Customer Reviews

Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Length:: 5:05 Mins

My nine year-old son LOVES Milrose Munce, and since I heard it doesn't have a US publisher yet, we made a quick video interview as encouragement. Ian thinks Milrose Munce would make a great series -- and I agree. Smart, funny, Milrose and his friends Deeply Damaged Dave and Arabella do what we all long to -- take on the squares, and win.

4 full disclosure im a 12 year old guy. this book is really awesome. my mom actually MADE me read it which is usually BAD but this book is serious funny. it pretty much has everything, magic, ghosts, girls. its unrealistic because uh there are really torn up ghosts running arounfd a school that a guy and his girlfriend can see but its also mega realistic at the same time because its just u know like any other school. if you have to read something for school or something i would pick this book.

Douglas Anthony Cooper's book is truly a wonderful book. I downloaded the Kindle edition and found myself wrapped up in the story within minutes. I only wish I hadn't read it so fast! I guess I'll just have to read it again, so I can re-enter the world of Milrose Munce.

The story is great. The characters are fun, quirky and entertaining. Where this book truly shines is the language. A lot of YA fiction seems to strive for Hemmingway simplicity in vocabulary and in many cases talks down to its audience. This one pulls out the GRE rolodex and makes no apologies.

Repeatedly, I found myself amazed at the masterful use of the English language. Mr. Cooper paints a masterpiece of words as assuredly as master painters fill a canvas with color and form.

If you don't have a kindle (to look up words) you may want to keep a dictionary handy. For me half of the fun was the author's ability challenge me with new words (that always upon lookup revealed themselves to be the perfect choice). I found myself using the dictionary function a lot but it was fun (like a detective story on the side).

Want your kid to improve his chances at a high vocabulary score for the SAT/ACT? Give them this book and they'll have so much fun they won't even realize they're learning.

I've always been a huge fan of demented, humorous gothic, and this
book is now at the top of my list when I have to recommend books to my
demented friends. Incredibly funny, and deeply creepy, Milrose Munce
reminds me of the greatly missed Charles Addams cartoons in the New
Yorker. This is certainly not just a "children's book" - the writer
is a stylist, and while kids will probably adore the novel, they're
not likely to appreciate just how well it's written.

I am a serious devotee of Oscar Wilde, so I'm always excited to see a Wilde quotation at the front of a novel. Even more satisfying is to find that the book lives up to the glorious silliness of Earnest. This is a completely ridiculous novel - the highest praise I can think of.

For those of you who prefer the DVD Director's cut of a movie to the theatrical version - this is kind of what that is, in Milrose book format. Some of it is very subtle, while other chapters are essentially re-written with all new scenes added. Knowing that I'd want to review this and having a horrific memory I broke out the original so that I could compare the two, here and there when I found myself asking myself "Hmm, is this part a little different?" What did I find? Yes, there are parts that were edited so subtly that you'd have to either have the book memorized or be comparing them side by side to notice. On the other hand, many of the edits were so obvious that even with said bad memory, I recognized immediately they were in fact edits - no need to compare the two editions to jog my memory as the entire chapter felt new to me. Never fear, it's still the same Milrose you loved if you read the original (you did love him didn't you?) -- it's just MORE of him and some new... well you'll have to read it to find out what the new is.

So is it worth buying the "Expanded" Version of Milrose?
- If you haven't read Milrose and have been at all considering reading it - YES this is the version to read.

- If you loved the original edition of Milrose - YES, the extras are worth it, I'm not disappointed that I bumped it to the top of my to read list.

- If you were only so-so about the first book - You can probably pass on this one as it's not going to be enough to change your mind about the book.

For me? I'm impressed enough with this book and author that I've already offered to buy a copy for someone else, if that tells you anything.

And if you somehow hadn't yet heard of Milrose before stumbling upon this page, here is my review of the original version:

Milrose Munce is the type of teenager that everyone can find a reason to like. He's smarter than his teachers, yet uses his smarts in such delightful ways. He doesn't come off as better than anyone, unless they deserve it, in which case Milrose takes great care to be sure they have no idea he's insulting them. No, instead our hero uses his intelligence to his advantage, to play games with people. And while his uniqueness does seem to gain him mostly positive attention (except from the occasional teacher), he doesn't really fit in with anyone. Not anyone living anyway. All of his closest friends are dead. And when the school officials notice you patting the air on the back and laughing at jokes being told by no one, what do they do? Well they get you Professional help -- in a den. That turns out to be a lot more fun for the reader of this book than it is for Milrose.

This book is very smart and funny. I'd highly recommended even for people who might not traditionally flock to YA books (though I do like them myself). It does have a more advanced vocabulary than some YA / Children's books but the content itself is okay for even some younger readers if they are strong readers. I'm going to recommend it to my 9 year old nephew who reads at a more advanced level.

Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help is categorized as a "Young Adult" book, but is no more a true YA book than the Harry Potter series is. Cooper's descriptive prose, witty dialogue and evocative adolescent angst is dead-on and very, very funny. Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help so well worth reading, and getting virtually dog-eared. Read Milrose. It's all the Professional Help you'll need.

Eh, I don't buy much other than graphic novels these days. Not because I'm illiterate, but because they're just BETTER, for the most part. I was pressured to buy Milrose Munce, because a friend of mine - brilliant cartoonist - is in love with the cover. So I bought it, and read it, and... Damn. The novel's EXCELLENT, it's hilarious. (So's the cover, btw - this SHOULD be a graphic novel.) If you haven't heard about it yet, it's an ridiculously wacky Young Adult novel - more like a spoof of YA, for kids who are too self-consciously ironic to read the really sappy stuff. It has THE weirdest love story I've ever encountered (and I've seen some strange ones). Buy it. And frame the cover. Do it now.

I agree with the viewer below: this is the funniest book I've read in ages, perhaps ever. I don't drink coffee though, so I snorted milk through my nose. DO NOT DRINK WHILE READING THIS.