Customer Reviews

33 Snowfish

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Adam Rapp has written another crisp one. It's the language, especially, that grips you and makes you eat your tears and laughter. From the first line -- "On top of everything else, Boobie's got the clap." -- I found myself devouring each next line in search of a gem. Here are a few:

"That hat of his was so orange it looked like it would have vitamin C in the flaps."

"There was so much blood on Boobie's shirt you could smell the metal in it, and it wasn't coming from the baby, because the baby was cleaner than a Christmas card."

"Boobie just stopped and stood there for a minute and looked up at the sky, which was so black it was like God burnt it."

"It's like there ain't no real life inside a place if you don't got no table."

"The sun was getting weak and everything was starting to look like metal."

Boobie, Custis, and Curl are painted with the freshest of brushes and rarest of strokes. What's particularly amazing is the way everything in this depraved world feels so cool and clean through Custis' eyes. Even though they're on the run from the police because of what Boobie did to his parents and are looking for a rich family to sell Boobie's baby brother to, he holds out hope that his gat, the Skylark, and Curl's trick money are somehow going to hold their lives together.

This novel "wasn't sad like tears are sad. It's sad like the weather is sad when you think it's spring but then one of those cold rains comes." While we don't usually get to experience the lives of the dark survivors at society's fringes, 33 SNOWFISH is Adam Rapp's way of showing us ourselves in the souls of the broken. It's clear that the more worries the heart has, the smaller and dimmer it gets, and that it might get snuffed out if not given the right amount of hope at just the right time.

Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

Author and playwright Adam Rapp has created a masterful tale of woe in 33 SNOWFISH. With all of the trappings of "high literature" (there are stream-of-consciousness passages and multiple narrators), the author transcends the Problem Novel genre in this homage to Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.

Like many of Faulkner's novels, 33 SNOWFISH depicts society's lowest, common denominator while somehow managing to make these characters three-dimensional and fairly sympathetic. They are at once repulsive and pitiful; the reader is drawn into their lives much like commuters passing by a car wreck. One cannot help but look or want to lend a hand.

This is the story of Custis, Curl, and Boobie, two teen runaways and one pre-teen. Each has a myriad of issues and a litany of anti-social behaviors that include pyromania, murder, prostitution, robbery, kidnapping, and weapon possession. We are dragged along on their ill-fated journey, where we learn about their past while watching them in the disastrous present. That the author finds a way to redeem one of the characters by the end of the story is a remarkable and credible feat.

Many reviewers issue a disclaimer about 33 SNOWFISH due to the lives of kids on the street being so graphically and dispassionately outlined. There are many adult themes and some profanity. This book is not for the squeamish. But neither is it a trite, formulaic, sensationalistic bombshell; every word, every paragraph, and every page is essential to the journey of these characters, even though only one meets an end that is appealing.

Rapp is to be commended for not "dumbing down" a story of the street for a wider readership. Many other young adult novels have a didactic message that is cumbersome and cliché, sounding a warning as loud as a tuba, leaving nothing for the reader to reflect upon. But 33 SNOWFISH is that rare book that is art for the sake of art, that makes the reader think for the message, that makes its audience reach for the gift of understanding, and the novel does it without wasting any words or pages.

Faulkner's fans and his detractors will appreciate this novel, as will young adult readers. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by: Mark Frye, author and reviewer

33 Snowfish

At first, this book looked like it should have been burned. If you look at the book's title and cover illustrations had me thinking that I probably shouldn't read this novel. Surprisingly, the story's first page was very catchy. The thing about this book is the use of language because it's gritty and harsh, just how life is. The first sentence of the book goes "On top of everything else, Boobie's got the clap". Author Adam Rapp has the main character, Custis, a 13 year old boy, tell the truth about his life exactly how it is, an orphan on the streets, no sugar coating it! Curl is a 15 year old drug-addicted prostitute that has a peculiarly happy disposition given the position that she's in. Boobie is a troubled 19 year old boy, obsessed with fire. The best part of this book is the way that the author has three sides to the story, each of the main characters, and blend them so fluently. This hopeless-turned-dark story had me on edge from page one...READ IT!

This is one of those truly horrifying books that I amazed myself by reading. It deals with the many problems in today's society including drugs, racism and poverty. It is mainly the story of a racist young boy who spends time with a prostitute/drug addict and her boyfriend (also a drug addict) who murdered both his parents. I consider reading to be a hobby of mine. However, I derived no enjoyment from this book, granted it is well written and contains many important messages but it was also harsh and a depressing read. However, the ending was most satifying as it restores hope in people after an entire book about their grievous faults. The story is compelling and made me feel grateful for what I have.

It is interesting and educational yet heartbreaking.

Well, I really wanted to like this book! It had a very artistic cover, and the artwork inside was intriguing. As a teacher who constantly tries to keep up with Young Adult fiction trends, I gave this one a try, and to my dismay, it was quite depressing, dark, and exploited the seedier side of humanity. Not quite the Young Adult fiction I would recommend to my high school students. There are frequent references to drugs, prostitution, murder, as well as scenes alluding to adult-child sex and snuff movies starring children.

This dark depiction of society's underbelly was captured very well on paper, and I credit the author for his authentic portrayal of some of our struggling members of society. However, I cannot recommend this book to any of my students for fear of parent backlash, or worse.

I would recommend this book if you want to discover stuggling characters existing our society, but I wouldn't consider this a "teacher-recommended" book by any means. Simply put, not one I would put on my reading shelf in my classroom.

I recieved the book today and was very suprised and happy as it was two days early as it was a suprised for my daughter. when I gave it to her she was very happy. thank u for the fast service

I had read another of Adams Rapp's book and loved it. His style of writing is completely realistic, allowing you to hear the story from the characters themselves. He doesn't sugar coat it and picks topics that are complete depressing but in a weird warped way gives you a happy ending. He brings out the dark humor in the most horrific events and shows you the raw material of peoples personalities. No matter how racist, dirty, perverted, or crazy. The language in the book could be extreme for you if you are under 13, but the language has a purpose in reviling things about the characters.
I really enjoyed it, it is now one of my favorites, and you should read it.

Adam Rapp wrote a brilliant novel called 33 Snowfish, which takes place in the northwestern United States. This is a story about three teenagers who face everyday struggles and run away together in a search for what they were missing in life...love. They face many difficulties, including disease and anger. In their travels, Curl catches an illness which Custis and Boobie refer to as "lung frost" (Rapp 90; Custis). This illness eventually kills her. As she is dying, Curl draws snowfish on the side of the bus that they are living in. These fish symbolize the difficulties they faced in their everyday life. Custis and Boobie are very different from each other. Custis sees the beauty in life, and Boobie likes to burn things. Rapp is a very talented writer who has written many other books, such as The Copper Elephent and the Buffalo Tree. This is a great book and I would love to read some of his other works.

33 Snowfish is the story of a young boy Custis. His age is never definately set, but he is probably 11 or 12. He grew up with an abusive "owner" Bob Motley and now is on the road with Boobie, a seventeen year old who killed his parents, Curl, Boobie's girlfriend and a drug addicted hooker, and Boobie's little unnamed baby brother.

This book is written in slang, which at first is hard to read, but once you get ten or fifteen pages in you get used to it. I thought that Adam Rapp wrote this book so poetically and the imagery is brilliant.

This is a relatively quick read, but I thought it was a very beautiful story and the ending was very gratifying.

I enjoyed this book; it was very realistic with good imagery. It is also not suitable for people that are not mature enough to handle profanity or graphic imagery. I enjoyed the book because it showed how life could be if you choose to be a prostitute, runaway, or an orphan.It also explains different love issues. Even though the characters in the book had little family contact, they made their own type of family and they loved each other like a real family would. The characters also explain how they decide if they can trust someone or not sometimes by their clothes or even by the way they walk. This book is fictional but very well could be a true story. I would recommend this book to mature teens and adults.