22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, teen literature that respects its audience., October 10, 2001
This review is from: The Black Book: Diary of a Teenage Stud, Vol. I: Girls, Girls, Girls (Mass Market Paperback)
I can't remember exactly what it was that first drew my attention to this marvelous little book, whether it was the ambiguous title, the reviews on the back cover (all quotes from characters within the book itself) or the photograph of the torso of a scantily-clad female on the front. Whatever it was, it intrigued me enough that I opened up to a random page, only to find what seemed to me like some sort of stream-of-consciousness first person narrative with several brief, unannounced sexual fantasies seamlessly blended into the storyline.
Now even more perplexed and, I'll confess, titillated (in my defense, I am a 16 year-old male) I immediately ran to the computer in the bookstore where I work to see if the book was, in fact, what it appeared to be on first glance. Much to my astonishment, all the reviews I read indicated that it indeed was. It was at this point that I realized that the author listed on the cover was eponymous with the title character and that nowhere in either the book itself or in my bookstore's database was he/she identified any further.
Of course, at this point I simply had to sit down and read the whole thing. The book consists of only 236 pages of very quick-reading prose, so the time commitment on my part wasn't more than a couple of hours. It only took me a few pages to get used to the very ambitious conceit employed by the author so it was no time before I began to settle into the life of Mr. Jonah Black.
I won't worry about giving away any plot points because it doesn't take long before the book begins to hint at these anyway. As the book opens, the title character believes he is beginning his senior year at Don Shula High School in Florida after having been expelled from a Pennsylvania boarding school he had been attending in order to live closer to his father. Now he is living with his mother, a freakishly on-target portrayal of a best-selling self-help "sexpert" and perfectly unbearable to her two teenage children (her favorite expression seems to be, "are you being nice to yourself?"). Jonah's sister is one year younger than he and a veritable genius who has already skipped one grade at her selective magnet school. She also happens to be the most promiscuous girl in her ZIP code and yet manages to convince her clueless mother that, when she goes to visit the entire football team, it's just to help them all study.
Meanwhile, Jonah is in for a surprise on his first day back at school. Apparently, his expulsion from the Pennsylvania boarding school precluded his taking the final examination for his German class, resulting in him receiving a "D" grade for the semester. This does not sit well with the administration of Shula High, which specializes in languages, so he must now repeat the eleventh grade. This puts Jonah in the unenviable position of being one year behind his own "little" sister.
To make matters worse, Jonah is having severe difficulties with his relationships with the opposite sex. The extent of his experience seems to be a brief on-line correspondence with a Norwegian university student and an unhealthy obsession with Sophie, the object of the aforementioned sexual fantasies, who may or may not be imaginary. The only real female whom he finds the least bit appealing is his best friend, Posie, who is unfortunately all-but-married to an attractive but rather dense surfer named Wailer.
The book follows Jonah through the first few months of the school year as he attempts to re-establish something resembling a normal life. Jonah drops hints along the way about his sordid past which would serve as motivators for the reader to pay attention and keep up with the story. This proves unnecessary, however, due to the author's considerable skill at engaging the reader with interesting characters and hilarious plot turns. The reader's interest is also preserved by a prose style that is simultaneously down to earth without feeling dumbed down, a rarity among current teen fiction.
Though certain background details of Jonah's life might invite comparisons to Salinger's Holden Caulfield, the similarities between the two end there. Jonah is, in my mind, a far more believable and attractive character than Holden. He has very few of Holden's irritating self-pitying or self-destructive tendencies. Also, unlike Holden, Jonah does not constantly pass judgment on the entire world but respects the reader's intelligence by allowing him to recognize for himself the absurdities of teenage life without being incessantly hit over the head with them.
The Black Book avoids the common pitfall of young adult literature of taking itself too seriously and trying to confront specific "issues". The main character is both likable and realistic and his problems are neither of the superficial, Sweet Valley High variety, nor so exaggeratedly outlandish as to seem far removed from the experiences of most teenagers. And although he is quite introspective and engages in an overactive fantasy life, Jonah is not one of the moody, alienated types that has become such a trite staple of teen literature since Catcher in the Rye and The Outsiders.
Above all, though, readers will appreciate The Black Book for its sense of humor, which almost never sinks to the level of American Pie style antics. The author succeeds at a very delicate balancing act of taking the audience deep into the mind of Jonah Black while remaining removed enough to recognize just how funny his life is.
Teen literature has always been a weak genre, so it's nice to find a new voice in it who knows how to relate to teenagers without being condescending. I heartily recommend this novel to any mature reader of high school age or above. And, though The Black Book ends on a note of unresolved climax, it more than makes up for it with the promise of a sequel to come.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not What I Thought, November 4, 2001
This review is from: The Black Book: Diary of a Teenage Stud, Vol. I: Girls, Girls, Girls (Mass Market Paperback)
When I heard about this book, I really was very interested in it. I read part of it and thought it would be very interesting. 4 days later when I recieved it in the mail, I read the entire thing at once. I was very impressed with this book even though it at all was not what I thought it was going to be... and the funny thing is that I have only read 2 other books from front to back, but this was great. I was just here at Amazon.com buying Volume 2 and getting the publish dates for Volumes 3 (Jan.9, 02) & 4 (March 19, 02). I have been thinking about this book ever since I put it down, and even though the website said that all characters are fictional, I have this want to meet Jonah Black. Reading what he wrote, has kinda given me a different outlook on boys. Not every boy is thinking about girls and sex all the time. And it is possible for a teenage boy to love one girl, who he hasn't slept with. That to me is reassuring. So, Jonah Black, if you are out there, good job.
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