10th Grade: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Fresh, funny, and oh so real!
Review: Weisberg's first foray into fiction reads like an amusement ride tour of the brain of the 15 year old nice guy who grew up to be cool. The writing style reminded me of how my mind worked at that age -- so many things competing for time and space that the thoughts easily got ahead of the written words. It reads like a really authentic, just-self-conscious-enough journal: the kind you HAD to keep for school, but grew to like and treat as a friend. The antics are hilarious; the characters so well-formed that vivid school portraits rapidly formed in my head of each member of the classs of Hutch Falls high. As a reader who is a contemporary of Weisberg (I think-- what other age group identifies with Meat Loaf and Air Supply?), I found this a thoroughly enjoyable, intelligent stroll down the memory lane of high school. And I hated high school! But I loved this book.

Rating:
Summary: ugh...'10th Grade' was as bad as 10th grade *no pun intended
Review: well...this is my first review, but i'm sorry that my first had to be about a bad book. there's really no plot in this story. it's just like a flashback of 10th grade. it's "funny moments" weren't really amusing to me. however, i know this book will get teens' attentions because it's the kind of books they wanna read, i think. anyways...this book really did nothing to me. don't waste your time.

Rating:
Summary: A Perfectly Realized Debut Novel
Review: With 10th Grade, Joseph Weisberg aims to tap into the mind of an average sophomore, and he succeeds brilliantly. Jeremiah Reskin's narrative is full of grammatical errors - and rightly so. His fifteen-year-old flaws hilariously sketch his character into a believable and personable protagonist. A highly recommended first novel.

Rating:
Summary: Insanely unreadable.
Review: Wow. Only made it through Chapter 6 before I just couldn't take it anymore. Yes, Weisberg captures the voice of a 10th grader, but still could have used some commas and it would have come out the same voice!! That just made it too hard to want to continue reading. Ugh.

Rating:
Summary: Modestly Entertaining
Review: Written from the perspective of a 15-year-old, Weisberg's debut is the journal of a New Jersey boy as he enters and progresses through 10th grade in 1981 or thereabouts. The conceit here is that the prose is supposed to mirror the syntax, vocabulary and punctuation one might find in such a teenagers journal. So, one encounters entire pages without commas, sentences that run on and on and on, and the use of numerals such as 1, 2, 3, instead of the words one, two, three. Weisberg has exaggerated these stylistic tics for comedy sake, but the end result is that the book is a bit of a trial to read. Yes, it makes sense in context, but it's a gimmick that wears thin very early (and will doubtless insult many a 10th-grader). The diarist, Jeremy, is somewhat of an everyman. This is both a positive and negative: the easy-go-lucky good-hearted kid doesn't do anything extreme that might alienate the reader, but he's so average that the reader never gets much of a feel for him. Yes, he's likeable and inoffensive, and you root for him, but he never truly comes alive as a living, breathing character. And yet his relatively smooth journey through the ups and downs of sophomore year makes for a modestly enjoyable read.

The bulk of the story revolves around his friendships and a secret crush on the new girl at school. At first he falls in with a circle of pseudo-outsiders: one fat girl, one hot girl (who has a 23-year-old boyfriend), one cynical guy, and a plain girl. They hang out together at lunch and in various people's rec rooms. A lot of this is pitch perfect, as the group subtly shifts to include him, and it becomes clear over time that one of the girls is interested in him. His own ambivalence to her is slightly implausible, as he's holding out for someone better looking. In 10th grade hormones are running awfully high, and it's a little hard to buy his rejection of the girl. Still, it's nice to find a teen character that doesn't instantly tear his clothes off, or isn't so eager to try pot.

Eventually, Jeremy is accidentally absorbed into the cool jock and cheerleader crowd. This shifting of friendships between groups is done well, and Weisberg wisely avoids any of the many potential cliche pitfalls that might have been tempting. Along the way, there are lots of little pictures drawn of Spanish class, his soccer season, trips to New York to buy clothes with his father, evaluating the breasts of his classmates, and the first acquisition of porn. The book climaxes with the prom and post-prom party, where Jeremy's first sexual encounter occurs with an unexpected partner. This is not a book to read for stunning insight into a 10th grader's mind, not is it a particularly vivid slice of early '80s nostalgia (only passing references to Air Supply and Meatloaf lyrics, a Charlie's Angels poster, a player on the NY Knicks, and mentions of Izod shirts give the story any sense of time). Rather, it is a moderately humorous and wry take on what a typical white, suburban boy's 10th grade experience might be--and kind of a pain in the butt to read.

Rating:
Summary: 10th grade in a no comma nutshell
Review: You pick up 10th Grade, and right away you are entertained. Right away, that is. I found myself completely enjoying the ungrammatical styles of Weisberg for the first two chapters, being enthralled by the author's ability to write like an actual sophomore. However, being an actual 10th grader myself, I considered the fact that I know how to use a comma and write without a run-on. For Weisberg to think that a 15 or 16 year old kid does not know hot to write a page without a punctuation error is a flat-out diss to all teachers across America. I guarantee there is not a single sophomore who writes as bad as Jeremiah Reskin. Weisberg completely exaggerates his writing style and fails to seem creative or at all inventive.
Though the writing in 10th Grade is straight-up horrendous, Weisberg is able to capture some of the thoughts of an average sophomore boy. Jeremiah has that one girl, Renee Shopmaker, who all high school boys have that they dream about having kids with in both the sexual and domestic manner. His daydreams are the funniest parts of the book, and though they are extremely strange, they simply make me laugh. What sophomore boy has not dreamed about saving his friends from being burned at the stake by a group of indigenous people? Or saved more friends from being killed by aliens from another galaxy? These dreams may sound odd, but I must say I have had some very weird imaginations myself. I mean, who hasn't?