This book came highly recommended to me by almost everyone who'd read it. I am a bit skeptical of any popular book, but I gave it a go, and that wasn't a great decision on my part. I found the characters to be not very relatable, with their sophisticated speech (minus the very excessive cussing) and incredibly deep intellectual processes. Now, I understand that the book is supposed to be deep, and make readers think about such issues as life, love, and death, but the author's perspective is so hopeless that it's hard to even think about. As a Christian, I believe that there is an eternity after death for every person, and one single choice in their lives determines whether it is an eternity of life or death. In this book, Hazel believes that after death is simply oblivion. What a hopeless way to live! I cannot appreciate a tragic story that doesn't have a redeeming factor.

Tragedy aside, I found the entire love affair sappy and stupid. Gus is the "perfect" boyfriend, and the whole "I don't want to get in a relationship with you because I don't want to hurt you" is so cliche. And why did they have to have sex? I am finding that too many books have pointless sex scenes that don't do anything to further the plot or the audience's connection to the characters. This was another such story.

Despite these very major, debilitating faults, the book was thought-provoking. However, this is one of the last books I would ever recommend someone read.

Loved, loved, loved it!

Life on the Spokane Indian Reservation is tough for Junior. Not only is he small and easy to pick on, but he "was born with water on the brain" and has developed differently because of it. After Junior decides to transfer to a school off the reservation to try and find hope (which is completely unheard of), his life on the reservation becomes even harder. Illustrated with Junior’s witty cartoon sketches, this book is a quick read that makes you laugh in the midst of pain and brings to life the hardships of others.

A really engaging book about life on the reservation and what it's like to be Indian. A study of the Indian condition disguised as a teen fiction book. Well told and cleverly illustrated, this book gets two thumbs up.