Tuesday, October 12, 2010

My Take On: Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

There are six things very wrong with my life:
1. I have one of those under-the-skin spots that will never come to a head but lurk in a red way for the next two years.
2. It is on my nose
3. I have a three-year-old sister who may have peed somewhere in my room.
4. In fourteen days the summer hols will be over and then it will be back to Stalag 14 and Oberfuhrer Frau Simpson and her bunch of sadistic teachers.
5. I am very ugly and need to go into an ugly home.
6. I went to a party dressed as a stuffed olive.

In this wildly funny journal of a year in the life of Georgia Nicolson, British author Louise Rennison has perfectly captured the soaring joys and bottomless angst of being a teenager. In the spirit of Bridget Jones's Diary, this fresh, irreverent, and simply hilarious book will leave you laughing out loud. As Georgia would say, it's "Fabbity fab fab!"
This book was seriously the funniest thing I've read all year. Maybe the funniest thing this decade! And that  means it was the funniest thing this millennium, which is truly something to write home about.
Georgia Nicholson, age fourteen, is an entirely self-centered individual. So much so that she literally can't see beyond her own nose. Usually this would be a mark against a character, but the narration was so much fun to read because of it. Another thing that made this such a joy to read was the Britishisms. I didn't know that colloquial British and American differed on so many points! I mean, sure, everybody knows about the whole loo vs bathroom thing, and knickers vs underwear/panties, but seriously? Curb spelled with a K? Cat suit? Pips? Sellotape? Bangers? Say whaaaa??? Thankfully, there was an indepth glossary at the back which Georgia herself refers you to in the beginning of the book in a very funny introduction.
My fave Georgia-ism was "nuddy-pants" which she eloquently explained thusly:
"Nuddy-pants: Quite literally nude-colored pants, and you what nude-colored pants are? They are no pants. So if you are in your nuddy-pants you are in your no pants, i.e., you are naked."
My only objection to this book is the maturity with which this fourteen-year-old girl was portrayed. Georgia lived her life something like an out of control nineteen year old; attending co-ed sleepover parties, chasing after legal-aged sex gods, and generally behaving in a way that a parent should have found objectionable but for some unknown reason didn't. It may be cultural differences, I don't know, but I had to mentally age-up George just so I didn't get tummy wubbles from all her misguided shenanigans.
Aside from that, though, I absolutely loved this book! The characters were great, the format was perfect (some journal-style books have a hard time getting across the character as well as the scene, but this one had the perfect balance of both with the bonus of witty dialogue!), and the story had me laughing out loud.
I give Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging...
Five zombies!
Giving this book a five out of five was a no brainer. I read it in one day, practically one sitting, and went on to devour the second in a similar fashion. I highly recommend this book, though I not to readers of the same age as the protagonist. Young girls can learn a lot about what not to do, partcularly in the field of eyebrow maintenance, but the best part was reading between the lines and shaking your head at Georgia's hilarious misadventures. But that's just my take.


Happy reading!!!

7 comments:

Sandy said...

YAY! I'm glad that Georgia has one more fan! Those books always make me laugh :) I can't wait for you to meet Dave the Laugh-he is AWESOME.

Zombie Girrrl said...

Oh, me and Dave the Laugh go way back. Like a couple weeks back, anyway. I've already read OTBSINTGFOASG, it was just as good as the first. I can't wait to read Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas!

titania86 said...

I've seen this book a lot in stores and just was never interested in it, but your review makes it sound hilarious! Maybe I should give it a try. :) BOO!

vvb32 reads said...

you know, i liked this first book of the series. but that's it. so boo.

M.A.D. said...

ZG - I've not heard of this book before but it sounds hysterical. Trust you to have awesomely warped taste in books ;D

5 ZOMBIES!!! Dang, my book-want-list is now long enough to reach around the equator :O

*mental note to self* win lottery asap.

Brandy B aka Brandlwyne said...

Boo

This sounds hilarious. I need a good funny read!!!

-Brandy
brandyzbooks@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

I've not heard of this book or author but it Sounds really funny. I'm a Newbie-GFC follower here. One of these days I'll get my Boo log working :(
Happy Halloween, Stephmartin71(at)yahoo(dot)com

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