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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You give your hand to me, and then you say hello,
By
This review is from: You Don't Know Me (Paperback)
The phrase "I laughed, I cried" has been so overdone in popular culture that attaching it to a book review is almost pointless these days. I mean, it's an incredibly overused sentence. People who've sat down and watched half an hour of "The Jerry Springer Show" are as likely to say it as people who've read "Les Miserables" cover to cover. I wanted to begin this review of David Klass's fabulous, "You Don't Know Me" by saying it. I'm a fairly hard-core book reviewer and I don't laugh OR cry at books easily. Heck, I can read a Lurlene McDaniels book without cracking so much as a sniffle (not a particularly difficult thing to do, but you get the picture). But "You Don't Know Me" is so well written, so funny and sad all at the same time, that it was literally impossible not to laugh AND cry at it all at once. This is the highest praise I can think to give this book. I state for the record that this is perhaps one of the greatest young adult novels written in the last ten years. So sayeth me.
You don't know John. You know absolutely nothing about him. You don't know what he looks like or how he feels or where he lives or what his life is like. Soon enough, however, you begin to learn more and more about him. As it happens, this book takes place from John's mind, a fascinating world of wry sarcasm, dead-pan humor, and ridiculous situations. John negates his existence by telling you frankly that his home is not a home because of the man who is not his father. His mother's boyfriend is a violent horrible person that beats John whenever he gets a chance, but does it in such a way that it leaves no visible marks on the fourteen-year-old boy. At school, John hardly fairs any better. He is desperately in love with a girl that he has nicknamed Gloria Hallelujah and he attempts in band to play a tuba that is not a tuba. It is, instead, a giant frog pretending to be a tuba. John has arrived at this conclusion due to the fact that his tuba does not play music, but rather, croaks. When John finally gets up the nerve to ask Gloria on a date, his world improves and destructs almost simultaneously. Within one week everything will change for John and the only question that remains is, will he survive it? Using humor in a YA novel centered on abuse isn't a particularly new concept. The brilliant "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson uses it well. But there's a bitterness to "Speak" that taints it in some way. The sardonic voice of "You Don't Know Me" is saying humorous thinks because of the bleakness of his life, true. On the other hand, you really grow to love John. He's a fighter. He will not kill himself or run away from home when his problems become immense because he feels (perhaps rightly) that to do so would be a form of surrender. I was also impressed that Klass broke the old if-a-gun-appears-in-the-first-act-of-a-play-it'll-be-used-by-the-third-act rule. That takes guts and not a little sly writing. But again, it's because the book's so funny that it flows effortlessly from scene to scene. When John passes a note to the girl he loves more than anything else on the planet, he is certain that whatever reaction she has to it will give him some indication of her feelings. So when she eats it immediately, he is understandably baffled. It makes for some wonderful writing, especially where John asks his make-believe father what that means and gets a great response. Klass is adept at displaying John's mother's boyfriend in all his nasty glory as well. When it snows the man merely looks up to the sky and says "sky dandruff". This is a book that's as liable to tread into sweetness and light as it is into gloom and doom. And through it all you're rooting for John. You're really cheering for him. You want him to trust the right people and drop the wrong ones. You want him to stop living so much in his own head (even though it's a great place for us, the readers, to be). You want what's best for the book's hero, but most of all you just want him to be happy. And Klass delivers tenfold. So I laughed. I cried. It was better than many a young adult novel I've read recently. Don't let the dreary cover and even drearier title fool you. "You Don't Know Me" is writing gold. It's the sarcastic sardonic answer to every after-school special ever produced. Maybe what I loved the most about it was that it was so grippingly honest. Some books don't have the guts to tell you the truth about their characters. Some books don't have the skill to tell you their story well. "You Don't Know Me" has guts, skill, and extraordinary talent within its pages. If you can choose only one teen novel to go with you on a desert island somewhere, pick Klass's masterpiece. Get to know it.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
* YoU dOn'T kNoW mE*,
A Kid's Review
This review is from: You Don't Know Me (Hardcover)
This was probably the BEST book I have ever read. I liked the charactorization and the plot. It was very descriptive and I liked how the author ( David Klass ) described everything with so much detail. YOU DON'T KNOW ME is a book about a 14 year old boy named John who deals with everyday problems that average teenagers deal with. Most of the book is about him working up the curage to ask out "Glory Hallelujah", a girl that he has liked forever. Also, he has to deal with his mom's boyfriend whom he calls "the man who is not my father". While John's mother is not around, her boyfriend yell's at John and has verbal meltdowns. John also deals with algebra. John dreads this class the most. His teacher sometimes gives him a hard time about not liking algebra. In about the middle of the book, John actually works up the courage and asks out " Glory Hallelujah". After that, he has a whole new prespective of things. When he enters the algebra class room, he is actually smiling. This is a really good book and I suggest it to kids ages 12~15... it talks about struggles that teenagers have and its interesting to read if you are around that age.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fantastic book,
By A Customer
This review is from: You Don't Know Me (Hardcover)
In David Klass's novel "You Don't Know Me," John, the main character, deals with all the things adolesence brings. He fights with his tuba, which isn't really a tuba at all, but a frog pretending to be a tuba, he has a crush on the beautiful, but dim Gloria (Glory Halleluia), and he masters the art of looking like he's paying attention in Mrs. Moonface's algebra class. However, John has troubles other than the normal teen-aged problems. He suffers constant physical abuse from his mother's boyfriend, "the man who is not his father." His mother doesn't know about the abuse, and John is afraid of what will happen to him if he tells his mother. What does happen to him left me breathless, crying, and laughing out loud. This is a fantastic book and a must-read.
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