Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Grasshopper Jungle is written in such a different way than I was used to- and I loved it. I instantly connected with Austin and his voice was so honest throughout the story. I loved the repetition of hearing about Austin’s family history and who his grandfather was and his great-grandfather and his grandmother and so on and how they all tied in somehow with what was happening in the story. And while Austin was basically horny for the whole story, my heart went out to him with his confusion about his sexuality and his questions about did he love Shana or did he love Robby or did he love them both and what did that make him….. Oh Austin.
And so along with the fantastic journey through Austin’s Polish family history, and his very real and very deep relationships with both Shana and Robby….we have the end of the world as we know it, brought on by Austin and Robby, with the onset of an army of six foot tall praying mantises. Normally I would think this was an odd thing, but with the excellent style of writing, the interesting and honest characters and the intrigue of finding out what really was in that silo…the six foot praying mantises did not seem weird at all. Plus I learnt what the only two things are that praying mantises want to do!
An excellent story that I am keen to read again.
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(10/2/2014) ok, what just happened…….. I can’t say I have ever read anything like this before. I really enjoyed it but I am still trying to work out what I have just read.
bookswooning 
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