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Feb 08, 2012

Tatiana rated it:

As seen on The Readventurer

At first, this books is hilarious, then it is sad, heartbreaking and scary and later it is inspiring. To think of it, my favorite kind of book.

Karl Shoemaker is determined to start his senior of high school being completely "normal." After spending years in mandatory group therapy with other madmen (abused, traumatized and plain crazy kids) after a disturbing rabbit killing incident, Karl for once wants to separate himself from the m More...

15 comments like (23 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2011

Katie rated it:

It has been three days since I finished the last chapter of Tales of the Madman Underground, and I am still thinking about Karl Shoemaker. Honest, humorous, foul-mouthed, masculine, resourceful, and wounded, Karl is definitely the kind of protagonist you want to spend 500 pages with, and whose plights you sympathize with so greatly, you honestly lose yourself in the book, and in the five days during September 1973 that is the backdrop of his story.

Karl's father, the former mayor of More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Tired of his affiliation with the madmen, a group of students bound together during the school year by their shared visits to the school psychologist, Karl Shoemaker starts his senior year by deploying operation “be f***ing normal.” Yet try as he may to break from the madmen and distance himself from their shared injustices, he is just too good of a friend. He also can’t escape his own rap as possibly psychopathic, after a misunderstanding involving the death of one or more cats. Told over six d More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2010

Kitri rated it:

Karl is a member of the Madman Underground - a group of high school seniors in 1973 who have problems at home and are required to go to group therapy together. Even though these kids are from all different social cliques, they all know terrible secrets about each... other a share a unique bond. Karl struggles with his dad's death, his mom's drinking problem, and supporting his household with 5 part time jobs. Over the course of 5 days, Karl goes through all the highs and lows of his life, telli More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 08, 2009

Katharine rated it:

Karl Shoemaker belongs to the Madman Underground, the name of the kids in his high school class who must skip class once a week and attend therapy. Karl has anger management problems, and must work 5 jobs to keep he and his alcoholic mother aloft. Tales of the Madman Underground is a week in Karl's life, as he attempts to be "normal," and as a new member joins the group. I recommend this book for those who like Impulse by Ellen Hopkins.

I was at first put off by Tales of the More...

3 comments like

Feb 06, 2012

Wildbriar rated it:

Funny, witty, brash, awkward, touching, sad, bemusing -- quite apart from having the best title ever, Tales of the Madman Underground runs rings around any preconceptions I might have had of what it was going to be. I'm all for snarky heroes, and Karl Shoemaker is probably the most authentic snark I've come across; there's nothing pretentious about him, he's refreshingly honest and probably the most chatty narrator in the world.

It wasn't an easy story. Underneath the running More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 24, 2011

Barky rated it:

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Dec 20, 2010

Rosalia rated it:

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Sep 20, 2010

Laura rated it:

Every year since his dad died and his mother crawled into a bottle, Karl has been assigned to the therapy group at school. Karl wants his senior year to be different, so he begins by planning to shun his best friend and distance himself from the Madman underground. Oddly enough, his friend Paul seems to be shunning him. He quickly discovers that being "Normal" without his friends is a lonely place to be. He and the other kids in his therapy group, the Madman Underground, have formed s More...

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Apr 18, 2010

Sharon rated it:

This is the alternately, and often simultaneously, funny and heartbreaking story of Karl Shoemaker, who as a member of the Madman Underground has been attending weekly therapy sessions since the fourth grade. For his senior year of high school, Karl decides he wants to be normal, which means opting out of therapy and all the friends he's found through it. As he attempts this experiment over six days in 1973, however, Karl realizes how much of his identity has become wrapped up in caring for his More...

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Feb 24, 2010

Christina rated it:

Wow! This is a great book, full of characters so real you want to call them up and share your day with them. I didn't want it to end. Loved the narrator and his crazy hectic life of juggling multiple part-time jobs, cat poop duty and coping with his often-drunk and stoned mother, all with a super sense of humor and way of looking at the world even when it's really beating him down. The Madman Underground is the nickname Karl gives to his group of outcast friends, who all spend time in therapy fo More...

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Feb 18, 2010

Jan rated it:

This Printz Honor book has such an intriguing title. An Historical romance from the 70's! For today's teens? Yes, indeed and it succeeds spectacularly in demonstrating that although teens of different generations may have different circumstances in their lives, one thing is consistent--coming of age can be a bitch. The novel, told in first person, tells of the teens who are members of the madmen underground, a group of high school students who, for different reasons, have been deemed by admi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 28, 2009

Suzanne rated it:

Karl Shoemaker has "gotten a ticket" every year since middle school--an invitation he can't refuse--to take part in a therapy group for kids who are disturbed, maltreated at home, or just plain weird. For his 1973 senior year, Karl just wants to try to be normal even though he works five jobs and has to hide his earnings all over the house so his inattentive barfly, UFO conspiracy fan, "super, super lady" mother doesn't steal yet another one. He just wants to try to be normal More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 20, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

Reviewed by Dianna Geers for TeensReadToo.com

Karl has a plan for his senior year. It's to be normal. Or at least to appear to be normal. Forever he has been known as slightly crazy and a target of harassment.

There are a ton of obstacles that will make it difficult to pull of the "normal" appearance. First of all, he has to avoid his very best friend in the world. Not to mention the fact that he has to work endless hours to help support his mother and himself. (S More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 09, 2009

Eva rated it:

The voice of our tough but tender (and he would never characterize himself that way - we glean it through his actions) hero is vivid and intense. This guy never stops - if he isn't at school, he's working one of his five jobs, trying to sweet talk his alcoholic mom out of a crazed fit, or figuring out how to deal with his troubled fellow Madmen.

All the Madmen - the students who are in school-sponsored group therapy - have troubled home lives (alcoholic and/or abusive parents, mostly). More...

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May 18, 2011

Megan rated it:

Imagine this, it is your senior year of high school. All you want is to graduate and just have a normal school year, but five jobs, an alcoholic mother, and a troubled past keep dragging you down. Welcome to the life of Karl Shoemaker. In John Barnes' "Tales of The Madman Underground," Karl sets his plan to be "the normal member of the madmen" in "Operation Be F***ing Normal" into gear on his first day of his senior year. However, the stress from five jobs, a dead f More...

1 comment like

Jul 06, 2009

Diane rated it:

Karl Shoemaker is a high school senior with a plan to be “fucking normal” in order to avoid being assigned to group therapy for his last year of high school. The glitch in his plan is that it involves avoiding his fellow Madmen and Karl’s heart is too big to abandon his friends. His friends are disturbed and desperate at times, but endearing and faithful. The adults in Karl’s life are alternately outrageous and heroic (from his Crazy Cat Lady mom to a ranting teacher and a dirty old man upholst More...

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Jul 07, 2011

Paula rated it:

Karl Shoemaker would like for his senior year in high school to be somewhat different, so on the first day, he ditches his best friend and partner in "the Madman Underground." When he encounters his friend on the bus, he realizes that he may not be the only one to yearn for a "normal" year...whatever normal is. His home life certainly is not normal. His father is dead, and his mother is drunk and mostly nuts. Karl juggles five after school jobs and has to hide his money as be More...

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Feb 13, 2010

K. rated it:

Karl is a senior in highschool in Lightsburg, Ohio. He holds down 5 jobs, takes care of his drunk of a mother, keeps the house in working order, and is part of a therapy group at school that seems to be the only thing keeping this group of seriously abused kids together.

Each one of his friends, Darla the violent genius, Squid the smarter-than-he-looks abused jock, or Cheryl the cheerleader-dealing-with-incest, interacts with Karl in a way that gives you all the information you need a More...

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Mar 16, 2011

Korri rated it:

I devoured this novel over the course of one sleepless night. In retrospect it seems like the ideal way to read a coming of age novel that spans five achingly long days (and five hundred pages).

Karl is a teenage protagonist I could wholeheartedly root for. He is hard-working, decent, cynical, foul-mouthed, an enabler, a care-giver and a young man full of inchoate longing for a different life, which he is unable to express except through the desire to join the army to get out of his d More...

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Feb 03, 2010

Jackie rated it:

For six days in September, 1973, Karl Shoemaker tries to make sense of his life. Part of a school therapy group nicknamed The Madman Underground, he lives and breathes the stories surrounding this closely-knit group of high school seniors. From incest, to watching a parent getting killed, to alcohol and drugs, these kids have seen and been through the worst of it all...and because of it, they bond and support one another through all the bad times. Karl lives with a hippie, alcoholic mother who w More...

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Aug 29, 2009

Courtney rated it:

What should I say about this book? First off, I really enjoyed it. It was set in 1973 over a span of about five days. The characters were great, even though almost all of them were really messed up. There was a LOT of bad language and tons references to sex, drugs, hippies, alcohol, and any of crazy thing from the 1970's that you can think of. I found myself rooting for Karl(the main character)the whole way. His life was so crappy, yet he always looked out for everyone else around him. Be More...

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Sep 13, 2010

Boyd rated it:

[i]Tales of the Madman Underground[/i] was a slow burner. My initial ambivalence was due to my increasing weariness with writers trying to be gritty and edgy in order to appeal to teen readers, as if only the sordid and dark can entice teens to read. Sort of a combination of Chbosky, Portman, and Krovatin, but without the depth. Then things started to build up over the 500 pages of the book. The characters got more interesting, the conflicts more profound. The main character lives a horribly dys More...

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Sep 07, 2010

Shellie rated it:

This book is kinda like The Breakfast Club but set in the early 70s. The characters are interesting and one of the book's premises is that even folks who look really "normal" on the outside are likely to be weird or a little nuts or suffering through so extremely un-normal stuff. I love the protagonist. He's a smartass and a little screwed up but this whole book is about his awareness of his own identity and the parts of that which are social vs. personal. There are things the book cou More...

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Aug 25, 2009

Laura rated it:

An interesting and unique book, Tales of a Madman Underground is an epic coming of age novel by John Barnes. With over 500 pages, Madman chronicles the first six days of Karl Shoemaker’s senior year in high school in 1973 in epic detail. Though his life is,a t surface level, dark and tumultuous, Karl manages. His father is dead, his cat-collecting, drunk mother steals from him, he works more jobs than any teenager should, people think he’s a psychopath, and his friends consist of the other me More...

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Feb 09, 2010

Cathy rated it:

This is the beginning of Karl's senior year, the last before he joins the army, and he just wants to be normal. He doesn't want to be in the therapy group. He and his friends, the Madmen, have been in therapy at school since the beginning. All have serious issues. In Karl's case, his mom is totally irresponsible, an alcoholic who "borrows" Karl's hard-earned money leaving IOU's of over $1,000. Karl's dad is dead and Karl's main lesson from him was how to fix things around the house More...

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Aug 06, 2009

Doug rated it:

This is a teen novel set in 1973 and would be rather daunting for teens because it is a massive 532 pages. But sticking with it you will find some memorable, if not damaged characters struggling to find their identity. The Narrator is Karl Shoemaker who lives with his mother. His mother is a hippie and an alcoholic, thinking about astrology and Nixon conspiracies and not above stealing Karl's money that he earns from working five jobs including night clean up at McDonald's, working a pharm More...

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Oct 08, 2010

Marisa rated it:

I wasn't crazy about the end of this book, but overall I loved it. If I had been on the Printz committe, I think I would have been backing this, although it would have been a tough fight between this and Going Bovine.

Favorite passage, page 354:

She opened the waffle iron up and dumped out two perfect waffles. "How do you know when they're ready?" I asked.

She grinned. "Ancient secret, Tiger Sweetie. You get married very young. You get a waffl More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2010

Liza rated it:

I continue to vacillate between appreciating this book as pure genius and as part insanity. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why it was a ALA Printz Honor Book. At times I wanted to throw the book against the wall and at other times I absolutely couldn't put it down. We have heard the phrase that 'the truth is stranger than fiction,' but in this case I am left wondering how much truth was in the fiction. I am certain that these circumstances had to have taken place in some way to someone at More...

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Jun 28, 2010

Matthew rated it:

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