Burger Wuss

"Burger Wuss" is about a teenaged boy who starts dating the "girl of his dreams". It is bliss for a few months of them spending time together. He does not make any "moves" on her (though he thinks about it) because he respects her. Then, he finds her at a party underneath a faster boy- he wants revenge on the boy, but instantly forgives the girl. He begins to set a plan in motion to get revenge on the girlfriend-stealing-jerk... and that is the whole book.

He gets hired at a burger joint (like McDonalds) to be closer to Turner (the jerk) but ends up getting tied in a whole bunch of knotted relationships that are much more complex than he believes them to be.

It is short and to the point= but maybe a bit too much to the point. I didn't believe the whole infatuation with Diana (the ex-girlfriend) I had barely met her before they were already breaking up because she was cheating on him.

I didn't understand the "revenge" part either. If the kid had any sense, he'd be angry at Diana, not Turner. He frustrated me, but I guess that's what teenagers do.

The only redeeming character was Shunt. He was a misfit who wanted to bring down the entire burger conglomeration- that they were abusing the animals before they were cut up. Shunt's character was believable and almost entertaining- and even interesting. The rest of the people were flat and didn't have much of a story.

And Shunt only took up about 10 pages. He wasn't in the story much until near the end.

If you liked MT Anderson's style of writing in this book (repeatedly saying "like" and run-on sentences) then you will probably like "Feed". It was a much better book of his and had a great plot.

I didn't like Feed, so I approached this novel apprehensively. But I found it's simplicity refreshing and it's sarcasm entertaining. While it wouldn't be my pick for the deepest or most moving story, it's pretty good, and I think, worth reading.

Anthony, a typical self-conscious high school student, is miserable. He was dating Diana, the girl of his dreams, and everything was going well. She seemed to enjoy spending time with him and even appreciated his very odd, sarcastic sense of humor. Then one night Anthony and Diana went to a party. They lost track of each other, and later Anthony found Diana making out with Turner, an arrogant guy she worked with at O'Dermott's, a fast food restaurant. Anthony was furious at this scene and vowed to win Diana back and to get revenge on Turner.

The first step in Anthony's plan is to get a job at O'Dermott's, especially after Turner dumps Diana and Diana quits working there. Once there, Anthony befriends Shunt, the disgruntled anti-establishment cook who wants to start a resistance movement to undermine the company. Together, Anthony and Shunt form a plot to capitalize on the rivalry between O'Dermott's and Burger Queen. Shunt hopes to disrupt the shooting of an O'Dermott's commercial in their town, and Anthony just wants his girlfriend back. But can they pull off their plan without getting caught?

Most of the characters in this story were great--they each had distinct personalities and problems that came through and made the plot more interesting. I liked the insight into fast-food places and the rivalry this book showed between the employees of these restaurants. I thought the idea of the grammar patrol, roaming around and fixing graffiti, was hysterical.

However, some of the characters, including Anthony, were annoying. He was so obsessed with Diana and so clingy, I don't understand how anyone would want to date him. His parents, with their habit of listening in on his phone calls, were also annoying.

Although teen romance is not something I go for often, I liked this book. I guess one really couldn't term it as romance per se though. Anthony is trying to revenge himself on Turner, who stole his girlfriend at a party one night. In order to do this, he joins O'Dermotts (where Turner worked), and even enlists fellow employee Shunt while pretending to be interested in Shunt's crusade against the fast food corporations. Shunt is the epitome of PETA-ness, if there is such a quality, and he tries to exacerbate the war between O'Dermotts and rival fast food joint, Burger Queen.

This book is wacky and realistic--for, even though the characters themselves often come across as exaggerations (like Turner, Shunt, etc), the truths Anderson portrays about teenage life and love are true. A hillarious novel, with all the interesting background touches that make Anderson stand out as a great novelist--such as the gang of teens that go around correcting grammar on signs and graffiti.

I had high expectations for this book. It had an unique title, an interesting cover and the back cover made it seem like it would be outstanding. Anderson has a talent for capturing the genuine essence of teenage love, and he also has a talent for making his characters seem like real people, (especially the parents in the story... their dialogue resonates with authenticity.) However, this book wasn't as hilarious as I thought it would be. It was definitely humorous and original, but not hilarious. My biggest gripe about this book was that Anderson made it so that practically every teenage character said "like" after and before every word. If he wanted to establish characters with more realistic individuality he should not have done this, because while it is true that many teenagers say like quite often, not every teenager says it... instead of making seperate characters with seperate unique personalities, he seems to have created all the teenage characters to fit within an adults stereotype of teenagers.. and I think in that respect any discriminating reader or teenager can notice this as a flaw. Also, some of the conversation between a love struck teenage couple seemed far fetched. They talked to eachother in their own secret language, and while I've known teenage couples to be like that, I couldn't picture any teenagers speaking the way they were speaking. My last gripe is that throughout the book the main character is sometimes referred to as a freaky kid or a wild and crazy kid, but to me he basically seemed like a normal teenage guy. At time Anderson did have a way with words and descriptions which is worthy of praise. I like the authenticity of the emotions in this book, and I thought the ending was a great ending because it was realistic and it pulls on one's heartstrings.