Customer Reviews

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

What a great premise this book has. Polar opposite siblings, bad-girl goth Marlo and straight-laced bookish Milton, die in a marshmellow explosion and both end up in Heck, not H-E-double-hockey-sticks, but more of an inferno with training wheel, a reform school from, well, hell. Basye stocks his colorful underworld with a pack of cleverly named characters in ironic situations (Nixon teaching ethics, Lizzie Borden teaching Home Ec). But the book sends mixed messages. Many of the references geared over the head of its adolescent audience (how many 12 year olds know who Typhoid Mary was or what Watergate was all about?). And he never quite explains what the purpose of this place is, is it an opportunity for redemption? Is it a Roald Dahl-style nightmare land for kids to escape? That part of the story could have been better developed; if it had the story would have reached a whole new level. But it does have charm, mainly the charm of the tug-of-war bond between the two heroes. Whether they're fighting each other or fighting for each other, Marlo and Milton's relationship is a true brother-sister relationship, and they are together the heart and soul of the book.

Who would I recommend this book to? Anyone and Everyone...regardless of age.

This book, by new author Dale Basye, is the most entertaining, inventive and creative reads I have experienced in a long time. I actually compared it to Memoirs of a Geisha and The Historian...not for the story lines (duh...obviously) but in the sense that those two books had a style of writing that made you feel like you could really see every little detail of the surroundings. Those books made me want to visit Asia and Europe....and now I wish there really was a HECK...and I wish I could visit it!! Although I'm pretty sure with my track record, I will be going to a far hotter, more grown up destination.

A darkly funny, sometimes silly (boogers and poop are funny no matter how young or old), always entertaining tale of Milton and Marlo Fauster - two siblings sent straight to Heck: an otherwordly reform school.

With teachers like Lizzie Borden (Home Ec) Richard Nixon (ethics) and Blackbeard The Pirate (gym) and the likes of Principal Bea "Elsa" Bubb breathing down their necks it seems unlikely they will ever escape.

I loved Heck so much, I recommended it to my book club (a group of 30-something savvy readers) and everyone is really excited to read it. The gals with children loved the idea of reading a book club book to their kids. We are Portland, OR based and hoping to have the author join us to discuss his inspiration. (Hey...we can dream!)

I already anxiously await the 2nd book!

I loved this book, beginning with the overtly euphemistic title (Remember 'Phil' from Dilbert? 'Prince of Insufficient Light,' come to 'darn you to Heck, for an inconveniently long time'?)
To any moderately literate adult the name-puns are delicious: Milton, Marlo, Fauster, Virgil... and the satire is infectuous: Nixon teaching ethics; Lizzie Borden teaching home economics.

In reading through the reviews on this book -- particularly the negative reviews -- I am struck by how few adults apparently retain any memory of how they thought and felt as children. Maybe this is a good thing, but if so, said adults probably ought not to be reading and reviewing children's books.

Yes, many satiric references will go over the heads of most kids in the target audience (4th-6th graders). But how many of us who grew up watching reruns of "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" got the humor in "Boris Badenov," "Natasha Fatale," or in the coordinator of the communist spy-network, "Fearless Leader" being a Nazi, when we were 10 years old?

I view "Heck" in that same vein, a story designed to appeal to kids, but with a little something extra tucked in there for parents who happen to pick up the book. And hey, now and then a kid just might be impelled to -ask- a parent, "so who the heck was Nixon?" providing an opportunity for parent/child interaction _and_ a history lesson, rolled into one.

Then there is the gross-out humor and repetition. A lot of time is spent encountering bodily secretions in a variety of disgusting settings. Too much time for most adults, probably, but it's hard to fathom how any adult who's spent time around kids in this age-range could be so deaf as to not notice that 4th-graders find this stuff hysterically funny.

And yes, the "Bea 'Elsa' Bub" pun gets repeated over and over and over... But has any parent not had the experience of their ten or eleven-year old learning a (to them) new joke, and then repeating it endlessly for days and weeks -- in appropriate and inappropriate situations -- until the next "new" joke came along?

In short, I think Dale Basye understands his intended audience very well indeed, and does an excellent job of writing for them. That he's also erudite enough to create some amusing adult satire with characters like Blackbeard and Typhoid Mary along the way is just icing on the cake. I can't wait to read the next book in the series. I highly recommend this book for 9-13 year old readers, and to those adults who retain at least a vague recollection of what -they- were like at those ages.

After a giant marshmallow explosion Milton and Marlow Fauster find themselves in "Heck", a place where bad kids end up before they are sent to, well, a worse or better place. Milton knows why his sister is there, she's a kleptomaniac! Milton on the other hand is a good student and kid. According to the "Principal of Darkness", Bea "Elsa" Bubb, Milton committed one crime right before he passed over, he shoplifted (thanks to Marlow). Milton and Marlow are subjected to classes like Home-economics with Lizzie Borden, Ethics with Richard Nixon, and Gym with Blackbeard the Pirate. Milton knows that they can't stay in Heck and is determined to find a way to escape, but Bea "Elsa" Bubb is determined to keep them in Heck until they are 18 or for all eternity, whichever comes first.

I absolutely adored the idea of "Heck", but the story ended up being gross descriptions of things in heck, and not a lot of plot to back it up. I did enjoy reading it, but mostly because I liked seeing what else Dale Basye could twist and make "heckish". Milton and Marlow are a brother and sister team, who never got along, but are forced to once they enter Heck and know they have to escape. Typical brother sister story, except escaping Heck is not so typical a situation. I'm sure this book would be greatly enjoyed by readers who are 14 years old and younger.

I would give this 3.5 stars, but since I can't I gave it 3.

Milton and Marlo Fauster. Milton because John Milton wrote Paradise Lost about Lucifer's fall from Heaven, Marlo because Christopher Marlowe wrote a famous version of Johann Goethe's "Faust," about a man who sells his soul to the devil; Faustus because of same. These are not good names. They are not good because a large number of people, particularly the book's main target audience, wouldn't get the references, and cheesy because the people who do get the references don't think these names are clever. No, that's not fair; some might think the names clever -- until you read about a small ferret named Lucky as the pet of Milton, and who had Lucky wear a collar that had a small set of dice hanging from it, and who had Lucky lose that collar solely so that he could have Milton post a sign that said, "Milton's Pair of Dice: Lost."

That is a bad pun. It's labored, and it isn't funny. It also repeats the same joke made by choosing this kid's name. And that's the best example I can give of this book: it tries very hard, but it just can't get to where it needs to be in order for the audience to enjoy it.

In all honesty, the basic concept is wonderful. For the target audience, the adventure story isn't too bad, really, though there's some things that make no sense whatsoever (particularly the purpose of Heck, and the crossing of the Christian and Egyptian afterlife myths -- and then turning Anubis into a dog who wants to chew a bone??), and there's far too much time spent on poop. But the writing is not good, and the humor is terrible: dull, cliche, reliant on gross-outs that aren't too terribly gross and puns and references as irritating as the names of the two main characters and Lucky's collar.

Another example? Sure! The idea here is that these two kids die, and because they are bad kids, they get darned to Heck, a piece of Limbo a step short of Purgatory, where bad kids go to pay for their sins. (Except for the bully who goes to Heck as well, who is apparently rewarded for his years of evil acts on Earth, which makes the puporse of Heck -- pretty opaque.) Actually, only Marlo is a bad kid; Milton gets dragged down with her because she made him her unknowing, unwilling accomplice. Beggar the fact that even the Old Testament God wouldn't have damned the kid for that, it happens in this book. And we could live with that, since there seems to be a hidden reason for all of this -- except Marlo thinks it's funny, and Milton is vaguely annoyed with her for a page before he forgets about it. No, I don't think so. If my sibling got me killed (Also Marlo's fault, largely) and sent to an afterlife of torture, I wouldn't think it was funny, and I wouldn't just let it go. Which makes these characters unrealistic, and since we are already suspending our disbelief for the sake of accepting the existence of Heck, there's very little left in this book that we can believe in, now that we've lost both the setting and the characters. The plot doesn't work either, but I don't want to give that away.

Anyway, the pun I was going to describe is the name of the demon in charge of Heck, which is ostensibly a school (though that makes no sense and isn't well handled in the book, either), and thus she is the principal. Her name is Bea "Elsa" Bubb. Get it? Beelzebub, Lord of Flies, one of the chief lieutenants of Hell or another name for Satan himself, depending on your source? Well, if you didn't get it, don't worry -- the full name, Bea "Elsa" Bubb, is repeated throughout the novel. I must have been forced to read that awkward phrase fifty times. Rarely Principal Bubb, never Elsa; over and over again, Bea "Elsa" Bubb. A joke that wasn't that good the first time and was annoying every time after that, repeated fifty times in a two-hundred page book. I felt like I was in Heck. And I wanted out.

I am an adult. I love these books. I am not ashamed. Ok, so they are for tweens, or youngsters, whatever, but gosh darn it, they're GREAT! Heck is one of the best books (well, the whole series) I have EVER read, and I wait anxiously for each new one in the Circles of Heck to come out. Each of the Circles has a very special place on my Basye alter, I mean bookshelf, where I have placed mini-marshmallow rabbits, gumdrops, and plastic flowers. These books are THAT good. All kidding aside, The Circles of Heck books are exceptionally well written. They appeal to adults possibly more than to children. Basye has hidden Easter Egg nuggets of humour within his books - historical figures and anecdotes that fly right over the youngsters' heads, yet still appeal to the younger crowds because they are so well written. People say that sequels can't be as good as the first, but in this case, each book is as good, if not better. Dale E. Basye is such a wonderful writer that each book keeps getting better, so that when you finish one, you can't wait to pick up the next. Don't bother with the library's copies. You need to own these so you can read them over and over. Each time you do, you will pick up new tidbits that you missed the first time. The illustrations are wonderful too. You may find yourself creating a mini-shrine on your bookshelf at home out of pure adoration. Enjoy!!!!

This is a hilarious take on the afterlife, with a lot of gross-out humor (they crawl through sewers that service both "the surface," where the living poop, and all the toilets in Heck). I think that middle grade readers, or even some younger readers who really like potty humor, will enjoy the story and the adventure as Milton, Marlo, and their friend Virgil try to break out of Heck. There is a lot that is outrageous through the whole thing such as preschoolers addicted to phonics, demons dressed up as other demons (who happen to look like the thumb-thumbs from Spy Kids in my head), and an accidental trip to adult purgatory: a never ending traffic jam. But there is also a lot that is normal like horrendous cafeteria food, an overbearing gym teacher, and a big bad (human) bully, reminding Milton, Marlo, Virgil, and the reader that all of this is happening to regular kids.

My main problem with Heck is that I don't think the average middle grade reader, the reader this book was written for, will get a lot of the jokes that I thought were really really funny. Nixon teaches the boys ethics class. Lizzie Borden teaches girls' anatomy/biology. The headmistress is named Bea "Elsa" Bubb and actually says, "You mess with a demon, you get the horns," when she thinks she's discovered the escape plans (213). I read a lot of things and watched a lot of stuff that contained jokes and/or innuendos that flew right over my head when I was a kid, and I still enjoyed them. But so much of this book depends on jokes that not every 9yr old will have the background knowledge to understand, that I wonder how it is actually received by its intended audience.

I, not remotely the intended audience, thought it was really funny. I won't be rushing out to buy the second book in hardback, but I'll probably give it a look when it shows up in paperback. There are nine circles of Heck mentioned (Limbo, Rapacia, Blimpo, Fibble, Snivel, Precocia, Lipptor, Sadia, and Dupli-city). Since the second book is Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck I can only infer that the boarding school the first book was set in was Limbo, and there will be nine books total if Basye gets his following and his way. It'll be interesting to see how many of his readers make it through all nine before they outgrow the humor and/or if they'll stick with it because they start to get the cultural references and jokes.

Basye has created not only a clever and witty book, but it's also an interesting take on the historical references for hell. There are many pop culture references, and it would be laugh out loud funny in many parts if you as the reader didn't also feel like you were stuck in this terrible place called Heck. Ultimately, though, I was a bit disappointed in the story because it never really grabbed me as a reader, and although there are a plethora of imaginative characters and circumstances, they often go by too quickly and don't give enough description or connection to the scene to make it feel palatable.

-Lindsey Miller, [...]

So, Milton and Marlo, Virgil, Damian, Bea "Elsa" Bubb and the rest of the cast...

I tired quickly of reading 'Bea "Elsa" Bubb' every time we saw the principal... can't she just be 'Bea Elsa Bubb'? I'm normally not such a nit-picker with details in kids books, but, if being "bad" is what the principal likes, why does she have it out for Marlo? Milton, sure, since Milton is the "good one"... but hating Marlo - it would seem that Marlo, like Damian, should win gold stars for her behavior.

Also, there was an attempt to distinguish between the soul and the body... but if there is supposed to be that separation in this world, then why is the Bio teacher a shriveled body with a smaller version of herself inside? Is the smaller version supposed to be the soul? Since Milton learns that the soul is really a glob of jelly like stuff, what is the little person inside supposed to be?

Then, there's the idea that kids are sent to Heck for all eternity or until they turn 18. But what happens when they turn 18? There is a convoluted explanation about the time being used to decide where they should end up, and maybe that would be easier to understand if I could dump all the other "mythology" about He*#, but I was left utterly confused by that. Not to mention, all the talk about poo... I could live without that. Heck, in my opinion, should have been scary gross not gross gross. Even with the poo though, it wasn't remotely scary gross (I know, I am an adult, but I can't imagine my 4 yr old nephew being scared by any of the descriptions either).

I loved the idea. And, lets face it, there is the potential for a number of follow-ups, each a circle of "heck", but I have the second already and instead of diving right in, I pulled a totally different book off my shelf to read instead at the moment.

As for the plot - again there was so much potential. I loved the idea. But the girls who torture Marlo are peripheral and we don't see anything come of what could be an awesome feud. Milton's nemesis, the one that lands all 3 of them in Heck, again has such potential, but we don't even get to see a good show down between them.

It was a neat idea having Richard Nixon, Blackbeard and Lizzy Borden all be teachers. But they too get so little time in the few chapters we see of them that I felt like they were nods to the adults who might be reading, but there wasn't enough substance for me to even feel like the nod was anything more then half-hearted.

Then, no kidding the plot was primarily going to be about trying to escape. But even that fell flat. It wasn't a very thrilling or exciting escape - it came across as flat and boring. I wasn't ever eager to see if they could manage to pull it off. But, I wish I was.

It was a quick read - took about 5 hours. The little chapter illustrations are darling. And Basye does seem to be able to paint a pretty good scene in my head in very few words/chapters. But I am left hoping that the second will be a little better, otherwise I might not bother with the third.

My recommendation with respect to those adults who love to venture into the young adult/independent reader genres, borrow this from the library, don't spend your hard earned cash on it. Unless you have kids that will read it to - and maybe they will enjoy it more.

Dale Basye's Heck is one of those books that is just as good for adults as it is for kids. In fact, there are many things that will go right over the heads of the tweens but will make adults pee their pants. The two main characters are polar opposites but connected as only a brother and sister can understand. There are some scary moments, but all in all this book will have you laughing more than shaking.