Part science fiction, part comedy drama about Iowa teen Austin who's in love with his girlfriend Shann and his best friend Robby and also happens to be present at the beginning of the end of the world when a dormant science experiment is revived and results in the unleashing of six foot, highly destructive, man-eating grasshoppers.
The Long Version:
What is this book? I don't know. But Andrew Smith does, and you can tell. Even if you're not ready to go where he's going, or you can poke holes in the details of the narrative, it doesn't seem to matter because Smith is such an assured writer that you trust him.
It's explicit and violent with a cast of entertaining secondary characters and still its fun Yet with all the things that make it what it is, the sexual references and profanity and violence and so forth, it's not a book I'd recommend for younger readers. But man, if you're open to it, it's going to be a gross read with undertones of contemplative self-discovery about a boy who's confused about who he likes, and therefore who he is. Smith does throw a lot at the wall, and fortunately enough of it sticks.
I'm always on the hunt for boy books that sound like boy books. Boys who think about sex and aliens and video games. This is one of those books.
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