Review: Dented Cans by Heather Walsh

Dented Cans 

By Heather Walsh

Published November 2nd 2012

Kindle Edition, 150 Pages

A family secret is revealed during an ill-fated—yet hilarious—trip to Disney World.

Sixteen-year-old Hannah Sampson knows her family is not what you would call normal. Her father compulsively buys dented cans and has a particular fondness for cans without labels, which are extremely discounted because their contents are a mystery. Her mother takes countless pictures of her family and then glues them down into the pages of her scrapbooks, but does not allow anyone to look at them. Ryan, Hannah’s mischievous fourteen-year-old brother, is headed straight for the remedial track at the local community college, if he’s lucky. Ben, her eight-year-old brother, is a walking sound effects machine, who prefers to communicate with noises rather than words. While Hannah is focused on escaping her working-class Connecticut suburb, she also finds herself being tugged back home as she worries about her brother Ben.

Hannah’s parents inflict one last family vacation on the Sampson children, a trip that goes comically wrong almost from the get-go. Hannah is forced to confront her family’s past in Disney World, of all places, when an emotional argument prompts her parents to disclose a secret they have been keeping from the children for sixteen years. Ultimately, she must decide whether to leave her hometown and not look back, or to focus on helping her family.--Goodreads

4 Stars

Review:

Such an odd title, but I enjoyed it. But for most of the novel, Hannah, the main character, seems to be rambling. The events in the book keep jumping around it's hard to tell what Hannah wants us to know. Maybe she wants us to know everything or maybe she just wanted to make her case that her parents deserve the weirdest-parents-of-the-century award.

Her parent are definitely odd balls, but for most of the novel they didn't seem like parents to me. First off the way they treated their children. It was like the mom and the dad never stood up for their kids. Second, why were they so against Hannah getting a car? She was going to pay for it herself. It all worked out in the end, but still. And when Hannah asked if she could buy a car, the mom was all like "I have a headache" seriously? A headache just from one question? Third, I thought they were suppose to be poor, so why did they splurge on a trip to Disney? I get that their youngest child, Ben, is special needs, but they don't need another trip to Disney. Shouldn't they be saving for their children's college funds or their retirement fund or something? Parents in YA novels just piss me off... In the end, the parents kind of redeemed themselves... Kinda.

Rant about YA novel parents aside, I really liked how Dented Cans talked about typical problems a teen might experience such as meaningless sibling quarrels, wanting to get out of your small town, and trying to get your parents to understand you.

The ending was unexpected... I really liked how this novel was about family. It's really refreshing compared to the dozen upon dozens of YA contemporary novels about people coming from broken homes trying to find love in this harsh, harsh world. There's nothing wrong with those novels, I love those novels, but it's nice to have variety in your reading.

Note: This was definitely the most out there book I read in terms of characters. Dented cans? Who would have thought?

Purchase this novel at: Amazon (kindle or paperback)

Review: The Duff: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger

The Duff: Designated Ugly Fat Friend 

by Kody Keplinger

Published: September 7th 2010 

Publisher: Little Brown/Poppy 

Hardcover, 280 pages

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face. 

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.--Goodreads

4 Stars

Review: 

In all my years reading contemporary YA novels, I've learn that everyone has issues and that everyone is insecure, this is very true for The Duff.

The Duff tackles appearance insecurities that a young girl, Bianca, has about herself. I have never heard the word Duff before, but I have heard that in every group of friends there is that one person who is prettier than the rest. The thing is (as cheesy as it sounds) everyone is beautiful in his or her own way. Beauty is all in the eye of the beholder. By the end of the novel Bianca realizes that everyone feels like they are the Duff. This novel did a great job of representing high school self-esteem and beauty. In high school the worst thing someone can call a girl is fat or ugly and to say that someone is both fat and ugly would mostly likely make them feel like crap. 

Bianca never thought of herself as the Duff before Wesley. It was only when Wesley called her the Duff that she began to think of herself as the Duff, which is why I hated Wesley for most of the novel. What a D-Bag. Who does he think he is? Bianca tried really hard not to care about what Wesley thinks, but even if you don't care about the person who said the hurtful statement, a hurtful statement will still be hurt no matter who says it. 

I don't fully understand why Bianca got into a fling with Wesley in the first place. I guess it was because she wanted to prove to him that she is not the Duff or because she's extremely skeptical of love because of her parents failing relationship, so I guess she thinks that love can't really happen, so flings are ok? Or because she just wants an escape from her home life. 

I hate how Bianca didn't feel comfortable talking about her issues with her friends. Her friends really care about her! 

As the novel progressed, I found myself not hating Wesley and then *gasp* liking him as a character! Wesley kind of grew on me. Also the more into the book I got, the nicer Wesley became to Bianca, so that helped.

The ending was so adorable! :)

Purchase novel at: Amazon / B&N / TBD