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mehsi's review against another edition
5.0
Wow what a story. I didn't expect most of the stuff that happened. I just expected a story about a boy who gets turned to vampire and has to live with it, I got the first part. But with that also action, more vampires, the lead character changing and lots more.
The last part of the book just went by in superspeed, lots of action, questions being answered.
Though the really last part was a bit confusing and I hoped for more answers. How is it going with Jay and Abby, how is Sejal or Cat?
Sadly the middle part of the book was quite confusing as the focus shifted from our lead character Doug to multiple other people.
The last part of the book just went by in superspeed, lots of action, questions being answered.
Though the really last part was a bit confusing and I hoped for more answers. How is it going with Jay and Abby, how is Sejal or Cat?
Sadly the middle part of the book was quite confusing as the focus shifted from our lead character Doug to multiple other people.
vermilionaura's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
sparklethenpop's review
2.0
I think I just don't really like Adam Rex that much, I couldn't even get through Cold Cereal, this one I did finish but I didn't like the ending and the rest of the story was only okay.
missbookiverse's review against another edition
3.0
Lange kein total abgedrehtes Buch gelesen? So nehmt Fat Vampire zur Hand. Manche mögen es eher als Unfall beschreiben, wichtig sind mir aber die Perlen, die sich dazwischen verstecken. Zum einen hat Fat Vampire mich zum Lachen gebracht. Ein dicker Teenager-Vampir, der gleich zu Beginn in einen Zoo einbricht, um an Blut zu gelangen. Ratet welches Tier er sich aussucht. So ein Panda sieht doch eigentlich ganz friedlich aus…
Zum anderen versteht der Autor sich darauf subtil Kritik an US-Amerikanern und ihrem Umgang mit Ausländern zu wirken. Diese ignorant freundlich gemeinten Vorurteile bekommt Austauschschülerin Sejal nämlich am eigenen Leib zu spüren:
Wenn man sich auf diese Punkte konzentriert, macht das Buch Spaß. Ein wenig überlesen sollte man dabei den holprigen Schreibstil (manchmal hab ich nicht kapiert, wovon der Erzähler gerade redet), den seltsamen Showdown und die anscheinend willkürlich in den Plot eingestreuten Elemente wie Werwölfe und die “Google-Krankheit”.
Zum anderen versteht der Autor sich darauf subtil Kritik an US-Amerikanern und ihrem Umgang mit Ausländern zu wirken. Diese ignorant freundlich gemeinten Vorurteile bekommt Austauschschülerin Sejal nämlich am eigenen Leib zu spüren:
She was dimly aware, however, of a white Westerner habit of wearing other cultures like T-shirts—the sticker bindis on club kids, sindoor in the hair of an unmarried pop star, Hindi characters inked carelessly on tight tank tops and pale flesh. She knew Americans liked to flash a little Indian or Japanese or African. They were always looking for a little pepper to put in their dish.
Wenn man sich auf diese Punkte konzentriert, macht das Buch Spaß. Ein wenig überlesen sollte man dabei den holprigen Schreibstil (manchmal hab ich nicht kapiert, wovon der Erzähler gerade redet), den seltsamen Showdown und die anscheinend willkürlich in den Plot eingestreuten Elemente wie Werwölfe und die “Google-Krankheit”.
livingdeadbabe's review
3.0
It was going strong as a 4 star until the end then it’s like wth? So 3 stars it is…
trid_for_kicks's review
4.0
This book was fantastic. Seriously. The first half, I was laughing so hard, I would have to stop reading and snort loudly for a few minutes. I mean, I'm a huge dork, so the dorky jokes appealed to me on a whole other level. The second half, though, that was interesting. There was still good laughs to be had, but it turned so serious, it was like an entirely different book. In a good way. Every single character in the book changed, and you saw how and why, and it was awesome. Everyone had a progression. And things kept going in unpredictable ways.
So, you should read this book.
Spoiler
Doug slowly descends into becoming a bad guy. Like, he almost kills a girl because he keeps feeding on her, and he stops seeing her as a person. In fact, at the end of the book, he feeds on a girl he doesn't even know, who's just left there, lying on the floor, saying "I think we... did it..." like he'd roofied and raped her. Like, this guy was supposed to be the main character, the hero--but he turns into someone else entirely! And let's not forget the fact that he's basically a bully to his best friend since forever, and he never thought of it that way. Sejal, though she's pretty much the same person throughout the book, you see more of her as the author slowly reveals her past. Also, she and Doug never get together. Normally when you read books like this, you can tell who's going to end up together in the end. But Sejal isn't interested in him, she says so, and that remains for the rest of the book. How awesome is that?! I love how unpredictable this ending was. Jay grows more confident, gets a girlfriend (sort of?), and starts living out from under Doug's shadow. And then he (possibly) dies. We don't actually find out what happens to him. And then there's Stephin, who apparently is the bad guy all along, and was just making a bunch of vampires in the hopes that one of them would come back for revenge and kill him (and the author makes a parallel to the Sandman, which was mentioned earlier in the book, like he wanted us to know exactly where the plot was going, but we really had no idea). Victor, who turns out not to be just a jerk jock, goes from "successful teen vampire" to "decent guy and friend of Doug's" to "obsessed vampire hunter" to... nothing. When Doug gets stabbed, he just runs away. And then there's the ending. Well, endings. Plural. Because the author couldn't just give us one, and let us respond to it appropriately. No, he gave us SEVEN different endings. All of them, in my opinion, just a little sad. But we don't know which one it is. Maybe he couldn't decide, that's why he wrote it that way. Maybe he wanted us to choose for ourselves. Which is kind of a cop out, and kind of cool. And I loved this book, and the ending is just kind of unsettling, unfinished, like an unresolved chord, waiting for the return back to one. And I don't like it. And I like it. And, just like the endings of the book, my feelings for it are Schrodinger's cat, simultaneously both alive and dead, and I have no more words for it.So, you should read this book.
martindavidharp's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
lattelibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
I know a lot of the reviews have been very mixed in regards to this book, and I think I know why. Or at least, this is how I justify those. The first half of the book is filled with funny one-liners, zingers, and joking despair about being 15 and fat for the rest of eternity. The second half is more satire. For instance, Doug is rather unhappy at his new situation, sometimes takes jabs at his best friend, and is head over heels with the new exchange student. But in the second half, he doesn't get the girl, and gets angry. He doesn't realize how his attitude hurts his best friend. He lies and lies about his transformation story. Basically, a humorous but overweight protag turns into an incel that's going to live forever. And that possibly makes him the scariest of all vampires.
Sejal's perspective, however, is probably the most intriguing to me--she is a success story while Doug is a failure story. She has done some bad things, treated her friends wrongly and strangers even worse. But she realizes what she's done wrong, goes away for a year, and tries to become a better person. Doug, on the other hand, doesn't try to be better. And this essentially turns Sejal away from him.
In fact, Doug is more interested in having a sort of goth girlfriend who's into getting her blood sucked. And blood sucking in this book creates a sort of memory loss for the suckee, making them think they have done something sexual and just don't remember. This only furthers the satire, or perhaps the terror of this book--women are still seen as some sort of stock, cattle, being used for their bodies.
I think there's a lot more to this book than meets the eye, and for women, at least, there's a very interesting shift from paranormal humor to horror. And that, to me, makes this book a lot more intriguing and deep than I originally thought.
Review cross-listed here!
Sejal's perspective, however, is probably the most intriguing to me--she is a success story while Doug is a failure story. She has done some bad things, treated her friends wrongly and strangers even worse. But she realizes what she's done wrong, goes away for a year, and tries to become a better person. Doug, on the other hand, doesn't try to be better. And this essentially turns Sejal away from him.
In fact, Doug is more interested in having a sort of goth girlfriend who's into getting her blood sucked. And blood sucking in this book creates a sort of memory loss for the suckee, making them think they have done something sexual and just don't remember. This only furthers the satire, or perhaps the terror of this book--women are still seen as some sort of stock, cattle, being used for their bodies.
I think there's a lot more to this book than meets the eye, and for women, at least, there's a very interesting shift from paranormal humor to horror. And that, to me, makes this book a lot more intriguing and deep than I originally thought.
Review cross-listed here!
sosterheld's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
mdalton9805's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the premise of this book... a 15-year-old boy bitten by a vampire and has to spend eternity over-weight and unattractive to girls. Pretty funny! However, I think the story fell a little flat as the main character really isn't all that likable.