All the Dirty Parts

I received a review copy from Bloomsbury India in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own. The minute I read the synopsis of this book, I was intrigued, to say the very least. I’ve always thought that the more knowledge adolescents have about sex, the more informed decisions they can make about any matter relating to it. Which is to say, I went into this expecting it to be something GOOD. I finished the entire book in little more than an hour and, at this point, I’M HONESTLY NOT SURE HOW TO REVIEW THIS BOOK AT ALL. It wasn’t like anything I’ve ever read before and like the description promises, it was purely about sex, from the mind of a ‘horny’ teenager talking only about ‘All The Dirty Parts’ in a cut prose. MY THOUGHTS: 1. Despite the fact that the description of this book PROMISES that this isn’t a love story of any sort, and that it only contains all the dirty parts, I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that I wanted something MORE from the main character in terms of character and development. 2. I guess I didn’t want a love story, per se, but I wanted a little more of a STORY instead of just descriptions of sex. 3. I really liked Daniel Handler’s writing style. I’ve seen Lemony Snicket on TV with family, but I haven’t actually read any of his books. It was definitely an interesting style of writing with broken, cut away prose that reads SOMEWHAT like verse, but isn’t. The writing DEFINITELY suited the plot of the book, and that made my reading experience that much better. 4. The descriptions in this book were all kinds of crazy. At first, I was a little shocked at how graphic everything about this book was but I got over that. There was also a lot of diversity in terms of same sex relationships and a lot of experimentation which I really liked. 5. Despite the fact that there WAS a same sex relationship, I absolutely HATED the way Cole treated his best friend. He honestly acted like a Grade A Dirtbag and I felt horrible for him. 6. ALSO, CAN I HONESTLY TALK ABOUT HOW COLE’S MONOLOGUES AT THE ENDING CONFUSED ME? Because they did, and I STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF HIM. I HAVE to give this book points for Originality and while it stayed true to its title and description I can’t help but with that there was a little more to Cole as a character. 3 stars.

Good Book