Novel Review: Squashed by Joan Bauer

Rating (Out of 5): ~1.5-2

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Penguin (Speak)

Publish Date: 1992

Spoilers?:

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Humor, agriculture and young love all come together in Joan Bauer's first novel, set in rural Iowa. Sixteen-year-old Ellie Morgan's life would be almost perfect if she could just get her potentially prize-winning pumpkin to put on about 200 more pounds—and if she could take off 20 herself...in hopes of attracting Wes, the new boy in town.

Something Specific:

Quotes:

• "'I think, Ellie, that people respect people that are either like them or people they want to be like.'” (Paperback, pg. 9)
• "Memories were part of me, but Nana taught me not to live in them. We’re forever a part of the people who love us, she said. That kind of love is always alive.” (Paperback, pg. 22)

The Cover:

The cover is just simple. It's not embarrassing, it's not pretty, it's not exciting. It's simple and it fits very well for the book. Overall, it's alright.

Review:

Usually Bauer’s books are pretty standard three stars, not super exciting, not boring, fast and interesting. Average, but enjoyable. This one, however, actually rather annoyed me on several points. And I had a relatively hard time getting through it, when compared to her others books, and when thinking that it’s just under two hundred pages long.

It started out relatively good. Ellie and her pumpkin growing ways, her friends, and how her father disapproves were interesting. And then Ellie started worrying about her weight, and her father pushed her to get skinny, and she started acting jealous about Wes’ girlfriend in his old town, when she’s never met the girl nor had a conversation with the boy. And it kind of went downhill from there.

I liked Ellie at first, and then I was mostly just annoyed with her. I understand her pumpkin growing, and I even understand her self-image issues. Those are very understandable. It only bothered me that, while she didn’t have very high thoughts of herself (nor were they very bad), she didn’t seem to care very much about her weight. The only reason she was trying to be on a diet was because her father was pushing her to. But I’ll get to him in a moment. But she’s the kind of person who hates everyone/thing that goes against her, whether it’s a girl or a rival in a competition or the weather. There’s all her issues with Wes and other girls. She barely even has a conversation with him, yet she’s believes she’s practically in love with the guy. Then she’s bothered by any other female within his vicinity, bad talking them even though she has no reason to. Getting jealous and mean about his girlfriend, even though she’s never met or seen the girl, and hasn’t even had enough of a conversation with the boy for it to be okay for her to be upset about it. And she even publicly, purposely humiliates this popular girl because she’s flirting with Wes, and that’s pushed aside because the girl is apparently not-very-smart and always throwing herself at guys, so who really cares. None of those things are okay.

And then there’s the fact that I didn’t really believe in her and Wes’ relationship. We don’t get to see a whole lot of their getting to know each other, there is practically no swoon, and then by the ending they’re supposedly in love. I just didn’t buy into any of it.

Now, my problem with her father. Her father is supposed to be some great motivational specialist, but he’s constantly pushing his daughter to lose weight, find a boyfriend, and stop trying to grow pumpkins, the one thing that she actually likes. I understand his worrying about her school. I don’t understand his pushing her to lose weight because she supposedly can’t reach her full potential at her current weight (I’m paraphrasing, but it says this in the book, I am not kidding). And I think that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Those were my real only problems here. I liked Richard, Ellie’s cousin. The pumpkin thing was fine. The Cyril, Ellie’s rival, issue was alright, even if it turned out a little too well so that Ellie could win the competition. The writing seemed a little draggy and boring, and the storyline wasn’t really keeping my interest very much.

Overall, not a very good book. A rather big disappoint when compared to her others. And I’m not in a rush to pick up another of Bauer’s books, although I probably will at some point.

Teaser Tuesday[37]: Squashed by Joan Bauer

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Sorry this is getting posted so late! I’ve been so busy with school, and I totally forgot that it was Monday yesterday, and thus the next day was Tuesday, meaning I should have written something up. I do that sometimes. Sorry.

This term is almost over, which means that I will have a little over a week off (not nearly long enough), and then Spring term will start! Yay! Right? Maybe. Whatever.

I’m kind of in-between books/reading several books/starting several books right now (don’t you just hate that?), but here’s this week’s book:

My copy doesn't have the kiss: here.

Squashed by Joan Bauer

Genre: YA Contemporary

Publisher: Penguin (Speak)

Publish Date: 1992 (from Speak in 2005)

Goodreads Synopsis:

Humor, agriculture and young love all come together in Joan Bauer's first novel, set in rural Iowa. Sixteen-year-old Ellie Morgan's life would be almost perfect if she could just get her potentially prize-winning pumpkin to put on about 200 more pounds—and if she could take off 20 herself...in hopes of attracting Wes, the new boy in town.

Excerpts:

“‘You will study,’ Dad informed me. ‘You will think clearly and resonantly. You will concentrate on your schoolwork first. Then and only then may you concentrate on that’—he struggled to form the word—‘vegetable.’” (Paperback, pg. 87)

“‘I’m not nervous,’ I lied.” (Paperback, pg. 87)

So, what are you reading right now? Alternatively, how is school going for you (if you’re in school)?

Review: Best Foot Forward (Companion Novel to Rules of the Road) by Joan Bauer

Rating (Out of 5 Stars): ~3

Publisher: Penguin (Speak)

Goodreads Synopsis:

In this sequel to the beloved Rules of the Road, Jenna Boller is dripping with newfound maturity after her life-altering summer on the road. She has a job she loves at Gladstone Shoes, a best friend who makes her laugh, and a dysfunctional family she's learning how to handle. Jenna feels ready for anything--until Tanner Cobb, a guy with a past, a police record, and dangerously good looks, walks into her life. Suddenly Jenna's surrounded by crises, including a shoe empire on the verge of crumbling. Tanner's street smarts seem to be what Jenna needs, but can she trust him enough when the going gets tough?

Review:

 

I've read several of Joan Bauer's books and enjoyed them. And I read Rules of the Road a while ago, but just recently found out that it had a sequel when I looked at the book. I was a little surprised, mostly because most of her books are one-shots, but also because I hadn't known there was one (since I usually know if there is).

Anyway, I finished this book relatively quickly, as I was expecting to.

It's about Jenna, who's now working for Mrs. Gladstone at the shoe store on her own town. The summer is ending and she'll be starting her junior year of high school soon. (Oh, if you haven't read the first one, it was about Jenna driving Mrs. Gladstone, a bossy old woman who owns a shoe company, on a little road trip to where a stock holders meeting is going to be held. Some other things happen, but mostly Mrs. Gladstone's son is taking over the business and not doing a good, moral job of it. Also, this will probably contain spoilers if you haven't read either of the books.) So she's going to be going on part-time, and Mrs. Gladstone's son is still doing business badly, even worse than before, really, when some, illegal, things behind the scenes get some spotlight. Plus, they're looking for some new employees but not finding any. They have hired, though, a boy, Tanner, who stole from them and is making it up by working for them. Jenna really know what she's doing, and she's Mrs. Gladstone's assistant, pretty much, so she makes phone calls and all that. She's also going to Al-Anon meetings because of her dad, which is helping, and helping Tanner, and his family, get past what happened to them. And there's some romance, but not much, and not really what I was expecting.

This book, like most of hers, wasn't amazing, but I still liked it. I'm not really sure what I like about her books. They're not really my style, normally. I tend to go for the romance's. Bauer tends to focus more on real life things, like business or politics or religion, with intent focus on some kind of business, like shoes or newspapers or restaurants. And the romance is very little, in all of them (that I've read so far). There's usually some, a little bit of it. And in this book, it was very small, and not with who the back said it would be. Of course I would like more romance, as I love reading kissing scenes, but I still like her books. And, since they're so small, I read them in about a day. They're fast, easy reads, that I usually go for if I'm looking for something fast and easy. And her style of writing, while very easy and simple, still has moments of pretty and cute, in that she describes little things of small notice.
 I just like it, I guess.
She can create really good characters, too. I liked Jenna, Mrs. Gladstone is an awesome old lady, Tanner was good and his little brother is adorable, and Murray is also pretty awesome. Charlie seemed cool, and he seemed like he could be good for Jenna, but we didn't get much of him. We also didn't get a lot of her family, more than Charlie, but still. They seemed alright from what I did see, though. And Mrs. Gladstone's son is a jerk, and was described pretty well, and I totally hate him for what he did to the company and Mrs. Gladstone. He really does not deserve her.
Also, not that this wasn't believable, because Jenna was written out very well, but I just realized that she wasn't even a junior and she took a road trip with her boss, and is now practically her assistant. That seems really young. I realize that some people are ready, and Jenna has had to grow up early with her family and all, but I couldn't imagine doing all that as that age. That's a little impressive.