hautman made me feel as if the future is now, even how ridiculous it is. The way he described how all the streets have absorbent gel so people can’t get hurt, even still everyone must wear helmets walking down the street. Running you have to wear more pads and braces than football, but football is illegal because it c...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Josh Vanderhorst rated it 4 of 5 stars

Rash
By: Pete Hautman

Do you hate to read books? When my teacher told us we had to read a book I was so upset! I hate to read books but when I picked up Pete Hautman’s, Rash I got into this book instantly! When I do read books it will take me a bit of time to get into it, but with this one I was into it right after the first chapter.

This book is set in the future (2074) were anything that is a little dangerous is illegal. Bo (the main character) is a hothead who has trouble coping with problems...more

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Oct 16, 2011 Tonner B. rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just got done reading the book rash by Pete Hautman. I absolutely loved this book so I gave it 5 stars. The story starts out just as a normal day with Bo, the main character, racing his biggest competitor Karlhos Mink. Karlhos distracted Bo causing him to lose the race. Bo got mad at Karlhos and took a swing at him. That caused Bo to go to jail where he learns to play football which has been illegal for almost 50 years. Likewise, Bo is surprised when he learns that he will be playing football...more

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Apr 20, 2011 Brandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, boy-books, dystopian-post-apocalyptic, teen

Bo is from a family with a history: both his father and brother are incarcerated for anger-based crimes (road rage and a fistfight, respectively), and Bo is acutely aware of his own struggles with self-control. His rival, Karlohs, intentionally needles him, going so far as to give himself a rash and blame it on Bo. The resulting school-wide psychosomatic rash lands Bo in a heap of trouble, in spite of it not actually being his fault.. Name-calling has already put him on probation, so throwing a...more Bo is from a family with a history: both his father and brother are incarcerated for anger-based crimes (road rage and a fistfight, respectively), and Bo is acutely aware of his own struggles with self-control. His rival, Karlohs, intentionally needles him, going so far as to give himself a rash and blame it on Bo. The resulting school-wide psychosomatic rash lands Bo in a heap of trouble, in spite of it not actually being his fault.. Name-calling has already put him on probation, so throwing a punch at Karlohs, while satisfying, seals his fate. Bo is off to the Canadian tundra to fill his 36-month sentence in a pizza factory, miles from nowhere and surrounded by hungry polar bears.

Work in the pizza factory isn’t unbearable, but it’s far from pleasant. However, things take a turn for the better when he’s accepted into the factory’s highly-selective, highly-illegal football team. Playing football gives Bo the outlet he never knew he’d been looking for, but it’s not enough to help him overcome all his fears. There are still those hungry polar bears on the other side of the fence, after all.

In between Bo’s athletic and personal problems, there’s the matter of his science-project AI he’d been working on when he was kicked out of school: Bork has somehow, against all odds, developed sentience and a sense of humor, and is now creeping through the WindO, a webghost with legal aspirations.

And thank goodness the government has stepped up to the plate to ensure the safety of its citizens! The United Safer States of America have outlawed virtually anything dangerous: alcohol, pocketknives, self-mutilation (tattoos and body piercing, mainly), even name-calling, which could damage the victim's feelings. The penal system, incarcerating nearly 25% of the population, is more about a labor force than corrections.

Lots of football details for the sports fans, plus humor and a main character you honestly root for, despite how many of his problems are entirely of his own making. 8th grade and up would likely enjoy this (older readers will get more out of it, of course), particularly reluctant-reader boys.(less)

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Oct 25, 2010 Christine rated it 1 of 5 stars

The story takes place in the future which give the reader a special and creative idea to look at the future. What will the world look like when the Government is over controlling and over protected the citizens? The setting of this novel is very interesting to me. It gives me a chance to compare our government to the government that is in the novel to see which one is better. I am grateful that I am not living in the novel’s over- protective countries. In real life, almost everybody eats french...more

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Oct 21, 2010 Uhs_manlong rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: uhs

Rash by Pete Hautman is a great book. I like this book because of the futuristic element and the use of similes in the novel. It is very entertaining as everything that happened in the story surprised me. For example, the future society and technology.
The story takes place in the 2074 in the United Safer States of America. It is a society where verbal abuse, running without protective equipment, obesity, tattoos, as well as the consumption of alcohol and fast food are against the law. The Unit...more Rash by Pete Hautman is a great book. I like this book because of the futuristic element and the use of similes in the novel. It is very entertaining as everything that happened in the story surprised me. For example, the future society and technology.
The story takes place in the 2074 in the United Safer States of America. It is a society where verbal abuse, running without protective equipment, obesity, tattoos, as well as the consumption of alcohol and fast food are against the law. The United Safer States of America has an extensive prison system: 24% of all adults are serving time. They are the one who are responsible for most of the manual labour in this country, labour for which they are not paid for. The main character Bo is sentenced to the jail for three years for attacking his classmate.
There is also much nice figurative language used in this book. For example the author uses simile when he says, “As I strapped on my knee guards, imagined my legs like pistons, each stride propelling me effortlessly to unheard-of speeds.” (Page 11). The author also uses metaphors in his story. On page 14, Bo says “My legs were made of lead,” which means that he is so tired that he feels his legs are heavy.
This book is the most special book I have ever read as it is a combination of science fiction and sports literature. No one would expect a football themed novel would be set in the future America. The book discusses the society of this future America, where people trade freedom for safety and protection. At the same time, it talks about how the main character,Bo, is exposed to football and eventually makes it his career.
Another reason I like this book is because of its surprisingly brilliant plot development because it is clear and entertaining. The book starts with a conversation between Bo and his grandpa introducing the United Safer States of America to the reader. This clearly introduces the plot of the story. As the story progresses, Bo starts to get in more and more troubles as a result of his temper. At this point, the story makes me feel worried but also curious of what will happen next. Eventually, he is sentenced for manual labour for 3 years in Canada. In the work camp, he is first introduced to football and the story shifts from a futuristic theme to a football theme. The smooth transition from futuristic to sports theme is what makes this book so powerful and interesting. The transition is smooth because the plot provides details of how Bo is introduced to football. All elements of the book are connected so well that I could not find any flaws in the plot.
In conclusion, Rash is a nice novel and I recommend it to everyone. It is a good read.
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Oct 18, 2010 Jay T. rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought it was very well written, and it had very many great points of life. The main thing that got me was Pete's point of view on this world. I Always thought that he was putting off a point. so, I did some extra research and I found out that he acrtualy wrote a document on his point. (Here's a link: http://www.petehautman.com/rash.html)

"What do smoke-free restaurants, seatbelts and airbags in cars, and bicycle helmets have in common?

Fifty years ago none of those things existed. People smok...more I thought it was very well written, and it had very many great points of life. The main thing that got me was Pete's point of view on this world. I Always thought that he was putting off a point. so, I did some extra research and I found out that he acrtualy wrote a document on his point. (Here's a link: http://www.petehautman.com/rash.html)

"What do smoke-free restaurants, seatbelts and airbags in cars, and bicycle helmets have in common?

Fifty years ago none of those things existed. People smoked cigarettes everywhere--even in hospitals. Cars had no seatbelts or airbags. And any kid dorky enough to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle would have been laughed off the street.

Today, Americans are safer than ever. Accidents, violence, and disease are way, way down. Every year we get safer and safer...and safer...

That's good, right?

I wonder. Being safe is good—to a point—but I sometimes think we are so obsessed with safety we miss out on much of what life has to offer. I mean, if you wanted to be really safe, you would eat nothing but oatmeal, kale and lentils. You would never play contact sports, or ride a skateboard, or go for a hike in the mountains, or speak to a stranger, or drive a car, or give birth to a child...or do much of anything at all.

What if this safety trend continues? What will it be like in another fifty years? How safe do we want to be? Will sneezing in public be considered assault? Will tricycles have airbags? Will overweight people be sent to forced-labor diet farms? Will kitchen knives bear warning labels? (Caution: This implement can cause cuts!) Will French fries be as illegal as crack cocaine?"

I really liked every thing that pete did in this book, although, I thought he doesn't really have too much of a story line. but at the same time, I kinda like books like this. It seems more realistic or easier to relate to. I was actualy kind of suprised that he became involved in a football team at the prison. Personaly, I thought it was a prety good book, I hope you enjoy it also.

Thanks :)
Jay T(less)

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Jun 16, 2010 Kermit rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-fiction

3.4 stars Hospital reading. From a YALSA booklist. This was amusing. It's the future. The USA has kind of gone wacko about human safety. It is the law that people don't spread germs and they must wear protective clothing at all times to keep themselves safe. Everyone only drives SUVs because all other vehicles are unsafe. People are arrested for violations of the law, and 25% of the US population is in prison. But prison is really just like huge factories where the inmates live and they work and...more

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Jun 03, 2010 Ana712 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Rash by Pete Hautman, the main character, Bo, lives in the author's interesting perspective of late twenty-first century America. Being kind-of a rebel, Bo spends most of his life running: From being caught doing something robot controllers won't like, being in trouble with his family, being in trouble with his girlfriend, avoiding trouble he's already in and avoiding trouble he knows is yet to come. He spends most of his life running, physically and metaphorically, and in a way, so do I.
I'v...more In Rash by Pete Hautman, the main character, Bo, lives in the author's interesting perspective of late twenty-first century America. Being kind-of a rebel, Bo spends most of his life running: From being caught doing something robot controllers won't like, being in trouble with his family, being in trouble with his girlfriend, avoiding trouble he's already in and avoiding trouble he knows is yet to come. He spends most of his life running, physically and metaphorically, and in a way, so do I.
I've always ran away from troubles so that I don't have to face them. I know that's not healthy. Whenever I know somebody is angry at me, I avoid any sort of contact with them.
Once, a girl I am no longer friends with was going to confront me about how she thought I was lying when I said I had plans. (I was, but that's not the point of the story.) The point of the story was that I was so afraid of confrontation that I literally ran from her from three days. I had people whisper to me that she was coming,and I made up excuses for my constant need to use the bathroom. In the end, all that running just gave me more to deal with than if I had let her confront me in the first place.
Hopefully without sounding too mean, this girl was a girl who nobody really likes, and who I did not want to be friends with anyways. When I remember her chasing after me, I am reminded of a scene in Rash.
Bo had just escaped his factory/training camp in the arctic wasteland of Canada. He was being chased by robot polar bears who he had heard would tear him into tiny pieces before they ate him. The way he kept running and running as the polar bear viciously drew nearer and nearer to him, well, as I said it kind of reminds me of my experience with that girl.
I think running is something we all do. I think we all try to run away from our problems, and in doing so just make the problem bigger. I mean, don't you run away? Running is the easiest way to have peace, even if it is only short-lived. Running provides sort-of a safe haven, where you can pretend everything is happy and peaceful.
I have a friend who has been running away from her feelings toward her friend for the whole year, and is only now starting to realize how much that friend terrorizes her. She is only now defending herself. My other friends and I had known for the whole year how mean the girl is, but our friend just kept pushing these thoughts away.
This is what I think everybody does. Short term, you are happiest if you push your problems away from you. Long term, it just hacks away at you.
In Rash, Bo was safe for a while as he hid from his girlfriend, Maddy. She was angry at Bo for yelling at a guy who he thought was being too flirty with her.
Although he had time to plan out how he was going to act, he succeeded in making her only more angry by hiding from her.
While running is a bad idea, I don't recommend stepping up and facing your problems either. It's kind of a lose-lose situation.
Remember the girl I ran away from? Well eventually I let her confront me. I let her tell me all about how she thought I didn't like her, and how sad it made her feel inside. I knew it was bullshit, and I knew that when I apologized, she would continue to be mean to me. So i told her that I didn't want to be her friend, that I felt like she pressured me into doing everything with her and that she was unkind to me.
What good that came out of that was that now I am no longer friends with her. But much more bad came out. I felt like the meanest person in the world because of what she said to me and what I said to her.
When Bo finally outran the Polar bears, he still faced the trouble of the eskimos he had heard to be unkind, and if he avoided the eskimos he would face starvation. A lose-lose situation.
I hate that that can happen. I hate that there are problems we all face that just can't be resolved. It just reinforces the idea that the world is unfair. But you know what,
that's a problem that can't be solved either. (less)

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May 30, 2010 Yesha Naik rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Rash teenager Bo lives with the reality that he may very well be incarcerated for his bad temper. Bo lives in 2074 USSA (the United Safer States of America) and free expression of anger could get you between 3 and 20 years in a work camp. In his reality, about 20% of the adult population is incarcerated at any time. Conveniently, these workcamps are run by corporations like McDonalds and Coke, and provide the source for all manual labor needed. The professions with the most openings are: pris...more

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Mar 12, 2010 Lloyd rated it 2 of 5 stars

RASH
By Peter Hautman

There is a possibility that RASH is one of the most unique sport novels out there. No one will ever expect a football themed novel to be set in a future dystopian society in a newly renamed USSA (United Safer States of America). Creativity does not necessarily make it a book good by itself though, and it’s through the book’s poor execution by its character and plot development that turns a brilliant concept into unrealized potential.

The novel is primarily a football book wr...more RASH
By Peter Hautman

There is a possibility that RASH is one of the most unique sport novels out there. No one will ever expect a football themed novel to be set in a future dystopian society in a newly renamed USSA (United Safer States of America). Creativity does not necessarily make it a book good by itself though, and it’s through the book’s poor execution by its character and plot development that turns a brilliant concept into unrealized potential.

The novel is primarily a football book wrapped in a dystopian cover, yet it was written in such a way that doesn’t immerse the reader at all. Most sports novels have emotional bearings which make readers care about the leads the sport, but RASH does nothing like that. There is almost no emotion whatsoever tied down to the sport, and this is especially shown by the fact that the main character Bo for a large part of the book did not even like football.

The character development of Bo is poor. He is constantly contradicting his own values and beliefs and is a bland character in general. When he is first shown the sport of football, he hates it and believes only brutes play it. When he starts to play he enjoys it, but his character ends up blackmailing the head warden because he doesn’t want to play football anymore. The book ends off with him deciding to play the sport overseas. This type of flow makes no sense. Bo’s attitude is very tedious and inconsistent. The society that he lived in punished crimes severely, yet he broke the law for punching a guy in the face. He then goes to prison, gets exposed to football, and states that “I don’t play football. Football is illegal” (Hautman112). Bo has no genuine quality which makes the reader want to root for him. I neither liked nor disliked for Bo, I simply didn’t care.

The plot development at times is very foolish. For instance, Bo’s school project was to design an AI. Bork (the AI) didn’t turn out well. Fast forward a couple bad jokes and pointless conversations between Bo and Bork, and Bork turns into a powerful sentient web ghost that is intent on breaking Bo out of prison. It just doesn’t make much sense that a near malfunctioning AI just turns into a sentient being just because it was told jokes by a human. This is the type of unrealistic plot development that ruins the book.

Though RASH has a lot of flaws, it is not a terrible novel. Occasionally, there is some good humour and can be reminiscent of HOLES. The author attempted to go big and outside of the box and it didn’t quite pan out. If the reader is purely interested in football, this book is still a good read.
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May 01, 2013 Duffy Pratt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens, science-fiction

In this dystopian satire, the USSA (the extra S is for safety or socialism) has criminalized most marginally unsafe activities. For example, you must wear a helmet and pads to walk down the street. This may seem silly, but it does not appear that law abiding citizens work. And the government has eliminated its prison system. Instead, it contracts out its prisoners to companies. Thus, criminalizing behavior has become a good profit center for the government, and it can increase safety while secur...more In this dystopian satire, the USSA (the extra S is for safety or socialism) has criminalized most marginally unsafe activities. For example, you must wear a helmet and pads to walk down the street. This may seem silly, but it does not appear that law abiding citizens work. And the government has eliminated its prison system. Instead, it contracts out its prisoners to companies. Thus, criminalizing behavior has become a good profit center for the government, and it can increase safety while securing a cheap labor force, and while putting its thumb on the mostly young male population who might step out of line with the norm. Sound far-fetched? It is, but I'm not sure by how much.

The main character is a kid who gets sent up for several heinous crimes. He forgot to take his anger medicine. He didn't wear his protective knee pads during a running race. He insulted a fellow student. He attempted, but failed, to beat up that same student. And my favorite, he involuntarily caused an hysterical rash among the student body at his school. For these crimes, he gets three years working for a McDonalds pizza factory in the arctic.

The history of McDonalds is a hoot. It merged with General Motors. Then several years later, the merged manufacturer was taken over by the great Chinese retailer, Waltong. During the diplomatic wars with China in 2050, the USSA nationalized the company, then sold it to local interests. They, out of a sort of nostalgia, re-named the company McDonalds.

The prison/factory is a much different place. There's little concern for safety. The prisoners work 16 hours a day. All they eat is reject pizza pies. Anyone who gets out of line is liable to get put outside of the plant, where they would likely either freeze to death or get killed and eaten by polar bears. This would get written off as "died trying to escape."

The hero improves his position by winning a spot on the boss' pet football team. Football, of course, has been illegal for a long time. The boss, and the boss of a nearby Coke factory, keep teams on the sly, and arrange for a game between the two companies. It's a fiasco, lasting only about five plays, before the teams break into a riot.

This book is quite a bit of fun. The characters are very thin, but that's pretty much par for the course for most satire. The extrapolations are a bit over the top, but again, that's the stuff of satire. There are quite a few things that Hautman constructs quite well. For example, while the main character was at school, he worked on developing an AI as a computer project. In 2070, all high school students must show competence in creating an artificial intelligence which would pass the Turing test. The AI that he develops becomes one of the better characters in the book. In the end, this book falls more on the side of being clever, rather than being moving. Usually, that's a minus for me, but this one was done so nicely that it won me over.
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Apr 10, 2012 Jay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I have seen the future, and the future is yuck.

Actually, I really enjoy reading novels set in a future that has logical connections to our present time. I like to think of those works as pointing out rocks and rapids in the stream ahead of us, and the earlier they are pointed out, the easier it is to avoid them.

To me, this novel is an example of how to create a really good young adult novel. There's a whole lot of action up front, keeping the interest of a reader of nearly any level. Then the ma...more

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Aug 10, 2011 Clay Sletta rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought this book was well written. It gave a different perspective on the future of mankind. Pete Hautman gave me the realization of how our world is becoming safer and securer. Everyday we are taking precautions to be a safe living enviornment, but maybe its becoming too safe. Hautman creates a world of the future where the entire government believes in keeping everyone to an extreme safe. They make people wear padded walking suits for going out. They also set up harsh laws to keep everyone...more

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Nov 01, 2010 Travis rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 16, 2009 Summer rated it 2 of 5 stars

What do you get when you mix a troubled kid, a clueless kid, and a fast kid all in to one package? Bo Mansten or whateverhisnameisandIdon'treallycare of coarse!

The males in Bo's family have a history of violenc(of coarse it would be the males. Ok, just kidding). Any way, Bo figures that soon enough he'll end up in the penel system beheading shrimp like his father or filling pot holes like his brother in Nebraska. Yup. Well, when this boy by the name of Mink starts hitting on Bo's girlfriend he...more What do you get when you mix a troubled kid, a clueless kid, and a fast kid all in to one package? Bo Mansten or whateverhisnameisandIdon'treallycare of coarse!

The males in Bo's family have a history of violenc(of coarse it would be the males. Ok, just kidding). Any way, Bo figures that soon enough he'll end up in the penel system beheading shrimp like his father or filling pot holes like his brother in Nebraska. Yup. Well, when this boy by the name of Mink starts hitting on Bo's girlfriend he just can't resist nocking out a few of his teeth. Normally you'd get on probation right? Maybe a little time in juvie for a sixteen year old??? Wrong! This is the mystical magical future were they run on foam, were helmets on casual walks, and about every man, woman, and child is a panssy who lives on kelp cassarole. So of coarse, where even running too far is against the law, Bo ends up with a sentance of three years working a McyD's factory in Canada surrounded by Polar Bears. But more is amiss (like the stuff not mentioned on the back cover). There is and illegal football team that our speedy Bo get's recruited in by a football player, no longer alowed to play foot ball. Oh, and did I mention artificial intelligence! You got it!

This book annoyed me. Just how this guy's I don't car, kind of whatever attitude was tedious. Sure, I may be beheading shrimp but it's all for the good of man kind! His emotions were unrealalistic, perhaps a little bit forced at times, and he was unexplained even thought the book was in first person. He is the deffinition of my life is average. Except for his running skills, there is nothing particularly unique in his personality.

As far as BORK, the artificail intellingenc he created, I would have appreciated him a lot more if it was something Bo was actually dedicated to. A sentient being does just not pop up out of a couple fakey functions. There had to be a lot more than that.

The football wasn't emotionally tied in to anything. He basically like it because of his high amounts of testastirone. Very high ammounts of testastirone.

Bo feelt emotionally worried about breaking laws like wear your helmet when you walk on the sidewalk but for something like internet scamming he doesn't even give a concerned look. "Isn't that illegal?" yup is what I would say and "Whatever," would probably be his response.

The deepest carachter, an extrememly obese boy who is making pizza so he can loose weight and get out of the joint (by the way, if he was trying to loose weight, why send him to a pizza factory in Canada!!!) and go on home to eat some more. He feels concerned about hurting people in foot ball. Oh, and there's Hammer who calls all his subjects nails. He's a dreamer in his own way.

All together the book was really pointles. I don't think we'll become the USSA (the United Safer States of America) any time soon. I mean he could have injected a message like, "Don't worry about the pain, just live for the day," but I'm afraid it was lacking any meaning or good emotion. No cliff hangers, not a lot of excitement, and oh ya, there's foot ball in case you didn't remember. It's a book about foot ball. Who knew! (less)

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Jul 27, 2011 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-for-boys, fiction, favorites, read-in-2011, sci-fi-fantasy, to-buy-for-classroom-library, young-adult

I read this because I had to read it for a workshop and, naturally, I wasn't very interested at first. This is a sci-fi tale about life in the 2070s and the protagonist, Bo, gets sent to prison for giving his classmates a rash. The premise sounds, well, stupid. But the book is hilarious! The writing is very engaging. It grabbed me right away. The characters are funny. The dialogue is sharp. I love the sarcasm, too. And, the thing is, the story really takes off and the character experiences a lot...more

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Apr 02, 2011 Karina Perales rated it 5 of 5 stars

Rash was a great book and it was very interesting. This book was set as a book club and I can say we always had something to talk about. Whether it was the way the world was set or talking bout the characters we most disliked. This book kept you on your toes wanting more and more.
This book takes place very far into the future and makes you wish the world wouldn't come to this. Living in the USSA isn't easy. So many rules just to be kept safe. So when Bo begins not to follow the rules I guess...more

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Sep 29, 2010 Kris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pete Hautman creates a world in the distant future where everyone is obsessed with staying healthy and safe. People shouldn’t run fast. They must wear walking helmets and only eat healthy food. Bo comes from a family of bad tempers. They are prone to punching people which is not “safe” for society. This is why his father and brother are already in the penal system. The prisoners are essentially slaves, replacing factory workers. After being accused of starting a rash at his school and beating up...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Bruce Finke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

It’s the future – mid-2070s to be exact. The United States is now called the United Safer States of America. Just by the name, you can tell that it is a very precautionary place where you now have to wear helmets to take a walk, even more ridiculous gear to run, it is illegal to drink, and football was banned for being too dangerous!

In this crazy, futuristic story, Bo Marsten is accused of causing a rash that plagues the entire high school. When people get in trouble, the consequences are simply...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Dallas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dallas.H Rash Reading Review Nov.29/11

I wasn’t a big fan of books, but this book called Rash made me wanted to read it. The author of Rash, Pete Hautman creates a futuristic world that bans activities. He is a creative and wonderful man. Most guys like, football, wrestling, and soccer, but they couldn’t do those things because the government bans those things, it was too violent. The only sport they can do was running. The main characters are Bo and he is a sensitive and temper boy. Bo Marsten...more

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Jan 25, 2011 P.M. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bono Marsten is a 16 year old citizen of the USSA late in the 21st century. The government has regulated everything to keep its citizens safe and to supply free labor to its industries. When Bo neglects to take his Levulor to stem his impulsiveness, he commits his third infraction and is sentenced to Plant 387 in Canada. Upon arrival, he is assigned to a pizza-making team. The sadistic warden Hammer requires new inmates to try out for his illegal football team. Bo's running skills make him a sup...more

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Mar 05, 2011 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

My immediate thought after finishing Rash: Huh. What a peculiar novel. And I'm still not entirely sure what to say about it. I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. However, I think its target audience would love it. That audience is teen and preteen boys, and heaven (aka Barnes and Noble) knows there aren't enough books out there for them.

The novel is set in the not too distant future of the United States, which is now known as the USSA (United Safer States of America). In this dystopian-lite future...more My immediate thought after finishing Rash: Huh. What a peculiar novel. And I'm still not entirely sure what to say about it. I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. However, I think its target audience would love it. That audience is teen and preteen boys, and heaven (aka Barnes and Noble) knows there aren't enough books out there for them.

The novel is set in the not too distant future of the United States, which is now known as the USSA (United Safer States of America). In this dystopian-lite future, anything that is dangerous to one's safety has been outlawed: no drinking, no smoking, no contact sports, no fast food, no foul language. Children can't play outside without the appropriate safety gear. Most of the populace is taking a cocktail of drugs to maintain their health and well-being (including Levulor, which dampens the instinct toward anger). The reason for the emphasis on safety is that it has significantly increased the lifespan of the average human. The tradeoff is that one really can't enjoy that life. (And if you think this future is a ridiculous hypothesis, look at national, state, and city legislation attempting to do things such as yanking toys out of Happy Meals, attempting to make walking and using an electronic device such as an iPod or cell phone illegal, implementing Body Mass Index requirements at public schools, etc.)

In this society, even the most minor of infractions can be a criminal offense that sends you to a prison workfarm. These workfarms perform the potentially "dangerous" (by this futuristic society's standards) jobs no one else wants to do. They produce goods and produce, and they also maintain the nation's infrastructure. Bo Marsten's famously short-tempered family knows this first hand: his father (convicted of road rage) works at a shrimp farm and his brother works on a road crew. It's only a matter of time before Bo's own temper gets the better of him and he's sent to a production facility in the arctic that is run by a football fanatic who arranges illegal sporting events for his own entertainment. Because of Bo's ability to run faster than anyone else, it isn't long before he's recruited to the team and learns first hand what pain really feels like.

There are a lot of draws here for teenage boys: very short chapters, rapid fire pacing, frequent changes in topic (you'd almost think Hautman himself is ADD as frequently as events and settings change), a futuristic society whose ridiculousness makes it simultaneously frightening and funny, and, of course, football. (less)

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Feb 04, 2012 Karen Ball rated it 4 of 5 stars

This one's great! Bo Marsten lives in the USSA (the United Safer States of America), where you have to wear a helmet to walk, calling someone names is a misdemeanor and being obese is a felony. 20% of the population is imprisoned (mostly due to breaking the safety laws), and the prisons have become corporate workfarms -- they provide the basic labor that gets things produced. Bo's father and brother are both in prison, and Bo gets sent off to prison also -- seems there is a distinct family histo...more

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