Review: The Other Normals By: Ned Vizzini

Title: The Other Normals

Author: Ned Vizzini

Published: September 25th, 2012

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

Given the chance, fifteen-year-old Peregrine “Perry” Eckert would dedicate every waking moment to Creatures & Caverns, an epic role-playing game rich with magical creatures, spell casting, and deadly weapons. The world of C&C is where he feels most comfortable in his own skin, so when his parents ship him off to summer camp Perry is sure he’s in for the worst summer of his life.

Everything changes, however, when Perry gets to camp and stumbles into the World of the Other Normals. Perry’s new otherworldly friends need his help to save their princess and prevent mass violence. As they embark on their quest together, Perry realizes that his nerdy childhood has uniquely prepared him to be a great warrior in this world, and maybe even a hero.

Bestselling author Ned Vizzini delivers a compulsively readable and wildly original story about the winding and often hilarious path to manhood.

My Thoughts:

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for review.
 

I have never read any of the other books by Ned Vizzini but, after reading this one I really want to check them out, he is one of those authors that had me laughing out loud and smiling throughout the whole book and it definitely kept me in a good mood throughout the whole read.  I do have to admit that there was some stuff I really liked about this book and some stuff that I just thought was ok, I enjoyed the book but, I didn't completely fall in love with it. 

Perry is just you average teenage boy nerd, he spends his days going to school and coming home to play Creatures and Caverns, by himself in his room every day. His parents and his brother don't seem to get him at all, they think they are helping him when they decide to send him off to summer camp, they want him to make friends and "become a man" but, Perry has other ideas on how he would like to spend his summer that is until, he sees his own creatures and cavern's character running away from him in camp, so of course what does he do, he follows him and is thrown into the world of other normals where he become the character of his creation that he has always dreamed of being. 

Vizzini has such an amazing gift for writing, each of his characters is completely memorable and the entire book is full of humor and that I completely loved, it's not often that I find myself laughing out loud while I am reading and every 5 minutes while I was reading this one, I definitely was. I really enjoyed reading all about Perry's adventures, I mean this a total nerd's dream his favorite game has come to life and he gets to explore the real world that he has always imagined himself being in, a dream come true right? Perry gets thrown into the world and is determined to save the princess and help his friends in the world of other normals, while also becoming a man, throughout the story Perry really grows into himself and becomes more confident in who he is. 

Overall, this book was a great light and humorous read, although some warning there was some language and light references to alcohol and drug use, this book was just complete humor and fun, definitely give it a try!

Happy Reading!

 Kristin