Thirsty [Paperback]

M T Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 3, 2001

"When you get thirsty, you get angry without reason. Increasingly. You feel prone to violence. You feel prone to drink blood..." Chris just wants to be a normal guy - to hang out with his friends Tom and Jerk, avoid his bickering parents, get a date with Rebecca Schwartz. Lately, though, he's been feeling anything but normal. He has this strange desire, a terrible hunger, a thirst for blood. The truth is unavoidable: Chris is turning into a vampire. While his hometown prepares for the annual Sad Festival of Vampires, an ancient ritual to keep Tch'muchgar, the Vampire Lord, locked in another world, Chris desperately seeks a way out of his dreadful fate. He needs help - but who can he trust? Chet, the oddly cynical Celestial Being? His friends? His family? Can he even trust himself? Time is running out and Chris is so thirsty...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Chris finds his teenage lusts becoming the thirst of the undead. Horror fans will find this vampire novel a bloody cut above the usual fare," said PW. Ages 14-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up. Chris has problems?bickering, divorce-bound parents; a domineering older brother; his best friends becoming estranged. Overshadowing everything is the fact that Chris, while churning in adolescent hormonal changes, is becoming a vampire. The good people of his Massachusetts town are almost inured to the murders committed by vampires. Yet violent mobs shortcut justice with stake-through-the-heart lynchings. As Chris's blood lust grows, he's increasingly challenged to hide his transformation. "Chet," claiming to be an avatar of the Forces of Light, offers to reverse Chris's vampirism in exchange for his help in keeping the Vampire Lord imprisoned beneath the local reservoir. The teen agrees and does the deed, then spirals into self-doubt. Has he done the right thing? Who can he trust? If he reveals himself, will his family and friends betray him, kill him? Dark humor runs rampant. The invitation to a vampire gathering is a hoot ("drinks at 12:00"), and the imprisoned "dark god" rages amid the static of late night TV. Sexy Lolli, a vampire vixen, urges Chris to "come out of the coffin." Chris pays the price of making commitments without understanding the consequences. He struggles to the end to stay human and do the right thing, remaining a veritable vampire virgin, inevitably doomed to choose death either by starvation or biological destiny. Entertaining, disturbing, memorable, and sophisticated, this mortality tale will continue to haunt after the last pages are turned.?Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Walker Bks. (September 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0744582628
• ISBN-13: 978-0744582628
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,631,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

M. T. Anderson is the author of The Game of Sunken Places, Burger Wuss, Thirsty, and Feed, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book and the winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complex, disturbing, funny book, December 9, 2000

By 

John Wolfe (Iowa City, IA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thirsty (Paperback)

I was amazed at this powerful story of a young man confronting forces so far beyond his control that every plan he makes, every instinct he has absorbed from the horror movies that he and his friends constantly discussed prove to be woefully inadequate. _Thirsty_ is an amazingly example of a genre writing against itself.

On tap of that, I liked the tone of Anderson's first-person narrator -- sarcastic, confused, but also shy. He's a 15- or 16-year-old guy trying to figure out how the world works -- and if that weren't enoough, he's beginning to suspect he's a vampire and a pawn in a mysterious battle between the Forces of Light and Dark.

I'm going to read everything M.T. Anderson writes for the rest of my life.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilariously wicked vampire story, January 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thirsty (Paperback)

With biting humor, this first-time author offers readers a cynical look at the onset of vampirism coupled with adolescent angst. Chris struggles with a crush, his annoying brother, and his parents' failing marriage. But all of that seems important -- not when the fate of the universe appears to be at stake. A very Buffy-The-Vampire-Esque horror comedy for the slightly darker, simply smarter side of the YA crowd.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You just don't "get it"., July 21, 2006

By 

Jaimie B. (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thirsty (Paperback)

I thought those words would never leave my lips (or fingertips), but it does seem that many people who gave negative reviews for this book were missing the entire point, at least as I understand it. It even says in the back of the book that the author wanted to write about how someone can struggle "with the isolation of wanting to do the right thing when there was no right thing to do." The hopelessness of the novel at the end was intentional. There are not always concrete conclusions, let alone HAPPY concrete conclusions. In life, there are no definite beginnings and ends, except for birth and death of course. And that would be a long book. So if it ends on a kind of "well, what now?" note, it's all the more realistic.

The writing style I think is more a matter of aesthetic than anything. I didn't really like it the first time I read it, but it grew on me.

As for Chris, and his personality, it's actually pretty realistic. If I look objectively, I can see a lot of myself in him. Especially me a few years ago when I was his age. For the guy who said he was swept away by other people's actions and never did anything, well, he actually mentions that IN THE NARRATION. That was intentional, too. How many teenagers do you know that actually take charge of their life? I certainly didn't.

And the people who are complaining about vampires being a fact of life, come on man, it's an allegory!

So, ok, this book isn't for everyone, I guess. But before you criticize it, make sure that you're not missing the point.

Then again, maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. In which case, just ignore me.