Review: My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters by Sydney Salter
Title: My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters
Paperback, 345 pages
Author: Sydney Salter
Publisher: Sandpiper
Publication Date: April 6, 2009
Source: Library
Book Summary:
It’s the end of junior year, and summer is about to begin. The Summer of Passion, to be exact, when Jory Michaels plans to explore all the possibilities of the future – and, with any luck, score a boyfriend in the process. But Jory has a problem. A big problem. A curvy, honking, bumpy, problem in the form of her Super Schnozz, the one thing standing between Jory and happiness. And now, with the Summer of Passion stretched before her like an open road, she’s determined for Super Schnozz to disappear.
Jory takes a job delivering wedding cakes to save up for a nose job at the end of the summer; she even keeps a book filled with magazine cutouts of perfect noses to show the doctor. But nothing is ever easy for accident-prone Jory – and before she knows it, her Summer of Passion falls apart faster than the delivery van she crashes.
Review:
I have read a Sydney Salter book before (Swoon At Your Own Risk), and I will admit that I didn’t like it much. I DID finish it, though, which basically means I just thought it was ok. When I posted my review of that book, several people suggested that I try My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters, as it was a lot more funny than Swoon.
I did enjoy some of the humor here and there. I wasn’t laughing out loud but some of the quips and puns were funny. Sadly, that’s about where the majority of my enjoyment lies.
Jory, our main character, has two friends that I thought treated her like dirt the entire time. They would ditch her for other people, tell her the boys that she liked were stupid/nerdy/etc, and overall be really bad friends. Jory would continue to accept their apologies and they would continue to treat her like that. This was the breaking factor for me – not only is Jory having problems with her self esteem and appearance (she thinks that she has a big nose, if you couldn’t tell from the title), but her friends are kind of crappy.
I did enjoy the last 1/4 of the book or so, because Jory starts to figure some things out and learn about herself – but liking only 1/4 of a book means I didn’t really like it much at all. But, as with Swoon, I did manage to finish it.
This book sends some good messages about self esteem, but also gives some bad examples of relationships and friendships that don’t ever totally get solved.
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i read this one too – and found it to be compelling in some parts and borng in others. i did like a few of the side plots but others seemed kind of random.
I like how concisely you’ve reviewed it and agree with your review. I probably would have liked it more if I was a bit younger and not so critical
Did you read the author’s other book? They both were kind of like that for me… but I can’t say I didn’t try!