Reading nearly 300 pages of musings and speculations from a 16-year-old may not be everyone's cup of tea, but those who share narrator Dan's dry sense of humor and intellectual bent will find some very funny-even brilliant-moments in this Australian import. The story begins with Dan eagerly testing the waters of independence while his parents are away in Geneva, Switzerland, and about to enter his senior year. Dan is thrilled to be living with his hip, university student aunt, Jacq (who is only six years older than Dan), but it takes some adjustment for him to move from his parents' "beige," well-organized home to Jacq's chaotic, blue-green abode. While staying with his aunt Jacq, Dan ponders some minor mysteries of the universe (such as why author Neville W. Cayley chooses to use precisely "forty-eight shades of brown" to describe the species of birds in his guidebook). Dan also struggles with the more mundane puzzles of doing laundry and making an edible batch of pesto. Most of the narrator's meandering thoughts end up zeroing in on Jacq's roommate Naomi, a "flaxen-haired-love-goddess," who sets Dan's hormones raging whenever she waters her basil plants. Dan's growing infatuation with Naomi and his attempts to impress her become the main focus of the novel, paving the way to a series of wittily expressed blunders. Through Dan's voice, Earls perfectly captures the obsessive, self-conscious, confused state of mind that goes along with adolescence. A vibrant rendition of growing pains. Ages 14-up. (June) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Gr 9 Up-An insightful, appealing, and very funny novel about a teenage boy whose world is turned upside down when his father takes a job in Geneva and he chooses to stay in Australia to finish school. Dan lives with his 22-year-old Aunt Jacq, who is in a band, and her roommate, Naomi, an attractive psychology major who makes bad choices when it comes to men. Inexperienced and unsophisticated, he quickly falls for Naomi and is devastated when his feelings are not returned. Worse still, he has to listen as she and her jerk of a boyfriend have sex in the room next door. Extremely bright and sensitive, Dan is still learning about women, relationships, and controlling his compulsive behavior. His excessive introspection sometimes slows the pace of the novel, but the character feels genuine. Dan's socially awkward, porn-obsessed friend, Chris Burns, adds comic relief. The party Jacq and Naomi throw toward the end of the story leads to a conclusion that is both hilarious and moving. Dan is a wonderful, complex character. He combines his intense curiosity about sex with a rare thoughtfulness as he tries to figure out who he is and who he wants to become. Teen boys-and girls-will find much that they can relate to in this coming-of-age story.-Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Dan's dry, wickedly funny first-person voice chronicles a month of his life as he moves in with his aunt in hometown Brisbane while his parents move to Geneva. Dan is 16, his aunt Jacq 22, and their third housemate-the winsome Naomi-a university student. Unlike his parents' reliably neat household, this place is casual: beer is offered freely, Naomi has audible sex with her boyfriend in the middle of the afternoon, and Dan's on his own for discipline. But Dan is no partier, just a wry, self-aware virgin pining for Naomi. He memorizes the 48 shades of brown that classify birds, but can't get them to come out of his mouth in suitable ways to attract her. A question about calculus (math) becomes an ongoing musing about Calculus (the Tintin professor) merely because Naomi misunderstands. Hip, sarcastic Jacq is kind underneath; Dan's self-deprecating but smart. Colorfully understated and satisfying-and hilarious. (Fiction. YA)
STARRED REVIEW "With small details about throwing up, basil, Romeo and Juliet, brown birds, postcards, and sex, Earls build a too-true story that neither older young adults nor adults will be able to put down as their smiles become belly laughs that lead them to new perspectives." VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)
Dan's narration is wry and understatedly funny throughout as he comes face to face with the stretching but still extant limits of his maturation...this is a creative departure from the classic Bildugnsroman in its articulate portrayal of a young man who's starting to realize how much more there is to adulthood that he'd realized or is ready for.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Older teens will relish Dan's wry, self-deprecating honesty about attratction, sex (mostly overheard), beer, calculus, and his uproariously funny, earnest search for the kind of guy he wants to be.
Booklist, ALA
Dan is a good kid, and his ruefully observed narration of unrequited love will keep the attention of any boy once persuaded into its pages.
Horn Book
Through Dan's voice, Earls perfectly captures the obsessive, self-conscious, confused state of mind that goes along with adolescence. A vibrant rendition of growing pains.
Publishers Weekly
Dan is a wonderful, complex character. Teen boys - and girls - will find much that they can relate to in this coming-of-age story.
School Library Journal
This Australian coming-of-age novel is both funny and poignant. As Dan fumbles through the process of forming a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, he also learns about making pesto, interpreting Romeo and Juliet, why almost all birds are one of the 48 shades of brown, and why his best course of action is just to be himself.
KLIATT —
Sixteen-year-old Dan is trying to survive calculus, living with his cousin, Jacq, and his passion for “goddess” Naomi. Narrator Francis Greenslade portrays Dan's plan to remake himself into Naomi's ideal man, showing with comic effect the difference between Dan's easygoing patter and his inner adolescent anxieties. Teen boys will relish this production’s conversational style and its clever conceit of presenting Dan's dilemma as a scientific experiment. Greenslade's deadpan account of Dan's first parents-free wild party is spot-on. Occasionally, it’s difficult to tell who is speaking in this Australian title, especially during dialogue among numerous characters. However, Greenslade's confident presentation will keep listeners' attention as Dan recounts his unique perspective on teenage social rituals. C.A. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
