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Ted Caplan

Autor/a de Unpregnant (Unpregnant, #1)

2 obres 10 Membres 3 Ressenyes

Obres de Ted Caplan

Missouri 1627 (2021) 3 exemplars

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Once, when I was in fifth or sixth grade, I had to read Richard Peck’s The Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts for an extracurricular book event (shockingly, I was not very popular). My mom read most of the stuff I had to read because I left it lying around the house, and neither of us found Peck’s book very funny. Mom, in her infinite wisdom, said that putting the word “comedy” of the cover of your book is a dangerous gamble - if you’re going to do it, the book better damn well be funny.

Unpregnant has no subtitle, but it’s clearly billed as a comedy. Good news: It’s actually pretty funny! It starts out with the classic teen-peeing-on-a-pregnancy-test scene, only Veronica, our protagonist, is just as nervous about somehow screwing the test up as she is about its results. The absurdity of that feeling is genuinely amusing, and it tells us a whole lot about over-achiever Veronica. Bailey has a lot of good one-liners, and there are some truly outrageous hijinks, including (my favorite) a girl threatening a ferret with a taser. Truly, everything than can go wrong does go wrong, in the style of a raunchy comedy film.

Which is also this book’s weakness. It really does feel like a film - it’s written like one. The constant everything-going-wrong, neatly interspersed with almost identical heart-to-hearts and fights, starts to get exhausting. Occasionally things feel cliché or like they’re trying a little too hard. I started wishing for a quiet moment, something that made this book its own book instead of the novelization of a movie that does not yet exist. (By the way, that movie will exist - they already sold the film rights.) I guess that’s what happens when your authors are a writer on How I Met Your Mother (okay, makes sense) and the music editor for the film The Hate U Give (what??).

But I still think this one’s worth reading. I mean, if it’s ultimately remembered as the book that spawned a great movie - and I do think it’ll make a better movie than it did a book - that’s nothing to sneeze at. The issue at its heart is handled with nuance, tenderness, and unflinching empathy. It’s really incredibly cool that a book like this exists about abortion, and I’m especially glad that it exists for teens.
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Marcat
livmae | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Jul 17, 2020 |
I read Unpregnant by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan and really enjoyed it.

Unpregnant is a roadtrip novel, told from the perspective of a 17-year-old high schooler.
When we first meet Veronica, she is taking a pregnancy test in the girls restroom in her high school. As her pregnancy test shows whether she is pregnant or not, she begins freaking out, wondering how this is going to affect her future and what she's going to say to her boyfriend.
What I really loved about Unpregnant: the story is really well-plotted, and we get to see Veronica and Bailey begin to reconnect. As a roadtrip novel, it didn't go too quickly, and the characters were interesting.

What I didn't love: honestly, it did feel a little heavy-handed regarding the obstacles Veronica and Bailey face as they roadtripped. Also, I started getting really frustrated with Veronica's boyfriend, and the amount of stalking he was clearly doing.
I give Unpregnant 4.75/5 stars.
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Marcat
Booksunknown23 | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | May 18, 2020 |
I just did not like this at all. I didn't like the charcters - and actually hated a few, the relationships felt underdeveloped, and the plot was just a run-on joke.

I appreciate that the authors were going for a light-hearted comedy, when dealing with a heavier topic, but literally nothing in the story made an impression or impact on me. It went from one outlandish adventure to the next - stolen cars, attempted cow tipping, stip clubs, and a little B&E. And yeah, it was kinda fun, but with no real emotional grounding if felt wasted and one dimensional. I do think the abortion plot is kinda glossed over and used as a plot device to really focuses on the reconnected friendship between Veronica and Bailey, and while I always love a friendship-focused story, there wasn't enough here to make me care for either of the characters. I still don't feel like I really know either of them or their history or their families. I could maybe give you a few bullet points about each, but not many.

It took me around 2 hours to read this and it's just a whole blur of bleh. I really thought I would love this - or at least enjoy it, but sadly that was not the case. I seem to be an outlier with this book, so if you think it's interesting or worth checking out make sure to check our some other reviews and read a preview if you can.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
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Marcat
LifeofaLiteraryNerd | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Oct 9, 2019 |

Estadístiques

Obres
2
Membres
10
Popularitat
#908,816
Valoració
½ 2.5
Ressenyes
3