Castration Celebration
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 5:38 pm
Castration Celebration is the title of a new YOUNG ADULT novel written by Jake Wizner and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. While the publisher recommends it for readers ages 14 and up, the Booklist review pitches it a couple of years older:
Less creative and more crude than Wizners Spanking Shakespeare (2007), this envelope-pusher follows a raunchy group of teens through a summer at a Yale arts camp. Disappointed by the males in her life and fascinated by the concept of castration, Olivia creates the books titular musical as her project, drawing inspiration from her fellow campers over-the-top discussions and exploits. Most chapters end with a scene from Olivias work-in-progress, including the often quite clever (and graphic) lyrics to songs, such as Horny and Im in Love with Dick. References to sex in all its forms and the lack of restraint on foul language will certainly shock some readers (particularly adults). Wizner skewers everything from classic childrens books (Pat the Bunny is reinterpreted from a very Freudian perspective) to High School Musical (clearly satirized on the books cover), and many older teens will appreciate the wild humor and the no-holds-barred look at what undoubtedly does happen at some summer camps. Grades 11-12. --Andrew Medlar
The opening paragraph of the novel reads:
Olivia was sitting on top of her new suitcase in the courtyard of Yales Old Campus writing in her notebook. She had scrawled the word CASTRATION on the top of the page and was in the process of listing genital-based rhymes. So far her list read: menstruation, masturbation, elongation, lubrication, penetration, stimulation, fornication, copulation, urination, ejaculation, insemination. She had always had a perverse sense of humor, and it had become even more twisted over the past year as any illusions she had clung to of a happy family had been blown away. Blown was of course the operative word, as in, I walked into my fathers office and saw him being blown by one of his graduate students. Such a lovely picture. One to file away to entertain the kids on a rainy day if the Ritalin jar was empty. She leaned back over her notebook and started a new column. Extermination, emasculation, suffocation, asphyxiation .
Amazon has it available for $12.74. The perfect Christmas gift for your favorite high school age niece or nephew???
Less creative and more crude than Wizners Spanking Shakespeare (2007), this envelope-pusher follows a raunchy group of teens through a summer at a Yale arts camp. Disappointed by the males in her life and fascinated by the concept of castration, Olivia creates the books titular musical as her project, drawing inspiration from her fellow campers over-the-top discussions and exploits. Most chapters end with a scene from Olivias work-in-progress, including the often quite clever (and graphic) lyrics to songs, such as Horny and Im in Love with Dick. References to sex in all its forms and the lack of restraint on foul language will certainly shock some readers (particularly adults). Wizner skewers everything from classic childrens books (Pat the Bunny is reinterpreted from a very Freudian perspective) to High School Musical (clearly satirized on the books cover), and many older teens will appreciate the wild humor and the no-holds-barred look at what undoubtedly does happen at some summer camps. Grades 11-12. --Andrew Medlar
The opening paragraph of the novel reads:
Olivia was sitting on top of her new suitcase in the courtyard of Yales Old Campus writing in her notebook. She had scrawled the word CASTRATION on the top of the page and was in the process of listing genital-based rhymes. So far her list read: menstruation, masturbation, elongation, lubrication, penetration, stimulation, fornication, copulation, urination, ejaculation, insemination. She had always had a perverse sense of humor, and it had become even more twisted over the past year as any illusions she had clung to of a happy family had been blown away. Blown was of course the operative word, as in, I walked into my fathers office and saw him being blown by one of his graduate students. Such a lovely picture. One to file away to entertain the kids on a rainy day if the Ritalin jar was empty. She leaned back over her notebook and started a new column. Extermination, emasculation, suffocation, asphyxiation .
Amazon has it available for $12.74. The perfect Christmas gift for your favorite high school age niece or nephew???