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Liked It “The main character is a lot like me. It was funny to read this.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “It's an interesting try at writing in the first person, and creating a dramatic-but-believable teenager, but I found the plot moved really slowly, and the central character got a bit annoying.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“The main character is a lot like me. It was funny to read this.”
elvira wrote this review Sunday, March 11, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“It's an interesting try at writing in the first person, and creating a dramatic-but-believable teenager, but I found the plot moved really slowly, and the central character got a bit annoying.”
Angel Librarian wrote this review Monday, September 5, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Eighth-grader Cassie Sullivan is big for her age, physically and intellectually. She has strong opinions: She hates WWJD bracelets and NCLB-driven standardized tests. She rejects cell phones, CDs, and MP3s, but adores her vinyl record collection. She also loves visiting her family's place in the Colorado mountains, gazing up at the stars and thinking about infinity. She believes that the world is almost certainly more than 6000 years old; that things with faces probably shouldn't be eaten; and that war, despite any trumpeted reasoning, is still just a sad human failing. At the beginning of the school year she defends evolution and finds herself, as she starts the first of the 11 journals that comprise this diary novel, ostracized from-and bullied by--most of her classmates, who begin calling her Cassie the Antichrist. Her refusal to sing "America the Beautiful" in choir earns her the name Osama O'Sullivan. With some help from her brother's college-age girlfriend and a compassionate GT teacher, Cassie considers a scheme to skip through her current hell and jump directly to high school, all the time wondering "is it worth it? Is anything worth it?" Librarians will want to slip this excellent and therapeutic selection to precocious early teens facing similar alienation, depression, and bullying issues. Just be aware that there is frank language and references to drug and alcohol use.--Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI
Mr. Hastings wrote this review Friday, October 16, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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“...Or Not is a diary of a school's anti-Christ. It looked really good, when I first saw it. But when I started reading it, it was getting a little weird- a girl, for no reason, shaves her head bald, argues w/ one of her best friends about a CD, and then talks a lot. It's a good book for those of you who are all for opinions. That's all.”
Christina Kinsella wrote this review Saturday, August 1, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“ Reviewed by Marta Morrison for TeensReadToo.com
TeensReadToo.com wrote this review Tuesday, July 21, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Cassie is my hero. She is an intelligent non-conformist who is stuck in junior high.
...OR NOT? starts with the summer before Cassie goes into eighth grade. It is told through Cassie's journal. She lives with her mom and dad and has a brother in college. They live in Colorado and have a rustic cabin, which she loves, in the mountains. Her family walks to a different drummer, with her father being a lawyer and her mother a musician.
They are a family who talks at the dinner table of politics and philosophy. They enjoy being together, especially at the cabin. That is where Cassie would like to be always. She loves the mountains and all of nature. She really is at home there.
Cassie doesn't fit in at school, though. She is odd because she really doesn't care about the things that her classmates care about. Her style of dress is different and she shaves off her hair, but doesn't shave her legs. She has fits of depression and thoughts of suicide. During her eighth-grade year she finally finds a group of friends. But before that she must endure religious intolerance, paranoia, and horrible bullying.
The school officials were ineffective, which made me sad but is also realistic because I teach school and it can be a minefield. Cassie discovers and learns to really love herself by the end of the novel and it is a truly wondrous ride. I recommend this book if you really don't fit, but even if you do you might learn something about how the other half feels. I laughed, cried, and couldn't wait to hear what would happen to Cassie. ...OR NOT? is also well-written. It's always nice when the story is great and the writing superb!”
“Met Brian at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference. Very cool guy. And amazing that he writes the voice of a teen girl so well. ”
Karen Hooper wrote this review Monday, May 18, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Great story about a girl who does not let peer pressure dictate who she is. Makes you look at yourself and how you judge others. ”
Martha Stout wrote this review Wednesday, October 8, 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“…OR NOT? is definitely one of my favorite books read in recent memory. Cassie is such a completely real, entirely interesting, and very unique character! This book is made up of her journals, written in her fresh, original voice. Cassie’s a fourteen year old girl with opinions and beliefs that make her an outcast at school (ie, she is not a blindly patriotic evangelical Christian). She’s lots of things–a writer, a vegan, a thinker–but at school they’d rather just label her a terrorist (as we do in the post-9/11 world) and be done with it. At school, she’s harassed and taunted with epithets like “American Taliban slut,” especially after she refuses to sing ” Proud To Be An American” at school.
teenbookreview wrote this review Saturday, March 8, 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
In a high school like Cassie’s fictional one, this book would probably be banned. Or maybe burned.
Cassie is a strong-willed, gutsy, and very likeable protagonist, with a distinct voice, one great character in a whole cast of them. Her story really draws readers in; it’s quite a lengthy book, but it certainly doesn’t drag on. It’s also a very relevant story today. Prejudiced people like those Cassie has to deal with are everywhere. I remember once in middle school getting in huge trouble for not saying the pledge of allegiance. I, however, am not as brave as Cassie; I’d like to have her courage, but, after that, I stood up and pretended to say it.
It’s a thought-provoking, extremely well-written first novel. Brian Mandabach’s debut is brilliant, and I am really looking forward to reading whatever this talented author writes next.”
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