Classic Retread: The Pigman

Published:  2005 (first published in 1968)

The Pigman (The Pigman #1)

By: Paul Zindel

HarperTeen

ISBN-13:  9780060757353

When sophmores John and Lorraine played a practical joke a few months ago on a stranger named Angelo Pignati, they had no idea what they were starting.  Virtually overnight, almost against their will, the two befriended the lonely old man; it wasn't long before they were more comfortable in his house than their own.  But now Mr. Pignati is dead.  And for John and Lorraine, the only way to find peace is to write down their friend's story - the story of the Pigman.

Review

     John and Lorraine are both sophmores at the same school and became friends entirely by chance.  Neither one feels very wanted at home for one reason or another, and the two of them love to get into rebellious mischief with each other.  They have a game with some of the other kids to see who can call a stranger and keep them on the phone the longest.  One day they call Mr. Angelo Pignati pretending to be charity workers looking for donations and are surprised by how sorry they feel.  They go to his house to "pick up" a donation, and end up striking up a friendship with this lost man, who seems alone in the world.  But how far can things go and how much can John and Lorraine take advantage of him before harmful consequences are visited upon them?

     This definitely is a little bit dated, owing mostly to the after-school special dialogue and the movie of the week premise to it.  Plus, a book doesn't get read almost fifty-six years later and stay completely current.  The changing narrative between John and Lorraine was a fairly seamless trade-off and their specific personalities were very believable.  If I had read this as a teenager, or a younger kid, I'd probably sympathize most with John and Lorraine.  But now, somewhere in the middle of my twenties, I'm able to see both sides of the coin.  The behavior of the two of them, including it's destructive trend towards Mr. Pignati, isn't okay even when he seems to be encouraging it.  As a teenager from a screwed up family life though, I can understand having issues with limits when no one around you is setting them in ways that make sense, or is giving you what you need to not be a nutcase or juvenile delinquent.

     John's parents are uptight, and from an older generation (I think he said his Dad is in his early sixties?) and he's constantly being compared to his perfect older brother.  Combine that with a creative, intelligent mind and overabundance of imagination and it equals trouble!  Lorraine's Mom is a man-hating bitch, who basically let her own bad relationships sour her on the whole gender.  She's become bitter, steals from her home healthcare clients, and works Lorraine like a servant - while constantly telling her how ugly she is and overall useless.  So, yeah, not completely casting stones, but they know what they're doing isn't right either.  Lorraine talks about omens throughout her narrative and Zindel makes use of foreshadowing with the detioriorating health of the baboon, Bobo, that Mr. Pignati visits at the zoo (i.e. old, broken down like him, etc.) and as a reader you can see it coming.  The ending wasn't any real shock.  Overall a book that makes you think, but the humor was my favorite part.  The whole first chapter where John talks about his stint as the Bathroom Bomber of his freshmen class was pure gold!

VERDICT:  3/5  Stars

**No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book is now available in stores, online, or maybe even at your local library.**

What An Experience

 

Published:  September 3rd, 2013

Are You Experienced?

By: Jordan Sonnenblick

Feiwel & Friends

ISBN-13:  9781250025647

 

Rich is fifteen and plays guitar. When his girlfriend asks him to perform at protest rally, he jumps at the chance. Unfortunately, the police show up, and so does Rich’s dad. He’s in big trouble. Again. To make matters worse, this happens near the anniversary of his uncle’s death from a drug overdose years ago. Rich’s dad always gets depressed this time of year, but whenever Rich asks questions about his late uncle, his dad shuts down.

Frustrated by his dad’s silence, Rich sneaks into his office and breaks into a locked cabinet that holds his dad’s prized possession: an electric guitar signed by Jimi Hendrix. Before he knows it, Rich is transported to the side of a road in Upstate New York with a beautiful girl bending over him. It will take him a while to realize it’s 1969, he’s at Woodstock, and the girl’s band of friends includes his fifteen-year-old dad and his uncle, who’s still alive. What Rich learns, who he meets, and what he does could change his life forever.

 

Review

 

     Rich is fifteen and loves playing his guitar.  This time is gets him in trouble, when he plays at a rally not realizing it's for the legalization of marijuana and he gets himself arrested.  His Mom and Dad are a lot older that any of his friend's parents and Rich's Dad is especially hard on him, because his brother (Rich's Uncle) died of a drug overdose when they were teenagers.  After a really horrible fight, Rich breaks into his Dad's office and finds a signed guitar from Jimi Hendrix.  When he plays it he's electrocuted and transported to a road in New York.  Picked up by his Dad, his Uncle and his Uncle's girlfriend, Rich goes to Woodstock with them for the concert of a lifetime.  But is there anything that Rich can even do to change the past and prevent a tragic end?  Or will things still happen the exact same way?

     Anyone who reads this blog knows that I have an extremely unholy addiction to books dealing with time travel!  And as someone who is more into folk and 60s rock than any other music (besides 90s pop/rock - it's a weakness!), Woodstock appeals to my inner mellowed-out hippie.  I liked that Jordan started out the book with the flashbacks so we could see how Rich even got to Woodstock and the family dynamic leading up to his decisions.  The relationship between Rich and his Father was especially difficult, because Rich wants to connect with him more than anything.  But he feels like his Dad is living in the past and holding too tightly to the leftover hurt from his brother overdosing.  Rich feels like he's getting smothered as a result.  Further into the book we learn the reasoning for a lot of the life choices and personality traits of Rich's Dad (a major one being his own really fucked up home life and parents), which lets us really understand just how hard it is for him to relax and let Rich make his own mistakes.

     Rich starts off the novel being kind of spoiled and sheltered without realizing it on the level it actually exists on.  The relationships that he builds over the weekend at Woodstock with his Uncle Michael, Willow (Mike's girl) and David (his Dad) were really in depth for being as sudden as they were.  Being picked up naked on the side of the road and thrown into a completely different subculture definitely gives Rich a different perspective.  There are some lighter moments and Rich's inadvertent experience with drugs definitely shakes up the narrative of the book a little bit.  The music is really a major driving force behind the plot though and the meeting with Janis Joplin was pretty cool.  Really the major one though was the life-changing conversations that Rich has with Jimi Hendrix about drugs, life and legacy.  The destruction of heroin use is shown in this book, without being overly graphic.  I liked the revelation about why Mike ended up dead and what he was trying to avoid.  I won't say anything else cause I don't want to give it away, but it made my heart hurt.  All in all, the fantasy elements get a little out of control at times but this was a really well written book that I highly enjoyed.  Definitely interesting to see a teenager get the chance to become best friends with his own Dad when he was a teen.  The conclusion of the book was slightly clichéd but it was a nice ending and made sense for it.  If you're into music, time travel and history (in that order) I'd recommend reading it.  As much as I liked it, the connection I felt wasn't all that personal and that's why the rating is what it is.

 

VERDICT:  3.75/5 Stars

 

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book was published on September 3rd, 2013.*