Author: J.A. Buckle
Publisher: Curious Fox
Release Date: 30 Jan. 2014
ISBN-13: 978-1782020745
Synopsis
Fifteen-year-old Josh fantasises about becoming a death metal guitarist complete with tattoos, piercings and hoards of adoring fans. But it’s not easy when his super-strict mom won’t let him grow his hair! Luckily Josh has a way of coping with life’s setbacks; it’s only a diary, but it contains all Josh’s hopes, dreams and frustrations (not to mention some great ideas for band names and lyrics!). There’s a lot he wants to get done before his 16th birthday, but things never turn out quite like he plans… What Josh doesn’t know is that his mother also kept a diary, back about the time he was born, and a secret in there holds the key to Josh’s life becoming a whole lot more metal.
My Review
This was another book on our Book Day list at work that I had to read, but after seeing one of my colleagues reading it and giggling away to herself I was actually quite looking forward to it, and I must say that I wasn't disappointed.
The book follows Josh, a 15 year old boy who loves death metal and ferrets. He has so many things he wants to achieve before he is 16 and he recounts events in his diary. HIs mum is 'super-strict' and doesn't let him do anything he wants but always seems to manage to get him to go round and do chores for the neighbours. They are having money problems and his mum likes to remind him of this quite regularly, so the guitar he has been staring at in the music shop for months is more than a bit out of reach. How is a boy supposed to become a rock god without a guitar!?
This book had me laughing from the first page and I never really stopped. Josh has got a very dry yet at times sarcastic humour that just makes you burst out laughing, and the antics he gets up to with his friends and his pet ferret Ozzy are brilliant.
The book is pretty light hearted but does deal with some issues and I can see a lot of teenagers being able to relate to Josh.
The story line is at times predictable, but not to an annoying degree and most of the time I was laughing too much to really care.
This is a real gem of a book and I am glad that this was on the list as I never would have read it otherwise.
A must read for teens and adults alike. Word of warning though - not for younger readers, there are some rude parts and suggestions of explicit content.
My Rating
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