Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Hilarious Look at Teenagers, October 26, 2009
This review is from: How To Steal A Car (Hardcover)
Kelleigh Monahan is not your typical car thief. In fact, she is anything but a car thief. She shrouds herself in a mix of black and gray, and she would rather hide than talk to someone she doesn't know. She has her best friend, Jen, in which everything is shared, including their co-boyfriend Will. Kelleigh also has the typical lawyer father and a mother who goes all out on cooking and cleaning --- and, occasionally, drinking. What's even more atypical of a car thief is that Kelleigh isn't even old enough to drive. She just received her learner's permit and is forced to drive around with an adult in the passenger seat. But that one day at the mall will change everything. As Kelleigh and Jen are sitting outside the shopping center eating ice cream, Kelleigh sees a man drop his keys and walk away without noticing. Kelleigh picks up the keys, thinking that she would return them, but something stops her. She never planned on taking his car, but by mere coincidence she finds out that he lives only a few blocks away. Surely he won't notice that his boring car, a Toyota or a Honda or something, is missing for a few minutes as she takes it around the block for a quick ride? While everything is returned as it was, Kelleigh walks away with a newfound addiction that she can't quite shake. And if you can steal a car once, Kelleigh figures, you can steal a car twice. The second time is less of a joy ride and more of a revenge-motivated debacle. A little more effort is needed to duplicate keys and trick the owner, but, in the end, Kelleigh succeeds in her plan. How and why it ends up at the bottom of the local pond you will have to read to find out. And if you can steal a car twice, you can certainly steal a car three times. When Jen calls in a panic, Kelleigh doesn't hesitate to borrow the neighbor's car (they were conveniently on vacation) and rescue her best friend. The whole police chase on the way home doesn't help matters, but Kelleigh manages to evade the cops and inform her parents about the declining nature of their neighborhood. And if you can steal a car three times, why not start stealing cars for money? It's all been leading up to this: her parents' failing marriage, her strained friendship with Jen, and the uncertain future between her and Will. Some girls might act out by drinking, sleeping around, or doing drugs, but Kelleigh gets her thrills from stealing cars. Is she going too far? And what will it take to stop her before she hits the point of no return? Most people think of car thieves as reckless, desperate, or down on their luck. Kelleigh, though, is an extremely relatable teenage girl with the same teenage problems that we all go through at some point, but she chooses to deal with them in her own unique way. The author's reasoning for why Kelleigh would steal cars not only makes sense, but he makes it seems so easy and practical that it may be a little dangerous for those already teetering on the edge. With HOW TO STEAL A CAR, National Book Award winner Pete Hautman has created another hilarious look at teenagers, and I know that I'm going to double-check where I put my car keys the next time I leave the mall. --- Reviewed by Benjamin Boche
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Deft and charming, September 15, 2009
This review is from: How To Steal A Car (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The great charm of this book is the first-person voice of its narrator and main character, Kelleigh Monahan, as she navigates her way through the confusion and pain of her 15th summer. During this time she: 1. Discovers (and inadvertently tips her mother) that her father is having an affair, 2. Tries to discover whether a reluctant boyfriend is gay or just shy (because he isn't groping her all the time), 3. Rescues her best friend from a very bad date, 4. Grudgingly reads the entirety of Moby Dick for an English assignment, 5. Gets her driver's license, and 6. Steals a half-dozen cars. Kelleigh is not a whiner about her life, but through the deftness of the author's stealth narration we are given to understand all the weaknesses, letdowns, and betrayals that drive her to the increasingly reckless car thefts that nearly take her life and/or ruin it. Perfectly aware of the risks, she craves the thrills nevertheless, and is driving off in a stolen car even as the novella ends. Hautman is a fine writer, who never pounds heavily on a message or attempts to draw a moral, trusting the reader to appreciate the contradictions and nuances of growing up and draw his or her own conclusions. The dialogue is believably colloquial without being overdone, and the characters are quickly and sharply drawn. A worthwhile read for teens and adults alike.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Clever and entertaining, September 11, 2009
This review is from: How To Steal A Car (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
If you are looking for a manual on the subject of how to steal a car, you'll be disappointed with this book. However, if you want an interesting character study full of quirky details, this book should be right up your ally. The theme Pete Hautman is getting across is that good people can do bad things. The main character is a nice, honest person even though she steals several cars over the course of the story. Her friend is a quiet but likable person who has a desire to put a dead rat in his enemy's car. Her father is a good person, even though he tries to help obviously guilty people in court. Hautman also tells us not to use only our first impressions of people, as they can be very deceiving. He keeps the story moving along at a nice pace, and gives us enough details to make the story interesting and believable. The narrator's voice is casual and easy to read, almost as if she were writing it as a message to a friend. This is a good character driven story that should interest anyone who is or was a teenager, because the characters and situations described are realistic (if somewhat over the top) and easy to like.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
