Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Huge
Life hasn’t been easy for Eugene “Huge” Smalls.
Sure, his IQ is off the charts, but that doesn’t help much when you’re growing up in the 1980s in a dreary New Jersey town where your bad reputation precedes you, the public school system’s written you off as a lost cause, and even your own family seems out to get you.
But it’s not all bad. Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hamme...more
Sure, his IQ is off the charts, but that doesn’t help much when you’re growing up in the 1980s in a dreary New Jersey town where your bad reputation precedes you, the public school system’s written you off as a lost cause, and even your own family seems out to get you.
But it’s not all bad. Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hamme...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
July 7th 2009
by Broadway
(first published January 1st 2009)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
783)
It took awhile for me to get into this book, but when I did I really enjoyed it and found it hard to put down. The setting is a NJ shore town in the 1980's. "Huge" Smalls is an impulsive, angry, lonely, smart-alecky, highly intelligent yet naive 6th grader with few friends. He is the smallest boy in his grade, confides in a stuffed frog (Thrash) at the recommendation of his school counselor, gets into fights easily, adores his aging grandmother and doesn't quite realize how much love and support...more
As I began this book, it seemed to resemble the literary lovechild of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" and "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao." But I was mistaken, and I was not disappointed by what the book delivered.
The story is told with a serious dose of humor and irony, and the family dynamics are pretty believable. Huge seems to accept things in life towards the end of the book that he wouldn't have accepted at the book's beginning, which shows his growth and maturity;...more
The story is told with a serious dose of humor and irony, and the family dynamics are pretty believable. Huge seems to accept things in life towards the end of the book that he wouldn't have accepted at the book's beginning, which shows his growth and maturity;...more
If I took the time, I'm sure I could think up a kitbag of cheap shots to hurl at Huge. Instead, all I have to offer is this soiled hanky of a Goodreads "review."
After I (somehow) finished reading this novel, I sat in my rumbling and uncomfortable bus seat, fuming, shaking a mental fist (like a regular fist but made of mind mist) at the rotten world and its many injustices, injustices like the publishing of Huge: A Novel.
Uh, oh cripes, I'm dizzy with upset and my mouth tastes like sick. There are...more
After I (somehow) finished reading this novel, I sat in my rumbling and uncomfortable bus seat, fuming, shaking a mental fist (like a regular fist but made of mind mist) at the rotten world and its many injustices, injustices like the publishing of Huge: A Novel.
Uh, oh cripes, I'm dizzy with upset and my mouth tastes like sick. There are...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Has the world gotten to a place where one should assume a book is full of profanity and vulgarity unless told otherwise? This was the third such book in a month I selected based on blurbs that hinted at nothing of the sort. I thought I would be safe with a pre-teen coming of age story that prominently features a stuffed frog, but apparently this is a pre-teen coming of age story for adults only. At least, I wouldn't be comfortable letting my children read this, as I wasn't even comfortable mysel...more
I liked this book, and I appreciated how the narrator--Eugene "Genie/Huge" Smalls--thinks he has everything figured out, and his take is as sordid and rotten as anything he's read in a hard-boiled detective novel, but then realizes he doesn't know anything. But there seemed to be an awful lot of loose threads, like those on a pair of cut-off jeans, that dangle noticeably and threaten to unravel and render the cut-offs unwearable. First, there's Thrash, Eugene's stuffed animal "partner" who in in...more
First of all, I feel like this novel is a bit mis-characterized. It didn’t feel like a YA novel to me (and I do read YA). Instead, it felt like a coming-of-age story with a 12 year old protagonist that is written for adults. Which is perfectly fine! Just not what I expected.
The tone of the novel was a *little* bit overdone. Huge (Eugene) is very brash, very angry, and not quite as tough or mature as he thinks he is. It took me a while to convince myself that his speech/actions/thoughts/etc were...more
The tone of the novel was a *little* bit overdone. Huge (Eugene) is very brash, very angry, and not quite as tough or mature as he thinks he is. It took me a while to convince myself that his speech/actions/thoughts/etc were...more
A nice little book about a wildly disturbed 12-year old boy with an anger problem.
I didn't like the last two pages of the ending (no spoilers) and the protagonist thinks like characters in Dawson's Creek talk - verbosely and way above their age level. Indeed many of the events of the book strike me as a little age-askew. Another off-note is the year of the setting - I might have missed it, but it doesn't seem like 2009 to me (lack of video games, DVD, computers etc) and harkens to simpler times...more
I didn't like the last two pages of the ending (no spoilers) and the protagonist thinks like characters in Dawson's Creek talk - verbosely and way above their age level. Indeed many of the events of the book strike me as a little age-askew. Another off-note is the year of the setting - I might have missed it, but it doesn't seem like 2009 to me (lack of video games, DVD, computers etc) and harkens to simpler times...more
Oh, James Fuerst, how you have wronged me!
The character of Genie (aka "Huge") had such potential. A 12-year-old with a filthy mouth, a violent streak, and a checkered past who also happens to love detective novels, is unabashedly "friends" with a stuffed turtle named Thrash, and is fiercely protective of his senile grandmother -- really, what's not to love?
Oh, right. I forgot to mention that he also has some sort of creepy relationship with his sister in which it's okay for them to see each ot...more
The character of Genie (aka "Huge") had such potential. A 12-year-old with a filthy mouth, a violent streak, and a checkered past who also happens to love detective novels, is unabashedly "friends" with a stuffed turtle named Thrash, and is fiercely protective of his senile grandmother -- really, what's not to love?
Oh, right. I forgot to mention that he also has some sort of creepy relationship with his sister in which it's okay for them to see each ot...more
I tried to let this one sit in my brain for a bit . . . sort of soak in . . . and now I might have forgotten what I was going to say!!
This is the sort of book that I really, really wanted to like, but it was kind of difficult. Some of the writing was just insanely creative and good, but then there were things that made it . . . difficult. For one thing, the story is set in the 1980's, which I guess I would have known if I'd read the back cover. In my opinion, though, the 80's were such a ridicul...more
This is the sort of book that I really, really wanted to like, but it was kind of difficult. Some of the writing was just insanely creative and good, but then there were things that made it . . . difficult. For one thing, the story is set in the 1980's, which I guess I would have known if I'd read the back cover. In my opinion, though, the 80's were such a ridicul...more
I'm not an opening sentence snob, but this one almost lost me. <> And this is a story told from the viewpoint of a 12 year boy!
I realized later that this sentence might be a parody of some of the old school detective novels Huge reads, but boy, I almost stopped right there. I wish that the sentence might have read,<>
This YA novel got good reviews but it took me over half way through it to really get into it. But I didn't put it down before then, so I must have been interested enough...more
I realized later that this sentence might be a parody of some of the old school detective novels Huge reads, but boy, I almost stopped right there. I wish that the sentence might have read,<>
This YA novel got good reviews but it took me over half way through it to really get into it. But I didn't put it down before then, so I must have been interested enough...more
Eugene "Huge" Smalls has a deservedly bad reputation, a big problem with anger management, and no friends except for Thrash, a stuffed turtle who prefers to solve problems the old-fashioned way: violently. He's spent the summer before junior high trying to stay out of trouble but now, just as in his favorite hard-boiled detective mysteries, trouble has found him. Huge is funny and heart-breaking; he's a kid with serious problems who's smart enough to know he can't keep going on the way he's been...more
Maybe the most dysfunctional narrator I've ever liked. I don't want to compare him to Holden. It's too obvious, and I don't think this likable narrator would like it if I did. But I'm going to anyway, but point out some key differences, too.
This is the story of the Huge Smalls, psychologically troubled boy detective. Where the novel works best is when the solving of Huge's "case" parallels the solving of his own troubled mind. He's an unreliable narrator, but the interesting twist is that he's a...more
This is the story of the Huge Smalls, psychologically troubled boy detective. Where the novel works best is when the solving of Huge's "case" parallels the solving of his own troubled mind. He's an unreliable narrator, but the interesting twist is that he's a...more
Meet Eugene "Huge" Smalls. He is one tough 12 year old who talk to a stuffed frog, loves a good ole detective story and will stop at nothing to solve the case....
Written for adults from the POV of "Huge", we are throw back into the 1980's, where every young kid/teen overuses the word like and graffiti and tagging are THE way to make a mark (and a name for oneself) in the world....
While I had a tough time believing the voice Fuerst gave "Huge" at first - entirely too grown up and littered with cu...more
Written for adults from the POV of "Huge", we are throw back into the 1980's, where every young kid/teen overuses the word like and graffiti and tagging are THE way to make a mark (and a name for oneself) in the world....
While I had a tough time believing the voice Fuerst gave "Huge" at first - entirely too grown up and littered with cu...more
A Holden-Caulfield-type of character, more updated, and with a fouler mouth. This kid rides around on a bike that he built himself, toting around his best friend Thrasher (who turns out to be a stuffed frog given to him by his therapist). Though his name is Eugene, he wishes to be called Huge -- it sounds tougher. He is 12, and when he was suspended last year (for out-of-control anger issues at school) he spent a lot of time with his grandmother, who introduced him to the literature of Raymond C...more
Eugene “Huge” Smalls is unlike any character I have discovered and one you won’t forget. Dysfunctional doesn’t come close to describing his home life with an exhibitionist sister, absent mother, and grandmother, living in a retirement home, as his best friend. With a genius level IQ and a “Here’s Johnny” type of temper he is spending the summer before the 7th grade playing detective. Inspired by his grandmother’s love of hard boiled private eyes he is on the hunt for the vandals of his grandmoth...more
Twelve-year-old Eugene “Huge” Smalls wants the world and everything in it to be huge like him. But Huge—too small to even make the junior high football team, though he’s the fastest kid at practice—doesn’t exactly live up to his moniker.
His uncontrollable temper and sardonic wit leave him isolated from his peers, and his obsession for the detective stories of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett drives him to question the motivation of everyone around him, even his doting mother and older siste...more
His uncontrollable temper and sardonic wit leave him isolated from his peers, and his obsession for the detective stories of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett drives him to question the motivation of everyone around him, even his doting mother and older siste...more
Jul 30, 2010
Kate
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those looking for a fun and enjoyable read
Recommended to Kate by:
David R.
Shelves:
book-club
Eugene "Huge" Smalls is my new favorite fictional character. He's a "problem" child who has a very active imagination, loves to read mysteries by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett and has a potty mouth that would rival Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade's to be sure. Oh yeah, did I mention his partner in crime is a stuffed green frog named Thrash and he gets around town on his Cruiser that he made from old bicycle parts he found? Well he does.
I loved how this story was told from Huge's perspective...more
I loved how this story was told from Huge's perspective...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Very unique. The protagonist is 12 years old, but this book is not for kids.
"Huge" (he really wishes everyone would stop calling him Genie) is going to enter 7th grade and the world of Junior High in the fall, but he's entering with two big strikes against him.
First, he has a really bad temper. A destroy-the-classroom, terrify-the-students, can't-be-left-home-alone temper. This temper has led him to have one heck of a reputation.
Second, he's smart. The kind of book smart that leads kids and tea...more
"Huge" (he really wishes everyone would stop calling him Genie) is going to enter 7th grade and the world of Junior High in the fall, but he's entering with two big strikes against him.
First, he has a really bad temper. A destroy-the-classroom, terrify-the-students, can't-be-left-home-alone temper. This temper has led him to have one heck of a reputation.
Second, he's smart. The kind of book smart that leads kids and tea...more
This book was incredibly unsatisfying to me, but perhaps I expected too much. I was drawn to the book by the cover, and isn't that what we're told not to do?
The main character, Eugene/Genie/Huge, is a messed up, introverted kid who is a product of a "broken home". He spends a good deal of time feeling sorry for himself. There are a few references to detective novels, and Huge supposedly attempts to emulate these characters. It ends up feeling a bit forced. We are sometimes reminded that Eugene/...more
The main character, Eugene/Genie/Huge, is a messed up, introverted kid who is a product of a "broken home". He spends a good deal of time feeling sorry for himself. There are a few references to detective novels, and Huge supposedly attempts to emulate these characters. It ends up feeling a bit forced. We are sometimes reminded that Eugene/...more
Boy detective hunts down the person who painted over the sign at his grandmother's home for the elderly? What is this, Encyclopedia Brown?
No. Not remotely. In fact, do NOT listen to this with your Encyclopedia Brown-aged children. This boy is not exactly wholesome. In fact, he's got severe anger and isolation issues, is coming to discover women in a... realistic way... and consistantly gets into trouble whether he means to or not.
It's a good story which at times made me laugh out loud. But somet...more
No. Not remotely. In fact, do NOT listen to this with your Encyclopedia Brown-aged children. This boy is not exactly wholesome. In fact, he's got severe anger and isolation issues, is coming to discover women in a... realistic way... and consistantly gets into trouble whether he means to or not.
It's a good story which at times made me laugh out loud. But somet...more
I loved this book. I listened to it during my commute this week and then brought it inside when I got home to keep listening to it. The voice is strong, consistent, and fresh (a detective film noir set in the 80s and starring a rage-filled 12 year old). I adored this Foul-Mouthed, pint-sized, bat-shit loopy (but no more than the rest of us) narrator and his spot-on observations of his world during this coming of age mini-saga. At various moments, it made me laugh out loud, cringe in mortificatio...more
Excellent first novel by James Fuerst. A great coming of age story that instantly gets into your head and infects you with the voice of Eugene "Huge" Smalls who channels the identities of the classic noir detectives of yore like Marlow and Spade. In fact from the opening paragraph it is hard not to hear the narrator's voice as that of one of the classic black and white movie voiceovers from the 50's. The story was a good mix of those classic detective stories and Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incid...more
My thoughts:
ARRRGGGG! I really tried to get into this book. I really tried to like Eugene "Huge" Smalls. Okay, he's twelve. He's being raised by a single mom who works two jobs. He drives around a cruiser that he built himself out of spare parts from a junk yard and he has a stuffed frog, named Thrash as a side kick.
What I could'nt get past was that this kid has MAJOR anger issues and is a HUGE bully.
Page 66
Sure, Thrash was pretty sick, but his schemes for revenge didn't always work out like the...more
ARRRGGGG! I really tried to get into this book. I really tried to like Eugene "Huge" Smalls. Okay, he's twelve. He's being raised by a single mom who works two jobs. He drives around a cruiser that he built himself out of spare parts from a junk yard and he has a stuffed frog, named Thrash as a side kick.
What I could'nt get past was that this kid has MAJOR anger issues and is a HUGE bully.
Page 66
Sure, Thrash was pretty sick, but his schemes for revenge didn't always work out like the...more
Fuerst, James W. Huge: A Novel. Unabridged. 8CDs. 10.5 Hours. Blackstone Audio, Inc. ISBN: 978-1-4417-2314-7. $100.00. F
12yo hard boiled detective wannabe Eugene "Huge" Smalls with his only friend and sidekick "Thrash" (a stuffed turtle), is hired by his possibly senile grandmother to investigate the vandalism of her retirement home's sign. A hilarious, nostalgic journey back to 1980's Jersey 'burbs, complete with jersey girl hairdo's, neon clothes, converse shoes and lots of gratuitous cussing....more
12yo hard boiled detective wannabe Eugene "Huge" Smalls with his only friend and sidekick "Thrash" (a stuffed turtle), is hired by his possibly senile grandmother to investigate the vandalism of her retirement home's sign. A hilarious, nostalgic journey back to 1980's Jersey 'burbs, complete with jersey girl hairdo's, neon clothes, converse shoes and lots of gratuitous cussing....more
Jan 26, 2010
Sara
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
no one
Recommended to Sara by:
People magazine
This book is amazing - but not in a good way. It revolves around a foul-mouthed 12-year-old wannabe detective named Huge, who's hired by his grandma to investigate the mystery of who tagged the sign at her retirement home. The mystery is fun enough, though the resolution to it is underwhelming, and most of the book plodded along awkwardly.
I have absolutely no idea who is the target audience of this book. It's shelved with adult fiction but the main character is 12, and the text is WILDLY inappr...more
I have absolutely no idea who is the target audience of this book. It's shelved with adult fiction but the main character is 12, and the text is WILDLY inappr...more
Like many other reviews of this book~it took me a bit to get into it. Once I did, I couldn't stop reading. HAD to find out what happened to the main character...
The writing is gritty, simple, and boyish~ exactly what it should be to explore the unsophisticated-yet-intelligent honest reflections of a middle-school aged boy. Occasionally unnerving, not too thought-provoking--good for people who like "smart books" but get bogged down by the weighty seriousness of much of today's popular fiction.
The writing is gritty, simple, and boyish~ exactly what it should be to explore the unsophisticated-yet-intelligent honest reflections of a middle-school aged boy. Occasionally unnerving, not too thought-provoking--good for people who like "smart books" but get bogged down by the weighty seriousness of much of today's popular fiction.
Read the first few chapters and the last few. The tone and content were similar to other books I'd read and wasn't in the mood for another of it's type (Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, Half-Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer). Dark tone. Huge investigates graffiti on the sign of his grandmother's nursing home, has trouble controlling his emotions, etc. Language would probably discourage me from recommending to teens.
I wanted to like it more than I did, and there were parts of it that I did like quite a lot. But in the end, I found the main character, especially the way he talked, pretty unbelievable and that kept taking me out of the book.
You can read the first chapter here. My problems with the voice come right from the beginning. Anyway, if anyone wants it, let me know and I'll drop it in the mail.
You can read the first chapter here. My problems with the voice come right from the beginning. Anyway, if anyone wants it, let me know and I'll drop it in the mail.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd reading log | 2 | 3 | Dec 12, 2011 06:02pm | |
| WHY I CHOSE THIS BOOK | 4 | 3 | Dec 09, 2011 12:03pm |
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“She used to read us Where The Wild Things Are, which i loved, because Max was a bad little fucker and i always respected that.”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
Nov 13, 2009 09:22am