Customer Reviews

Crooked

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Clara is a 14 year old girl living in the 90's confused by just about every thing the world has to offer. Her family lives in a small town in upstate New York. Clara hits high school and everything goes wrong in her life. She is extremely self conscious about her nose and wants a nose job desperately because it is crooked. Her mom leaves the family for a while to get away from issues, but ends up taking a teaching job in Spain. Meanwhile Clara's `best friend' makes friends with the `popular' group at school and starts ignoring Clara. Then one of her peers father dies and they bond almost instantaneously. The two are pretty much just close friends until one of the two troublemaking brothers takes a liking to Clara and fixes to end Clara and Amos's communication. Clara and Amos won't allow it and the police eventually get involved, leading to an edge of seat ending.

I would recommend this book to readers of age 14-16. It has a slight mature content, but nothing bad, just mature ideas in a 13 year old's world.

As a teacher at the middle school level, I can well understand the insecurities and emotional changes inherent in adolescents. While I was reading Crooked, I was struck by the absolute reality of the intense feelings that Clara and Amos had about absolutely everything. This, added to the parallel happenings both in their home lives (his father's death and her mother's disappearance) and in their outside worlds, (his being stalked and her misplaced attraction to the stalker) kept me turning the pages. I have wholeheartedly recommended Crooked to the school librarian and to students of both my drama and English classes. I have also recommended Crooked to friends who would like to better interpret and appreciate the ups and downs of the young adult. We anxiously await the next McNeal book!

Clara is a 14 year old girl in the modern world. She's also obsessed with her slightly crooked nose. On top of that, her parents are fighting and about to split up. Her best friend ditches her for the more "popular" crowd. Not to mention, she has a crush on Amos, who she thinks doesn't know she exists.

But, he does. Amos MacKenzie falls madly for this unpopular dork, Clara Wilson. After his mother becomes extremely religious at the drop of a hat, Amos starts being suspicious. After a run-in with the Tripp brothers, Amos becomes the school's new hero. Just coping with this new found popularity, out of the blue, his father dies in a surgery gone wrong. This situation actually brings Clara and Amos closer together. Until the Clara catches Eddie Tripp's eye and the couple becomes a new target for the infamous Tripp brothers.

Personally, I loved this book. I just couldn't put it down. Amos becomes such a lovable character, and in to the book you even learn to like Eddie. Of course, any girl could relate with sweet Clara at times, as well. It's excellent how the book switches from Amos's and Clara's points of views. It adds a little twist to the book. Overall, I think "Crooked" is an excellent read for teens.

Good books, in my opinion are usually exciting, suspenseful, humorous, etc. This book has all of those traits, and more. It is about a girl named Clara Wilson, who is 14 years old and lives with her mom and dad. Her parents are always arguing, and Clara fears that they are on the verge of divorce. To make matters worse, her best friend Gerri is starting to hang out with Sands Mandeville, and the rest of the popular girls at their school. Meanwhile, Clara has discovered her crush on Amos Mackenzie, another student attending Melville Junior High, and doesn't know what to do about it. Unfortunately, these were not the worst that things would get, because that's when Eddie and Charles Tripp came into the picture. Their idea of fun is by frightening people, and their newest plans involve Amos and Clara.
There are so many good things to say about this book, that I don't even know where to begin. First of all, I liked the authors' style of writing because it was unique, and really made the book more interesting. My favorite part of the book was near the end, because that's where everything began to fall into place, and it made me want to keep reading until I finished it. After reading this book I learned that trust is a big part of friendship, and that what's appealing for you might not always be fun for someone else. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I hope that you will read it too because I can almost guarantee that you will feel the same way as I do.

The setting of this book takes place in Upper State New York where we find the alternating narrators of our book. Clara and Amos, both going though there 9th grade year, have many ups and downs some same and others different. They both face problems with their families as Clara's mom leaves her father and her for a teaching job in Spain. Where as Amos is suffering from the sudden death of his father due to a common surgery. Amos is faced with sudden popularity after being beat with a baseball bat by the town bullies Charles and Eddie Tripp, unlike Clara who is feeling more and more alone as she is ditched by her best friend early in the book. As Clara and Amos because better friends their problem with the Tripp brothers increase until they are faced with them and their independent problems with each at the climax of the book. This book shows the more unusual problems of these preteens but also a lot of universal themes on growing up like social status and self-confidence issues. This is a great book for both young adults who can relate and also adults who would want to look at the life of preteens again.

CROOKED is the story that revolves around two plot lines and four main chracters: Clara, Amos, and Eddie & Charles Tripp, and one terrifyingly real climax. CLARA: a troubled young adult trying to find herself, worried about her crooked nose, and she has a crush on Amos. AMOS: the same age as Clara and in-love with her, he has a dying Father, a worrying mother, a tough sister, and has been hailed as a hero in school for standing up to Tripps. THE TRIPPS: two twin brothers with issues, they like to scare people and have set their eyes on Clara and Amos. There you go. CROOKED is a spellbinding look on the underground world of school and the pains of loss, love, and redemption.
WARNING: contains coarse language, mature situations, and violence. Young readerts beware!

This book was interesting and thought provoking. It had some very memorable and real characters{my personal favorite was Clara - she was very easy to identify with}but I really don't understand why some authors think that a book for teens has to have sex or rape to be good. I wouldn't recommend "Crooked" to anyone under thirteen.

The reviews for this book are fantastic and the back of the book makes you want to dive into the book head first. Its reviews state it was written in the perspective of two teenagers who find solace in each other after a series of misfortuante events in their lives. To be frank, this book has absolutely no flow. The characters suddenly go from strangers to friends. The language and dialogue is defintely not how a teenager would sound or feel. The reviews of this book are a misrepresentation. AS well, the writing is definitely 180 degrees away from a real teens POV.

Crooked. Such a funny word. Does it mean tilted to the side, does it mean not so straight? I think it means both. The characters in this book are so real. They could be people from down the street, or someone you would walk by once in your life. When Amos's dad dies it's tragic. The things that happen from then on just keep going. Clara's parents split up, and then there's the whole Eddie thing. I could not put this book down! You have to read it!

I love the way Crooked was written, and I wouldnt mind reading it again. I loved the different perspectives the author has given each chapter, and I loved how everything was based on real life facts! I mean everything that happened, or was told in the book Crooked, has actually happened to someone. It just fascinates me on how the author can put the facts from life in a book.