Customer Reviews

Antsy Does Time

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I got to admit, the reason why I bought this in the first place was because it was a $1.99 special at the book fair. I am amazingly glad I got the book, though, because it is the most witty, funny book I've read in a long while. The characters are real, as well as the events. It's such a good book that it didn't even have to be a sequel-it was a great stand-alone read.

What a fabulous story! Shusterman's "Antsy Does Time" is the sequel to his inventive & charming "The Schwa was Here." "Antsy Does Time" is about a Antsy Bonano, a Brooklyn teen living an ordinary--if funny--life with his family and friends. Antsy soon discovers that his new friend, Gunnar Umlaut, is suffering from "pulmonary monoxic systemia," and only has six months to live. To cheer Gunnar up, Antsy decides to donate a month of his life to Gunnar. His symbolic gesture of goodwill, however, ends up taking over Antsy's life. Soon, everyone in school is signing up to donate months or even years. When the school principal finds out, he decides to make it an official school-wide "fund" raiser (a "time" raiser, perhaps). Things are getting out of control! All the attention and generosity does make Gunnar happy, though, so Antsy decides to go with the flow.

In the mean time, Gunnar's gorgeous older sister Kjersten, spurred by the good Antsy is doing, decides to pay romantic attention to Antsy. A sophomore boy's dream come true! While befriending Gunnar and getting involved with Kjersten, though, Antsy learns more about their family than he wants to know. With their financial distress, a distant father, and avoidance of the truths in front of their faces, Gunnar's family makes Antsy realize how normal his family is.

While navigating the choppy waters of high school, teen romance, and seemingly-doomed friendships, Antsy has troubles of his own to face. The family restaurant is taking over his mother's & father's lives, and feels like it's ruining Antsy's own life. His good friend (and former girlfriend) Lexie, is being helpful, in an unhelpful sort of way, and Antsy discovers the truth about Gunnar's illness. The stress all comes to a head when Antsy's father has a heart attack. The family crisis teaches Antsy a lot about himself, his family, ans his outlook on life. It also leads him to answers about the mysteries surrounding Gunnar.

"Antsy Does Time" was a wonderful read. It is laugh-out-loud funny, and it really takes you into Antsy's head. The characters are fun and fully-fleshed, which makes me want to know what happens to them after the story ends. I hope Shusterman writes another book about Antsy, because I'd love to keep following him!

If you're looking for a fun, funny, engaging read, "Antsy Does Time" is a great bet.

What a fabulous story! Shusterman's "Antsy Does Time" is the sequel to his inventive & charming "The Schwa was Here." "Antsy Does Time" is about a Antsy Bonano, a Brooklyn teen living an ordinary--if funny--life with his family and friends. Antsy soon discovers that his new friend, Gunnar Umlaut, is suffering from "pulmonary monoxic systemia," and only has six months to live. To cheer Gunnar up, Antsy decides to donate a month of his life to Gunnar. His symbolic gesture of goodwill, however, ends up taking over Antsy's life. Soon, everyone in school is signing up to donate months or even years. When the school principal finds out, he decides to make it an official school-wide "fund" raiser (a "time" raiser, perhaps). Things are getting out of control! All the attention and generosity does make Gunnar happy, though, so Antsy decides to go with the flow.

In the mean time, Gunnar's gorgeous older sister Kjersten, spurred by the good Antsy is doing, decides to pay romantic attention to Antsy. A sophomore boy's dream come true! While befriending Gunnar and getting involved with Kjersten, though, Antsy learns more about their family than he wants to know. With their financial distress, a distant father, and avoidance of the truths in front of their faces, Gunnar's family makes Antsy realize how normal his family is.

While navigating the choppy waters of high school, teen romance, and seemingly-doomed friendships, Antsy has troubles of his own to face. The family restaurant is taking over his mother's & father's lives, and feels like it's ruining Antsy's own life. His good friend (and former girlfriend) Lexie, is being helpful, in an unhelpful sort of way, and Antsy discovers the truth about Gunnar's illness. The stress all comes to a head when Antsy's father has a heart attack. The family crisis teaches Antsy a lot about himself, his family, ans his outlook on life. It also leads him to answers about the mysteries surrounding Gunnar.

"Antsy Does Time" was a wonderful read. It is laugh-out-loud funny, and it really takes you into Antsy's head. The characters are fun and fully-fleshed, which makes me want to know what happens to them after the story ends. I hope Shusterman writes another book about Antsy, because I'd love to keep following him!

If you're looking for a fun, funny, engaging read, "Antsy Does Time" is a great bet.

I loved the author's quirky storytelling style and irreverent sense of humor. I'm an English teacher, and I read excerpts of this book to teach voice and humor in writing. My students love it!

This book might be even funnier than its predecessor, "The Schwa Was Here," which was a riot. My 10-year-old son laughed himself sick reading this book, and that deeper questions of humanity and kindness and identity run just as strongly as the wonderfully wry humor.

Anthony "Antsy" Bonano comes up with a unique way to cheer up his classmate Gunnar, who has announced that he has a terminal disease. It seems to help, though Gunnar keeps up his backyard tombstone-carving project anyway, and it also brings Antsy to the attention of Gunnar's beautiful sister. Soon Antsy is navigating the difficulties of (possibly) dating an 'older woman' while his De-Glooming-Gunnar idea spirals out of control. And what on earth is the story behind Gunnar's Dad and the weird family dynamic his appearances create?

Antsy is a good kid with a good heart, who happens to be snappier and funnier than most. This book makes for a terrific sequel, though it could be read by itself. But you'll find yourself wanting to read the other book anyway, just to spend more time with Antsy and his unique and hilarious take on the world!

I think that this book is good because of its strange characters,especially Skater Dud.It's cool how many random events happen like,Antsy's Father having a heart attack,Kjersten kissing Antsy,Skater Dude's future death being him falling of an aircraft carrier,and lots of other random stuff.One thing in this book thats amazing is the feeling that you just want to reach in the book and PUNCH someone who's realy anoying or a jerk,like Gunnars dad.

Although Antsy Does Time is the companion to The Schwa Was Here, it stands alone without difficulty. In fact, it's even better than the first book.

Neal Shusterman takes the idea of giving a month of your life to another person, and allows it develop in believable but totally unexpected ways. Although the book touches upon serious themes, almost every chapter contained something to make me laugh out loud: certain scenes, situations (my favorite: Antsy and his friend use way too much weedkiller in order to turn their backyard into a dustbowl for a school project), lines, or just Antsy's strange thought processes. My sister is also reading it, and she too has been laughing her head off.

ADT is written in 1st person, from the point of view of a 14 year-old boy. Antsy and his friends are fully developed, likable characters who are fun to read about, no matter what they're doing. Thanks to Neal Shusterman, what they're doing tends to be both hilarious and thought-provoking.

It is difficult to write a great book with interesting characters that evolve. It's even harder to write a sequel in which the same characters show us something new and continue to grow. However, Shusterman does just that in Antsy Does Time. Shusterman takes the ever-relatable teenage angst and mixes in some death, divorce, love, and heartbreak. Gunner informs his friend Antsy that he has only 6 months to live because of a rare disease. Antsy does what any good friend would do: he donates a month of his life to Gunner and inexplicably starts a trend. Antsy feels like a hero until he discovers Gunner's deception and then events start to spiral out of control.

Check out Shusterman's other books. He covers a wide variety of topics and styles and is one of the best YA authors working these days. You can pick up any of his books and will always have a good read.

Antsy Bonano is a pretty average teen, he has friends, he has a cell phone, and he's just enjoying hanging out with his friends, Howie and Ira. When he learns one of his classmates, Gunnar Umlaut has a fatal illness, he's worried and not sure what to do. Just a little idea to cheer Gunnar up, giving a month of his life to him, gets out of control, reigning havoc into Antsy' heaven.

At the same time, Gunnar's family is going through hard times. Mr. Umlaut lost his job, and recently has been throwing away money to the casino. And when Antsy finds out something worse than he could ever imagine, everything seems to get out of control.

When I read Antsy does time, it was witnessing all of the characters in action, Shusterman really made the character come to life. Friendship and change really brought this realistic fiction sequel to The Schwa Was Here a 4 star rating. I recommend this book to anyone 10 and up who likes humorous books and adventure on every page.

After reading the first chapter of Antsy Does Time, I couldn't put it down. Neal used rich dialogue, and made the characters jump off the page, making this book a page-turning must read.

-Kara Claire

Antsy says of Gunner "I admire a guy who uses what he's got," and I have to say the same for Neal Shusterman who has really made the most of his incredible talent to treat serious issues with humor and depth in "Antsy Does Time." I laughed and cried over his treatment of the concept of living on borrowed time.