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The Beckoners (2004)

The Beckoners (2004)

Book Info

Author
Rating
3.64 of 5 Votes: 2
Your rating
ISBN
1551433095 (ISBN13: 9781551433097)
Language
English
Publisher
orca book publishers

About book The Beckoners (2004)

I really like reading bully books. This might sound really weird, but bullying is just such an interest topic to me. I love getting a look into the brains of the tortured and their tortures (although most bully books are in the point of view of the bullied). These are usually the books that I don’t want to put down until I know every last detail. The Beckoners by Carrie Mac took the world of bullying to a whole new level. The Beckoners is about sixteen year old Zoe whose slightly unstable mother moves her family around A LOT. With another move comes another new school. Zoe kind of falls into this vicious clique (or small gang, whichever you prefer) called, you guessed it, The Beckoners. Lead by the always brutal Beck, this group of high schoolers teeter on the fine line between bully and criminals. Zoe quickly realizes she does not want to live the life of a sixteen year old gang member. The need to get out is intensified by her growing friendship (?) with The Beckoners favorite viction, April (also known as Dog). However, once initiated into The Beckoners it’s not so easy to get out.This book had me pacing and clenching my fist the whole time I read it. I am a big fan of a book that stresses me out (in a good way) while I read it. If I am so invested in a book that I don’t even want to sit down then it’s a good one. I have never read characters as crazy as Beck and her followers. I had to keep reminding myself that these are 16 YEAR OLD GIRLS. What? That’s insane. I have never in my life met a 16 year old girl as intense and terrifying as Beck. Maybe I just grew up in a nice little happy bubble with nice bullies? No, I just think these girls are psychotic. That being said, they were so interesting to read! Also, Zoe was a great main character. Mac really captured the thoughts of a girl who is used to moving. A girl trying to muddle through high school and the dilemma of which side of the line was better to be on: the victims or the bullies. Mac shows that not everything is as black and white as it may seem. We get to see Zoe’s whole thought process. Zoe had to learn who she really was and what she wanted to stand for. Although, Zoe does have a little life in the Beckoners I think she is a great role model. The plot of this story was great. There was never a dull moment. Like I said, I was literally pacing while reading parts of this book. The books opens with an introduction to Beck and Dog before launching into Zoe’s story. And it’s probably one of the nicer things she does to Dog in the whole book. It’s a great introduction to just how crazy the book gets.I give The Beckoners by Carrie Mac 4 out of 5 stars. I would highly recommend this book.

This book made me so uncomfortable for so many reasons...gritty, raw, powerful. At times I almost felt complicit in the brutality and dehumanizing actions of the Beckoners. Mac's immense talent is obvious; she remains in total control of her narrative and I as a reader was swept along for the ride, grimacing, white-knuckled, and nauseated, all the way to the bitter end. My one criticism is that the ending seemed a little too "and they all live happily ever after" for me. Perhaps Mac felt she had put the reader through enough and this was her way of apologizing...of offering a message of hope and optimism. But for me the almost trite resolution seemed out of place in a novel so fierce in its unflinching look at teen violence -- how savage, tribal and unrelenting it has become.

Do You like book The Beckoners (2004)?

i didn't really like it that much to be honest.. it was childish and its the same story , she wants to tell some\one but cant find time.
—Rebekah

This is one of those books I've picked up several times at the library, but never opened it because I'd never heard of it. So even though it sounded good, I'd end up reading something else I got at the same time. Silly me.Here is this undiscovered gem of a book. All I kept thinking as I listened to it was, HOW THE HELL IS THIS BOOK NOT A PRINTZ AWARD WINNER!!!???? It is so good, and exactly like what they always pick. Except way better. I know it doesn't have the best reviews, but THIS BOOK ROCKS!It was so grungy and grimy and sad and brutal and depressing and just all around...amazing. One of those books that, as I read, I kept thinking, "Man, I wish I'd written this book." Not in the way of, "I could have done it better," but in the way of, "I wish I was Carrie Mac."I will never understand why this book isn't rated higher. I loved it. I loved the characters, I loved the evilness of children portrayed here. It's like a modern Lord of the Flies, about bullying and bad parenting and reality. And girls. And cruelty. And conformity. People have complained that it's written strangely, but I had the audio and couldn't tell (and sometimes, you can...ahem *sarahdessen*). It sounded great to me. I liked the reader, and the prose flows well. People have also complained that it dealt with too many issues, but I didn't even notice. I was too busy going squee squee squee all the way home.
—Lena

Well, I didn't blog about this for a few days and I've already forgotten most of what happened. A girl moves to another town, again, but this time she falls into the wrong crowd. Beck is the ringleader and she is the type of bully who is the most popular girl in school. She's cruel and takes out much of her frustration on a mousey girl nicknamed Dog. Dog and the main character are forced together by house proximity and working on the newspaper. When the main character attempts to "get out" of the Beckoners, she finds that it's very difficult. The bullying and hazing seemed real--but the very end of the book doesn't seem like it would work. You'll see what I mean. I loved the cover and back-piece of the book, but Orca still needs to work on typeface and text placement on the page--it just doesn't feel comfortable. I felt like I was reading an advanced reading copy instead of a published book.
—Sarah

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