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Publisher:
Harper Children’s Audio |
Release
Date: 06/15/2004 |
ISBN:
0-06-074781-1 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Unabridged / 6 hours/5 CD’s |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Hear
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Teen / Young Adult Fiction |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Carisa Weeaks |
Reviewer
Notes: Explicit language / sexual content |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
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Be
More Chill
By Ned Vizzini
Performed by Jesse Eisenberg
90%
of the human population has been made an outcast at least once during
their tumultuous trip through the public or private school system.
Jeremy Heere is one of those kids. He’s an out-and-out dork,
which wouldn’t bother him as much if it wasn’t for the
fact that he’s in love with one of the most popular girls
in school. It doesn’t help his image when people find out
that he’s kept track of his humiliations and has been rating
them on his daily humiliation sheets, perfected by years of being
the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time for the majority
of his school life. Jeremy begins to realize that this is his fate
and wonders if it could ever get better…then he hears about
the “squip.” The “squip” is a quantum computer
that is so small that it fits into a pill. Once taken, this super
computer can make it’s way to your brain, access data that
is stored there, and become the voice in your head that tells you
exactly what to do to make the situation beneficial for you. After
stealing some beanie babies from his dreaded aunt in order to sell
them on eBay to get the cash to buy one, and going to the back of
a Payless Shoe Store, Jeremy finally gets his hands on the almost
microscopic technological miracle pill that will change his life
forever and finally get him what he wants: a chance to impress Christine,
the girl of his dreams. There’s just one problem; now that
Jeremy’s got the squip, not everything goes the way he had
planned. In fact, having that artificial intelligence in his brain
ends up taking him on a road he never thought existed--a road that
has more cliffs than Dover.
This
is an interesting tale of acceptance and the absurd hierarchy that
has plagued the outcasts of the high school “social monarchy”
since time and memorial. The language bothered me in the beginning
because of the overuse of some of the more vulgar words and phrases
that are floating around now-a-days, but as the story progressed,
I eventually found the path that Vizzini was trying to point to
in the beginning. It’s slow-moving until the squip gets involved,
but after the computer begins to have its say, all hell breaks loose,
and the sarcastic humor that I’ve come to love from being
considered a “social reject” for most of my school days
comes out in full force. The wittiness of the Keanu Reeves-voiced
super computer and Jeremy, as they learn more about each other and
the world around them, is absolutely divine. It’s not a book
for teenagers as much as it is for young adults or college students
who had once been in Jeremy’s statistical position in school.
Jesse
Eisenberg was the perfect pick to read this book. His sarcastic
tone as he drones about the social structure of his high school
blends perfectly with the tone that Vizzini does his best to bring
out. He’s been in such movies as “The Emperor’s
Club” and “Cursed.”
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