10th Grade: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Cathartic allure for a high school teacher to read
Review: "10th Grade"
by Joseph Weisberg

I wanted my third January novel to be light-hearted. I can only say that "10th Grade" was the perfect choice. I teach mostly 10th through 12th graders so a novel that provided the innermost words and thoughts of a young teenager offered me cathartic allure. In addition, the idea of a novel written by a 15-year-old sophomore (named Jeremiah Reskin) seemed delightfully escapist. Basically, the book was written as if Jeremy was keeping a detailed journal of his sophomore year. The grammar, vocabulary and pace of the novel reflected a typical male 10th grade student. Trust me, I teach enough of them to know.

I started reading this book on a Saturday, and I ripped through the pages to its final completion by the following Monday morning. Jeremy's viewpoints of sophomore year were extremely funny but amazingly truthful. Jeremy dealt with the social structures of school, the strange way friends were acquired, the constant internal attraction to females, the peer pressure to try drugs and cigarettes and the lack of importance placed on academic achievement. The book was a real eye-opener as well as a nice release from the deep subject matter of the previous two novels I read in January.

Kudos!

Jay's Grade A-

Rating:
Summary: 10th Grade: A True Look into a High School Mind
Review: "...in the years to come I will...always remember 10th Grade."-Jeremy Reskin

This is a quote that Jeremy Reskin, the main character in the book 10th Grade, says towards the end of the play, and one that will apply to anybody who reads this book. 10th Grade provides insight into the mind of the average 10th grade male, and also shows the ups and downs of high school life.

The book starts with the beginning of Jeremy's Sophomore year. He reveals to the reader how he has no friends and his goals for the year; he wants to "make some friends and he wants to take a girl's shirt off." He begins to hang out with the "goths'' of his grades, yet constantly trying to make friends with the more popular kids in his grade. The hottest grade soon becomes with him and it is all uphill from there. Every weekend Jeremy attends parties and at the end of the year he goes to the junior prom. His hilarious insights can make the reader laugh out loud for minutes at a time.

The only negative part of this book, which makes me take a star off its overall grade, is the grammar that the book is printed in. There isn't a single comma in the book and every sentence is a runon. One would think that after a year at school the writing ability of a sophmore would improve, but jeremy proves this to be wrong. Sometimes during the book the reader would get lost half way through the sentence and have to read it over again because of the grammatical errors.

If you are looking for a book that will not make you cry or make you depressed, read the hilarious novel 10th Grade. Trust me, it will be a book that you will not forget.

Rating:
Summary: 10th Grade...well, sort of...
Review: 10th Grade by Joseph Weisberg
Jeremy Reskin is the typical tenth grade boy: Insecure, awkward, and hormonally charged. This novel, 10th Grade, is a look at sophomore year through Jeremy's eyes. We join him in the boring town of Hutch Falls, New Jersey. With him, we experience everything from family bonding moments, to fantasies, to trying to be a part of the "in crowd". We go to soccer practice with him, we hang out at the mall (a.k.a. the vacuum cleaner for money) with his friends, and we go to prom with one of the popular girls. It's a very real, very candid look at what goes on in the mind of a tenth grader.
Joseph Weisberg has done a fairly good job in perfecting the character of Jeremy. He writes in such a way that brings Jeremy to life. With the creative use of grammatical flaws, this book is entirely believable. With every missed comma, every run-on sentence, every poor transition you get a feel for what it would be like to be this kid. At times, you'll find yourself wondering if this really was written by a sixteen-year-old boy.
As well-created as the characters were, the plot was a little lacking in the excitement department. It was very realistic, but that's not what is interesting to read. People don't want to read about real life, they want to read something different, something adventurous, something romantic. This book went nowhere, and took us all with it. We were constantly tortured by Jeremy's lack of romance, even though there were many directions Weisberg could have taken that part of the story in. His sexual frustration started to frustrate the reader in turn.
There is also a noticeably absent message in this story. Jeremy doesn't find love, he doesn't find himself, and he doesn't learn any life lessons. In the beginning he refuses to negotiate his morals for his friends, and isn't rewarded. Then later, he compromises his morals for popularity, but there are no repercussions. There is nothing to take away from this story when you finish it. It's simply the account of a very average high school boy.
With all that said, this book can be enjoyable from time to time, and is a good story for anyone who's gone through the tough sophomore year. But in the end, something's missing.


Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: 10th Grade is a wonderful, refreshing escape back to adolescence and memories of growing up in the 80's. I had several laugh out loud moments as the main character Jeremy reflected on the memorable moments of his time in 10th grade. His stream of consciousness narrative takes us back to those formative years when our thoughts and actions were less structured and perhaps more real than when we reach adulthood. It wonderfully juxtaposes innocence and clarity at the same time. Jeremy is a young man easy to relate to, a bit of an outsider at first, but randomly moving in and out of popularity and self-confidence. It is very rich in humor from the 1st chapter where Jeremy's reference to sex ed had me laughing and reflecting back on my own similar experiences. 10th grade certainly brought me back to those wonderful days of youth when my own life's path was just as emotionally chaotic, yet full of newness and amusement at one's own circumstances. It not only will delight the reader with its reflections back to the 80's and awkwardness of the teen years, but will evoke memories and emotions long since buried in the subconscious. It also reminds us of the simplicity of life and the necessity to laugh at one's circumstances at any age. Read this book!

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Review: 10th Grade is fabulous--it captures perfectly the essence of sophmore year--no longer a freshman, but still entirely clueless (no offense to any 10th graders meant; you'll understand when you get to the reunion phase of life). Jeremy, our narrator, is a hilariously charming protagonist, unsure of himself, yet still pretty OK. He navigates his sophmore year quite well, dealing with making friends, handling family, getting a girlfriend. He's a believable character telling a believable story. Weisberg does a great job bringing back high school and all the uncertainties that go along with it. Be warned that this novel is written as if by a 10th grader with less than stellar punctuation skills. A sentence starts, runs on, no commas, semicolons, etc., and then ends with a period. Reading it is like talking to an out of breath teenager. (Which is fun). This novel will make you laugh out loud and it will also bring some wistful tears to your eyes. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: A cult-classic waiting to happen
Review: 10th Grade is the more realistic and less pretentious twin brother to the cult-classic "The Perks of Being A Wallflower". While Charlie of "Perks" is crying in his room, Jeremy of "10th Grade" is out exploring the world and describing girl's breasts.

Anyone who says that this is an unrealistic portrayal of teenage boys, is sorely mistaken. While YOU may have been an asexual nerd, the vast majority of boys (and girls) will relate perfectly to the hormone driven innocence of Jeremy.

The writing style is very informal, sometimes hard to understand. And the plot IS rather aimless. But Weisberg is wonderful at turning what could have been another boring book about teenage angst into a hilarious memoir of an average kid.

If you like this book, I would also recommend "YOUTH IN REVOLT" BY C.D. PAYNE.

Rating:
Summary: 10th Grade
Review: 10th Grade is written so effectively that it is difficult to believe an adult, Joseph Weisberg, wrote it. As an actual sophomore in high school, I know that Jeremy Reskin truly portrays an average young teenager going through the hardships, relationships, and emotions that all teens can identify with. An adult reading this book will definitely find it hilarious and enjoyable to reminisce about the wild times they had in their high school years. A tenth grader reading this book will also find it amusing to read a passage and right away be able to say "Yeah, that's definitely how I think," or "I've done that before!" When Jeremy first meets a girls, he right away describes her breasts in great detail; As soon as he wrote about how big the girl's breasts were, I right away remembered that I do that all the time.
10th Grade provides a hilarious view into the life of a average teenager in high school and allow the reader to laugh and remember how much fun they had in 10th grade.

Rating:
Summary: Pointless and Irritating
Review: 10th Grade reads like a new high school freshman's first fictional essay. Poorly structured sentences and lack of commas, apostrophes, and periods are guaranteed to annoy. The entire book reads like a rough draft. Even if the reader is so inclined to waste time proofreading each and every sentence, the lack of plot and underdeveloped characters is sure to leave one snoring. Only insomniacs with pyromaniac tendencies should invest in this.

Instead, check out Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye or Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts, where you'll find interesting characters, better plots, and sentences that actually start and end when they're supposed to.

Rating:
Summary: vts-very true statement, a remembrance of things sophomorish
Review: Ahh... the pain of 10th grade makes good fodder for a novel. The novel opens as a journal kept by sophomore Jeremiah Reskin. Jeremiah and his family live in Hutch Falls, NJ. Jeremiah Reskin has big plans for tenth grade, his sophomore year in Hutch Falls High School. He wants to make some friends; he wants to make it to second base with a girl. He wants to improve upon that D+ in Math I, and hang in food courts. When he meets a group of semi-bohemian outcasts, he learns about group back rubs and bra straps in the basement of one of his friends, the daughter of divorced parents. There is the death of the grandmother of a friend, thoughts of sex, a bonding trip with dad to a haggle-filled menswear shop in Manhattan (Mo Levitsky's posing as Moe Ginsburgs), and a trip to a bikini department of a large store with a certain, purple-color-loving young woman. The son of a lawyer, Jeremiah likes malls, orange julius, and a poster of Charlie's Angels. He is in lust with Renee Shopmaker, the hottest girl in school. As we read Jeremiah's journal, we relive 10th grade and that is a fun adventurous read. VTS, very true statement.

Rating:
Summary: Good but taken too far...
Review: As a sophomore in high school, I picked up 10th grade thinking it would be a good read about this time in my life. I didn't expect it to be taken to the extremes it was. While all the content, conversations, etc. were very believable and realistic for people my age; the grammar, punctuation, sentence structure was terrible! I have never met a sophomore who wasn't able to put in a period every once in a while, or a capital letter, etc. Also, I wondered why Jeremy's first group of friends (Kath, Gillian, Caroline, Douglas) were suddenly dropped and replaced by Renee, Lenea, Cindy, John, etc. While I realize this happens in high school, there was no follow up on what happened to these people and why he just suddenly never hung out with them. Good but had some holes that needed filling!