Spontaneous
Now a major motion picture starring Katherine Langford
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
'TRULY THE SMARTEST AND FUNNIEST BOOK ABOUT SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION YOU WILL EVER READ'
-- John Green, #1 bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars
With all the perfectly lovely young adult novels out there, you decided to check this one out? It's got spontaneously combusting teenagers in it, dude. Not the slow burning type either. We're talking the randomly exploding variety. Seniors in high school just walking along, heading to class, whistling Beyonce, when -- WA-BAM! -- they're suddenly dripping off the lockers.
Is that really something you're into?
Confession: I'm actually kinda into that too. So, now that we've established we're both thoroughly weird and, I assume, thoroughly open-minded, we can give it shot, right? Let's at least read the opening chapters of this bad-boy and see if it features some of the more intriguing elements such as...
- Exploding teenagers (obviously).
- Hallucinogenic mushrooms.
- Pyromaniacal boyfriends.
- Triplet toddlers in powder blue suits.
- Amur leopards and doomsday preppers.
- A foul-mouthed female POTUS.
- Ashtanga yoga.
- Youtube sensations.
- Self-driving Priuses.
- Rogue FBI agents.
- Mad scientists.
- Homecoming.
- Spring break.
- Prom.
- And ... Jennifer Lawrence.
Notice how I put Jennifer Lawrence last. She's in the book, so it's not cheating. And hey, if it takes America's most beloved movie star to sell this thing, then that's what it takes.
So, in closing: Jennifer Lawrence.
A novel about growing up ... and blowing up.
MORE PRAISE
'Wildly inventive' -- Entertainment Weekly 'Must List'
'This comically surreal novel will blow your mind' -- People
'A blood-soaked, laugh-filled, tear-drenched, endlessly compelling read' -- Kirkus, starred review
'A wholly original YA tale of identity, friendship, love, lust, and gory, grisly death' -- SLJ, starred review
'an invigorating ride ... highly entertaining' -- CBCA's Reading Time
'Aaron Starmer skillfully welds sharp humor, deep loss, and roaring escapades. Truly the smartest and funniest book about spontaneous combustion you will ever read.' -- John Green, #1 bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Seniors at Covington High School are spontaneously combusting in one gloriously gory explosion after another, and it doesn't take long for the FBI to descend on the New Jersey town to figure out what is going on. Is it terrorism? A curse? At the heart of Starmer's story is Mara Carlyle, a senior who witnesses the first combustion up close in precalc. Mara's blunt, sarcastic narration is well-matched to the absurdity of the plot, and while it's tempting to think of it as a defense mechanism in response to an unbelievable situation, it seems clear that this is just who Mara is. Her lengthy internal monologues, while entertaining, can frustrate the story's momentum and make Mara seem more like an observer and chronicler of the mayhem, rather than a participant, despite her proximity to several of the explosions. This aside, Starmer (the Riverman trilogy) adeptly uses his bloody, madcap premise to heighten just how much of life is out of our control, and how important it is to seize whatever time we're given. Ages 14 up.
