Customer Reviews

The Car

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Car by Gary Paulsen is a great novel about growing, rebellion, and America. The book begins in Cleveland, Ohio with a 14 year old boy named Terry. His parents, who spend all of there time arguing, decide to leave one another, coincidently at the same time - leaving Terry at home by himself. In his garage there is a little kit car of his fathers that he was forbidden to work on. Now that he has no supervision he decides to put the car together. Terry decides to go west with his new friend, he calls the "cat" since the car is a Blakely Bearcat, to see his only relative, his uncle. On the way he picks up a hitchhiker named Waylon, not by choice, a Vietnam veteran. Waylon is a "child of the sixties and seventies" and tries to teach Terry about "learning". They head to Wayne's house, who is also a Vietnam Vet and together they all three go "trucking". While "trucking" they learn all sorts of things about America, themselves, and each other. Gary Paulsen who also wrote The Hatchet, along with many other celebrated novels is an excellent author. He explains just enough to give the idea of what is going on, and leave the rest to the reader. Unlike some Authors who detail everything so much you don't even want to finish reading. For this reason I think that Gary Paulsen is one of the best authors ever. His books feel so realistic, probably because he writes from his own experience and has an excellent way to describe it. A possible alternate title that might have been better would have been The Cat, but that might not have caught to many peoples interest.

A fourteen year old boy named Terry is on a quest. He needs to get from Ohio to Portland, Oregon with two old Vietnam Veterans. Terry ends up with no parents as a result of them not liking each other. He was left all alone. When he found out he was alone he started building a kit car that was given to his father. He plans to drive to an uncle in Portland who he barely knows. Along his way he picks up Wayne and Walon. Both were in the Vietnam War. They wanted to show Terry America, it's wonders, and its people. I think most people would enjoy THE CAR if they would sit down and read. I highly recommend this book to people who especially like Gary Paulsen or who are interested in cars. I hope you will want to read this book after reading my review.

Abandoned by both his parents, 14-year-old Terry Anders decides to assemble the pieces of a car kit. The name of the car is a Blakely-Bearcat in which he takes off in. Then he meets Waylon Jackson, a 45-year-old Vietnam veteran who has spent most of the past 20 years trucking around the U.S., after he hopped in the car during a rain storm so that he wouldn't get wet. Their cross-country adventure had great impact on Terry: They go and visit an old man who recites history as if he were a participant, dine at a religious commune, and tour the site of the Battle of Little Big Horn. Waylon is a well-developed character in the book. Flashback memories reveal that a traumatic incident in Vietnam has left him mentally unstable, and references to government checks suggest some kind of permanent disability. Although the trip works well as a metaphor for Terry's journey toward maturity, not all the story's elements are as well developed. Terry's parents seem to exist mostly as a plot device rather than a source of real conflict, and Waylon's homosexuality is mentioned but never explored. Despite these flaws, The Car is a well-written, thoughtful coming-of-age novel.

The Car is about a fourteen-year-old boy whose parents abandon him and he builds a kit car. He decides to go to Portland where his uncle lives. He meets a man named Waylon and goes on the adventure of his life, forgetting his parents and his uncle. The Car is an excellent book and I loved it. Gary Pulsen was good at telling how the characters felt. Cat is the coolest car I have ever seen. It sounds like the kind of car I would want . I have read My Side Of The Mountain. It was about a boy who goes on a adventure, but I think the Car was much better. The book is suspenseful and it feels like you know the characters.It was the best book ever. The Car is very easy to understand. Over all it was a good book for young adults.

Our book club group containing of sophomores read "The Car" by Gary Paulsen together and would rate it about a 4.5 out of 5.

The book is about a younger boy whose parents leave him and he is left home, all alone. He builds a car and leaves to go find his uncle, but gets stuck with a couple of Vietnam veterans. He learns how to truck and learns about history and how to view things he stumbles upon. He has an excitingly interesting trip along the way.

We all had fun reading this book even though none of our group members really enjoy reading. We would recommend this book to someone who isn't fond of reading. The book was easy to read and hard to put down at some points. It was a very good book.

Brock Bolton
Mrs. Rowe
L.A. Block 4
9-29-08
The Car
This book features three main characters Terry, Waylon, and Wayne, but I'm going to tell you about Waylon. Waylon is a Vietnam veteran and he is just fun loving the book mentions one time where he wins 15,000 off of poker. He is kind of old it says in his 50's. This book takes place in a lot of different places such as Cleveland, Ohio and South Dakota. Possibly my favorite part in this book is near the end when Wayne and Waylon are just like beating up cowboys crazy one after one. There is one major problem Terry is driving cross-country without a license or a legal license plate. This is resolved by Wayne getting a license plate for Terry's car. I think the theme is to learn as much as you can as live life.

The book, The Car, is a good book. It is a realistic fiction book. It was written by Gary Paulson.
The Car is about a boy named Terry, whose prents fight all the time. One day, he was at home, and they both left him, thinking that the other would take care of him. Since his dad was a mechanic, he knows how to work with motors. He found a kit car that someone had paid his dad with, and he built it. He took all of hi money and started out to go live with his uncle, his only relative, in Oregon. Along the way, he meets Waylon and Wayne. They want to teach him about America, so they go trucking together. They g to a lot of places with each other, and Terry starts to learn about America.
I liked this book okay. I think that it i good for sixth to seventh graders.

As an English teacher, I am always looking for books to involveteens in reading--and it doesn't hurt if they teach a lesson or twoalong the way! This one fits the bill in both ways. The story, while it leaves some open areas (Terry's completely absent parents, the homosexuality of one of the main characters), and makes use of unfavorable stereotypes (drunken pickup drivers, antagonistic cowboys), is also bound to stimulate conversation in class and may even encourage readers to find out more about Vietnam, the Indian wars, or perhaps John Steinbeck or Shakespeare, who are featured as excellent authors to learn from. All in all, a great story just for reading as well as a book with terrific teaching possibilities!

The Car. The feel of a car driving down the road, the response of the engine as a pedal is pushed farther and farther to the floor, the feeling that you have nowhere to go, nobody to return home to, nothing to look at but the scenery around you describes what might be going through the head of fourteen year old Terry Anders while he was behind the wheel of his homemade kit car. You see, Terry never really got along with his parents; they were just there. They were just people who happened to live in the same house as him and who really could care less about the future of Terry. Typically, one day they don't come home. After a while they don't show up and in a freak coincidence, they both call, one after another, and saying that they are leaving. Many thoughts are going through Terry's head, and he eventually decides to finish building the kit car that was in the garage and sets out on a journey of a lifetime. On his journey, he meets people who accompany him on his ride, people who know the United States like the back of their hands. They show him places that aren't on the tourist maps, things that would be very hard to find by yourself. While I was reading this, it came to me that even though this book was a very good book, it came to me that none of this could happen in real life. Sure, maybe a 14 year old might be able to drive around the neighborhood in a car without any attention, but in real life this just wouldn't work. It would also be very hard for him to build it too. Despite all of this, the way that Gary Paulsen writes his novels captivates me every time. I have read many of his books, and in simpler terms, he puts his characters in trees and throws rocks at them. Basically what that means is that he puts them in situations and throws problems at them and they always find a way of solving their problems. These books, as well as his others make your mind escape into an imaginary world where it's just you, Terry, the Car, and the open road. The only major disappointment in this book would have to be the ending. It leaves you there wanting more, questioning what will happen to Terry, asking why does the book have to stop there? I guess that is what shows you it is a good book. I recommend this book to anybody who enjoys a light read, cars, and following a teenager on a wild adventure.

Fourteen Year-Old Terry Anders had just gotten off the phone with his mom and dad, both saying that they were tired of fighting with each other, and that they were going to leave Terry in the hands of the other parent. Terry was home alone. He liked not hearing tham fight. Later that day, he started putting together a 1974 Blakely Bearcat, which was a kit car. Terry then decided that he was going to drive the car. One problem, he didn't have a license to drive the car. So he starts on his journey and meets two interesting characters, Wayne and Waylon. They teach him to "LEARN". Gary Paulsen uses very well written descriptions that put you right there with what is happening. One example would be when Terry got the phone call, you could imagine what he was thinking. He has a very good word choice, and makes you think about what you just read. Like when Wayne and Waylon tell Terry to "LEARN" in life. The book left me with one question, am I learning all I can in life? This is a great book of adventure and endless possibilities.