Summary
Summary
"Entertaining, disturbing, memorable, and sophisticated, this mortality tale will continue to haunt after the last pages are turned." - School Library Journal
All Chris really wants is to be a normal kid, to hang out with his friends, avoid his parents, and get a date with Rebecca Schwartz. Unfortunately, Chris appears to be turning into a vampire. So while his hometown performs an ancient ritual that keeps Tch'muchgar, the Vampire Lord, locked in another world, Chris desperately tries to save himself from his own vampiric fate. He needs help, but whom can he trust? A savagely funny tale of terror, teen angst, suspense, and satire from National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 UpChris has problemsbickering, 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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
"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. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
I1="BLANK" I2="BLANKFleischman's innovative short novel is the story of an urban garden started by a child and nurtured by people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. Each of the thirteen chapters is narrated by a different character, allowing the reader to watch as a community develops out of disconnected lives and previous suspicions. Although the total effect of the brief chapters is slightly superficial, some of the individual narratives are moving. The opening chapter about nine-year-old Kim, a Vietnamese immigrant, is a vivid portrait of a child who longs for the approval of her deceased father. The novel is didactic in purpose-folks of all ages, economic backgrounds, and ethnicities put aside their differences to create a beautiful, rich harvest-but effective in execution. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In a first novel for which the word offbeat could have been coined, a modern Massachusetts teenager is swept into a plot of cosmic proportions as adolescence dishes up an unpleasant personal revelation--he's on the cusp of becoming a vampire. In Chris's familiar world of high school, bickering parents, and secret crushes, the vampires have always been an acknowledged but distant reality, on the nightly news when their victims are found or when they are summarily executed by police. They are collectively weak; their god, Tch'muchgar, has long been banished from this plane of existence, kept away by regular rites. As the peaceful town of Clayton is preparing for one of its annual picnic-cum-ritual-blood-sacrifices (only goats, unlike in Boston, where virgins are required), Chris notices disquieting changes in himself: violent mood swings, sleeplessness, relentless thirst, and a tendency, when agitated, to fade out of mirrors and other reflections. Enter Chet, an alleged avatar of the Forces of Light, to confirm Chris's fears about his own nature and to reveal that a local group of vampires is plotting to derail the rites, thus bringing Tch'muchgar back into the world. At Chet's behest, Chris infiltrates the group to place a magic token where it will do the most good--but then he begins to wonder: Which side is Chet actually on? Anderson leaves this desperate, naive protagonist in doubt until the end, then finishes with a breathtaking twist. An eerie jacket painting enhances this startling, savagely funny debut. (Fiction. 12+)
Library Journal Review
In Chris's small Massachusetts town, vampires are hunted by lynch mobs and killed in public executions. Chris is much more interested in getting a girl to go out with him. Then with the approach of his 16th birthday, puberty takes a turn for the worse and he discovers, to his horror, that he is thirsty for human blood. Why It Is Great: From the first paragraph, Anderson's nonchalant mix of horror and humor tells you this is not your average teen vampire novel. "In the spring, there are vampires in the wind.... My father claims we have them this year because it was a mild winter, but he may be thinking of tent caterpillars." Later, Chris will tear at his own forearm for sustenance and in the very next scene attempt to explain his twisted braces to his orthodontist. Why It Is for Us: The uncompromising conclusion asks what price we are willing to pay for our humanity. Chris is left with two ugly choices: starve as a vampire or give in to his nature, knowing he will be hunted and executed. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.