7 Kinds of Ordinary Catastrophes by Amber Kizer

7 Kinds of Ordinary Catastrophes by Amber Kizer

Random House Children's Books, April 5, 2011

Summary from Goodreads:

Okay, so here's the deal: there are books about volcanoes erupting and meteorites hitting Earth and plane crashes where the survivors have to eat people—those are extraordinary crises.
That's not what this book is about. I'm more the ordinary catastrophe type. This second semester of my sophomore year, there are basically 7 KINDS OF ORDINARY CATASTROPHES: high school, boys, heartbreak, family, job, friends, and the future.
Well, I guess everyone's life is full of ordinary catastrophes. These are mine. Hi, I'm Gert Garibaldi. Welcome to my crazy life.

Here's another of my "I must've been living under a rock" moments: I did not even realize that this book was a sequel (One Butt Cheek at a Time came out in 2007) until I started pulling together the information for this review. However, I think that says a lot about this book--I was able to follow along without feeling like I was missing out on something, and 7 Kinds...works very well as a standalone novel.

The characters in this story are incredible, and I so wanted to be a part of their group. Gert is smart, sassy, and totally likable. She's doing what she thinks she should be doing as a high school sophomore--she's got a job, she's got a boyfriend, she's thinking about college. But her job leaves a lot to be desired, as does her boyfriend, and she's just not sure what she wants her future to hold. Stephen was hysterical as the obnoxious boyfriend, while Clarice, Maggie and Adam are awesome best friends. They're not perfect, mind you, but the group as a whole is amazing.

I think my favorite part of this book was when the girls decide to go out for the soccer team. It was absolutely hysterical to see how delusional they were about going out for a team sport.

I felt this was a very realistic portrayal of high school life. It was a little on the graphic side in terms of sex and language, but these are high school students, after all. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that the seven kinds of catastrophes weren't that clearly laid out for me. It wasn't like the chapters were titled "High School," "Boys," etc. Gert had no shortage of catastrophes throughout the story! And while it's true that most of what happens to Gert throughout the book can hardly be called a catastrophe in the grand scheme of things, in the world of a high school sophomore, yeah, these are pretty catastrophic events. I did like the ending, which was open enough that another book could be possible.

Amber Kizer will be stopping by for an interview and giveaway tomorrow!

eGalley provided by the author. I received no compensation for this review.
Enjoy your reading!
Christi