Friday, February 6, 2009

I Can't Tell You by Hillary Frank

D0 you haz a pencil?
I haz a pencil.
Do you likez teh girl?
Yes. I likez teh girl. But she hatez meeeee... *sad scribbling*
riting notez be fixing n0?

The above is an Aellafied example of basic conversation in this book. Or lack therof. Jake is in love with his friend Xandra, but due to the recent epic battle with his best friend, the future is looking shaky. And all because of a few misplaced, mistimed, misspoken words. So he decides that the world would just be a better place if he no longer spoke at all. I Can't Tell You follows him through e-mails, notes, writing on walls, and in the margins of science notebooks as Jake looks for the resolution to life, love, and a crazy messy tangle of a friendship breakup that will not let him move on.


I could not remember that this book was about college students. The entire work felt very junior high-high school transition emotionally. So frustrating, because there was so much potential for the very awesome format of this book. But once I got over the awesomosity of reading someone's ever-so-secret confessions of lurrrrve, I realized that it was a recycled plot with no spine that had been shoved into a cooler mold.


So many sexual references. Unnecessary ones that filled in what might have been a place for some quality humor. Ugh. Irritating. Also, it was like all Jake could think about was sex. It seemed almost condescending to males as his thought process was Twilight movie reminiscent, "SexSexSexSex...new pencil.... SexSexSexSexSex". Ugh x2. It kind of killed how much I could have cared for the protagonist and the people that surrounded him.


Overall, kind of a frustrating book with a clever format that could have. been. so. awesome. Note general lame book grumpiness. And that's two negative reviews in a row. Perhaps we should break it up with Paper Towns. That review will be up in two days time! Hint = John Green did not f.t.b.a.


2 out of 7 Confessions of Adoration (eeeeh... February....). Do you haz good book?


Rereading the Year of Secret Assignments,

Aella

2 comments:

Ren @ All By Myshelf said...

I just got Paper Towns from the library, so I'll have to avoid that review until I get a chance to read it. I don't want to spoil the book. :)

Orchid said...

"I Can't Tell You" sounds like a disappointing book. Kind of like this one book that I just traded at a used book store.