Amazon.com Review
There's the Logo Tribe, who "exhibit name brands wherever and whenever possible," the Digerati Tribe, who "worship bytes and silicon chips," and the Busybody Tribe, whose "batlike ears stretched high to gather up every vibration and echo." These are only a few of the exotic groups Percy Montmount has identified in his immense study of the human adolescent's rituals, "The Origin of the Species Revisited." And what better person to record these behaviors than one who is a member of no tribe? Ever since the death of his famous anthropologist father three years ago, Percy has blocked his grief by becoming an aloof observer of his classmates' odd rituals instead of an active player. But lately, it's gotten harder to classify his feelings as just biological responses to outside stimuli. Stimuli like his attraction to Elissa, a sexy, intelligent female biped, or his memories of Willard Stokes, the friend who committed suicide after suffering from unrequited love for a member of the Lipstick/Hairspray Tribe. And now that Graduation, that ultimate rite of passage, is almost upon him, Percy may be forced by unknown factors outside his tightly controlled environment to finally drop his field notebook and become what he dreads most: an actual participant in his own life.
It is safe to say that there is no character quite like Percy in young adult literature. His unique coping mechanism of classifying his peers into Darwinian clusters is sheer brilliance on the part of author Arthur Slade, and makes for an original and entertaining novel that will be enjoyed by teen, teacher, and parent tribes alike. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Slade's (Dust) dense novel inventively uses an anthropological lens to view high school life. Narrator 17-year-old Percy explains in a prologue that his anthropologist father died in the Congo three years earlier, after being bitten by a tsetse fly. The teen then reveals that on the night his father died, "Dad materialized at my bedside, extended a ghost arm, and opened his fingers to reveal a pair of glowing spirit eyes... and inserted the magical orbs into my sockets." Percy thereafter refers to fellow humans as "hominids" and frequently relies on amusing anthropological jargon that occasionally grows grating. Yet the narrative effectively conveys why Percy is shunned by fellow students. His most astute observations come at the expense of his peers: "Numerous tribes exist in friction at our school. The Logo Tribe exhibits name brands wherever and whenever possible.... The Lipstick/Hairspray Tribe performs elaborate appearance alterations to attract mates." He describes himself and his sole friend, Elissa as a "cohesive group of two" who are "quasi-omniscient Observers." Other highlights include a mystical parallel with the Ndebele tribe, where his father was working at the time of Percy's birth, and the tribe's ritual marking a boy's entry into manhood. Despite the hero's awkward anthopologic-speak ("No one ever knows what I'm talking about. What it means. No one!"), readers who admire the fellow's spirit may well enjoy this unusual treatise on high school culture; a concluding twist brings this tale down to earth. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
