Rainbow Party [Paperback]

Paul Ruditis (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 17, 2005

Rainbow Parties. Are they real? Who's going?

GIN and SANDY

One's been with all the guys, one's terrified of them.

It's Gin's party; she invited everyone.

ALLISON

President of the Celibacy Club. What's she thinkin'?

HUNTER and PERRY

Friends...with benefits.

JADE

Hanging on to it for the right guy.

SKYE and ROD

Totally doing it, totally curious.

VI

Skye's BF who has it for Rod. The party could change everything.

RUSTY and BRICK

One thinks he's a playah. One's built like it. Neither's getting any.

ASH and ROSE

The class couple, not ready yet. So why are they going?

Would you?

Rainbow Party is a cautionary tale about a group of teens faced with the prospect of attending a party involving oral sex. The novel spotlights each of their diverse viewpoints in the hours leading up to the party. It explores what each teen has -- and has not -- been up to sexually, and why. And ultimately, why they would consider going to a party like this in the first place.

This book addresses important and timeless issues relevant to teens, including self-esteem, peer pressure, awareness about STD protection, and making an informed and educated decision about readiness for sexual activity. It was inspired by numerous news reports about the prevalence and attitudes among teens towards certain types of sexual behavior, and is intended to engage readers in this real-life issue in a responsible and constructive fashion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Promiscuous sophomore Gin is throwing a "Rainbow Party," at which girls "put on a different color lipstick, and the guys all drop their pants." In theory, after the girls perform oral sex on the boys, they would be left with rainbows around their penises. The author takes the perspective of Gin and her invitees in the hours before her after-school party. They all have reasons for going (Sandy hopes to find love, virgin Brick is being pressured by his friend to gain sexual experience, and there are rumors that Perry is gay)—and their own anxieties, too. This debut novel takes a steamy premise, and adds in plenty of racy material, too, including oral sex between two boys in a school bathroom, but while the author makes a compelling argument against abstinence-only education and also against limited definitions of sex, readers may tire of the standard-issue characters. They may also start to cringe every time a character talks about oral sex not really being sex. There is some important information to be gleaned here (Gin and Perry have mysterious sore throats, and Hunter notices a "burning sensation" when he urinates; later they learn of a gonorrhea outbreak among the sophomore class), but in the end, the story here is not as compelling as its premise. Ages 14-up. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up -When Ginger arranges for an oral sex party to be held at her home, most of the teens she invites-some in relationships, some not-say that they will attend, and then figure out ways to avoid it. Egomaniac Hunter talks his friend Perry into going, although Perry regularly gives him plenty of oral sex. Surprise-having left work early, Gin's father shows up. Even though Hunter arrives with a bunch of condom balloons, Dad doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary. But when 39 members of the sophomore class are diagnosed with gonorrhea, Gin gets the blame. The story is told in sometimes crude or suggestive language, the writing is stilted, and there is little character development. The inclusion of a health teacher who happens to be covering the issue of STDs, along with opposition to the party by the teen founder of the Celibacy Club, seems forced. Actually, with its too-obvious agenda, much of the novel seems forced, but particularly curious readers will plow through to the end. Melvin Burgess's Doing It (Holt, 2004) is far more graphic in its depiction of teen sexuality, but it is a much better crafted book. -Diane P. Tuccillo, City of Mesa Library, AZ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (May 17, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141690235X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416902355
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #986,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Ruditis has written over 30 books based some of the best shows on TV, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, The West Wing, Alias, and Prison Break. While he continues to work on these media tie-ins, he has also focused a great deal of attention on his own original fiction, including his teen series DRAMA! and the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy Love, Hollywood Style. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

232 of 254 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars been there, done that...not impressed May 31, 2005

By Aly

Format:Paperback

I am an eighteen-year-old female who, not too long ago, went through middle school and high school; I am very familiar with young adolescents' fixation with sex and the other issues that weigh on their minds. I encountered this book when reading a news article on it and decided to see for myself what all the controversy was about.

The first few pages had me laughing. Not only is this book devoid of any literary merit, it is an extremely unrealistic look at the adolescent world. I realize that oral sex is rampant among young teens, but to have an "issue that needs to be confronted," as some reviewers have referred to it, presented in such a substandard way is doing a disservice to our teens.

If this book is indeed aimed at the young adult age group (as it says), why isn't it written in a more mature style? Compare this novel to the style of To Kill a Mockingbird, a book included in a standard ninth-grade English curriculum-or A Separate Piece, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Great Expectations. At fourteen years old, one's intellectual capacity is much deeper than the shallow writing of Rainbow Party pervades.

Yes, parents, you DO have to worry about issues of sex with your children. But please, do them a favor and confront them yourself with the reality of it-don't let them read about oral sex in a book that glamorizes it, letting them think that it guarantees you popularity, unless you MIGHT get an STD. Let them learn from a more reliable source than a feeble semi-pornographic teen novel.

And I'd wonder about the "insight" that allows a male author to write from a modern teenage girl's perspective. I'm sure he enjoyed putting his perverted fantasy on paper and making a profit off of it, too.

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Parents! Stop and think for a just a second. January 20, 2006

By C. Freitag

Format:Paperback

You were young once. Try to cut through the smoke-screen of your memory and really, really think about what you were doing back then. The truth is you were probably horny as all get out. But you would never, ever subject yourself to a "party" such as this. And don't be fooled into thinking that the times have changed so drastically that the youth are more open about their bodies than you were.

Use good judgement and cut through this B.S.

78 of 94 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Utter junk-from a sensationalist who can't write July 5, 2005

By PonyExpress

Format:Paperback

Please. The number one thing wrong with this book isn't the lascivious story and attitude(yes, it's possible to be liberally-minded about sex--even about sexual longings and exploration of children), it's the lame and unbelievable writing.

The number two thing wrong is its leering, idiotic and insulting take on teenage girls. These books have been around forever--decades, in fact--but with each passing generation they've gotten more and more explicit and exploitative. That last adjective is the perfect one to describe this trashy Jacqueline Susann for young girls: exploitative. Does the author really care two cents about what happens to teen girls in a world seemingly hopelessly screwed up as concerns matters sexual, or the problem of sex education(or total lack of)?

Or does he want to write a book so "Ooooh! SHOCKING!" that it rockets to the top of bestseller lists and makes him (and the publisher) a ton of money? Which do you think?

No girl--not one that's out of her mind drunk(and NONE who are otherwise stoned) would "service" various guys to the extent that they'll leave bright rainbow rings around the base of...just NO. Stupid and demeaning and presents the libido of girls as whorish. Nice stuff for pre-teens, hmmm? No.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars I actually read the whole thing.... August 29, 2005

By Donna

Format:Paperback

The book DOES NOT glorify sex, oral sex, or group sex parties. I actually read the whole book.

The book DOES bring up some interesting discussion points:

--Peer pressure led many of the teens in the book to plan to go to the party against their own better judgement.

--Wanting to be popular or to be liked by someone might cause you to want to do something you'd rather not do.

--No matter what rumors you hear, most of your friends are not as experienced as you might believe, or as they may have you believe.

--There is indeed a double standard. The girl who originally planned the party discovers in the end that boys who are promiscuous still have lots of friends, but girls who are promiscuous seldom do.

--Oral sex IS sex. (And no, Bill Clinton didn't invent the idea that it was not--but Bill Clinton isn't mentioned in the book, that's just my humble opinion.)

--Love IS important, and will make you happy, and you don't have to have sex with someone just because you are in love with them.

--Having sex with someone you aren't in love with will not make you happy, and will probably make you unhappy.

--You CAN get STDs from oral sex. And not getting information about safe sex will not necessarily lead to teens abstaining from sex, but may lead to teens spreading STDs.

--There are consequenses to your actions. (Whoa! Now there's a concept for you!)

--The happiest, most well-adjusted teens in the book were abstaining from sex. (There's even a "Celibacy Club" in the school the characters attend, and it is NOT the object of ridicule by the characters in the book.... Some of the teens who originally planned to go to the Rainbow Party but didn't, by the end of the book proudly told friends they were "waiting," and one was even dating the president and founder of the Celibacy Club.)

I believe the book was mostly about the pressures that teens feel to fit in, to be popular, and to have sex. I can only remember one or 2 scenes of actual sexual activity in the book--far less than the average young adult book--and they weren't that graphic or even very satisfying to the participants.

This is not porn. It will not encourage teens to have sex (I hear they have already been doing that for centuries). It is written for older teens, not for children. It's not the most well-written book I've ever read, nor is it the worst--I'd say it was average--so if you're looking for Great Expectations, look under D for Dickens.

The party never happens, mostly because almost all the teens themselves decide not to attend.

And if you think that teens today are not already experimenting with sexual activities, I'd love to visit your planet sometime. Read more ›