Jack Samsonite
His Mission?
1. Pass his GCSEs
2. Get the girl (to notice he exists)
3. Survive the week without a serious face punching
Good thing he's got a plan.
Well, half a plan . . .
Jack Samsonite Series:
One Seriously Messed-Up Week in the Otherwise Mundane & Uneventful Life of Jack Samsonite
One Seriously Messed-Up Weekend in the Otherwise Un-Messed-Up Life of Jack Samsonite
Visit Tom Clempson's website for more information
Review:
Our hero Sam (or Jack as he has decided to call himself) is writing a diary for a week as a school project. His goals for the week are to study for his exams, get the girl and to avoid being beaten up but that's going to be a lot more complicated than it sounds.
I don't even know where to start with this review - sometimes you come across a book that is just so much fun to read that you don't want it to end and One Seriously Messed-Up Week in the Otherwise Mundane and Uneventful Life of Jack Samsonite (hereafter referred to as OSMUW) is one of those books. I can't tell you how excited I am that there is going to be a sequel (although I believe we'll have to wait until 2013 to read it unfortunately). I have to mention that title - it has to be the longest book title I've ever come across but it suits the story perfectly and I love it.
Jack is a fairly typical 15 year old boy, he isn't one of the popular crowd but he isn't one of the geeks either and he flits between several different school cliques. I'm not going to tell you what he gets up to in his week - you're going to have to read the book for yourself if you want to find out. What I will tell you is that Jack reminded me of a less geeky Adrian Mole and I've not read a book that made me laugh as much as this one in a long time. In fact I completely embarrassed myself by snorting with laughter when I was reading OSMUW on a train. I just couldn't stop myself - I mean who knew choosing which urinal to use was such an exact science!
I have quite obviously never been a teenage boy but it was easy to relate to Jack, he faced a lot of the same kind of problems at school as I did and his character is very realistic. If you have ever wanted to know what goes on in a teenage boy's head then you need to read this book - it explains a lot! I don't think a page goes by that won't have you laughing but the story deals with some serious issues along with the humour. The twist at the end completely shocked me and as soon as I finished reading I had to go back and read the beginning again because it was so cleverly written.
I would recommend this book to absolutely anyone, if you have ever been a teenager you will be able to identify with Jack. I'm sure teenage boys will love the story but it will definitely appeal to girls too. My only warning would be that if you don't like crude humour and are easily offended by swearing then this might not be for you but as long as you don't take it too seriously I'm sure you'll love it as much as I did. OSMUW is a fantastic debut and I can't wait to see what Tom Clempson comes up with next!
Source: Purchased
Other Reviews:
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one of my top reads this year by far!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an awesome book isn't it Laura! I can't wait to read Tom's next book :o)
ReplyDeleteAhhh! I really must get around to reading it. I was going to read it for my British authors month and then I was sort of half planning a themed week dedicated to a male POV by now I'm not sure when I'll get around to that, if ever, and I really don't want to miss out on this book any longer than I already have!
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