Life Is Funny

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Synopsis
From the outside, they're simply a group of urban teenagers. But from the inside, they're some of the most complex people you'll ever meet. There's Eric, fiercely protective of his brother Mickey-but he has a secret that holds together his past and future. Sonia, struggling to live the life of a good Muslim girl in a foreign America. Gingerbread and Keisha, who fall in love despite themselves. Life Is Funny strips away the defenses of one group of teenagers living today, right now-and shows their unbearably real lives. "First novelist Frank breaks new ground with a realistic, lyrical novel about eleven teens in Brooklyn now ... Their talk is painful, rough, sexy, funny, fearful, furious, gentle. Each chapter, each vignette within a chapter, builds to its own climax, and the stories weave together to surprise you." (Booklist, starred review) "An astounding first effort." (Kirkus Reviews, pointer review)
Copyright:
2000

Book Details

Book Quality:
Excellent
Book Size:
266 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780142300831
Publisher:
Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
E. R. Frank
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Children's Books, Literature and Fiction
Submitted By:
Liz Halperin
Proofread By:
Liz Halperin
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

4 out of 5

By on

Graphic street language with some graphic sex. The critical reviews on the first page are positive, yet this has become a banned book. "Life is Funny" follows an intertwined group of kids through adolescence, though we do watch some younger children come up. Their lives are not neat and clean: these are inner-city kids, all colors, with parents who are prostitutes, drug addicts, mentally ill, affected by domestic violence and so forth. The kids are trying their best to survive, others to get ahead. There is teen pregnancy, self-cutting, drugs, shoplifting, early sex, and more. Then the book just ends. The sudden stop stresses that theirs lives aren't over, there's no pretty happy endings, life just goes on. I find myself wondering what's happened to these fictional teens, knowing full well they are composites of real kids. Just about every reason a book could be banned is here. Not a "pretty" book but certainly a worthwhile read: for those who don't live in this world, it's an excellent education and reminder, and for everyone, it's a chance to see what gets banned.