Ben Philippe

What I most appreciate about this book is how it demonstrates there isn't a single Black experience for me or anyone else to understand. This author was born in Haiti, lived in Canada during his primary schooling, and then became a student and author in the US. His experiences, told through a mixed lens of philosophy, humor and cynicism, show how varied are the stereotyped views and expectations that make Black people have to constantly adapt and refine how they navigate common situations show more and key moments in life. show less

A cure to the genre's constant line-up of insufferable, self-involved, I'm-mean-but-it's-cute-when-I-do-it protagonists in contemporary YA. Norris is one of them - he thinks he's funnier than he is and is actually just...a bully. But everyone around him is infinitely more complex, charming, and interesting than he is and he's tasked with owning up to how he's just unable to take a long look in the mirror.

This was super satisfying to me...my main gripe with contemporary is that it hardly show more makes sense why people are always fawning over MC when they're usually really grim, judgy, and unkind, and that shit doesn't fly IRL. Norris gets in with the cool characters because he's funny, and is pretty quickly tasked with owning up to his bad attitude.

Only real disappointment was in the end...: Norris was seriously cruel to Madison. I appreciate the idea that life ain't over and there's always time for reparations, but it leaves off with this gross tone of "haha I'll just bother you, follow you at work, until you love me again lol" why we gotta do the thing show less

Norris has to do a lot of adjusting after his move from Canada to Texas. A Black French Canadian, he's a hockey player, a smart ass, and what he knows about Texas is limited to stereotypes and American high schools as portrayed in the media. He can't keep his mouth shut and his outsider stance is quickly flipped as he befriends a cheerleader and has her giving him advice to date the girl he sets his sights on, Aarty. It's funny, cringy, and an enjoyable read.

Well Norris Kaplan is no Simon Spier (instantly adorably likable), but I couldn’t help but get caught up in his sarcastic narration that chronicles his move from Montreal, Quebec (CANADA!!!) to Austin, Texas. Kaplan’s story is pretty predictable in that he is expectedly out of place in his new high school (especially being a black AND French kid), with the arrival of an unexpected cheerleader ally, a quirky loner best friend, and a totally not appropriate for him love interest, but his show more story was still a fun read. We see Norris slowly reign in his sarcasm (except when it accidentally makes him allies!) and grow up a bit as he encounters the expected social drama that accompanies any highschooler, much less one as sassy as Norris. What I liked most about the book (besides Norris’ attitude problem haha) was that there were little bits of Canada thrown in to distinguish Norris from all the other teenage protagonists. An occasionally placed Quebecois-ism, Spring Break at Whistler instead of Florida, and the creation of a hockey team in the deep south made Norris a character whose story I wanted to read, just to support a fellow Canadian. What would have made it a more unique read would have been the inclusion of pages of the notebook that Norris is handed on his first day at his new school, which he apparently starts jotting down his field guide observations in, and which isn’t really utilized as a plot device until the final conflict. Yes, this has been done before in many forms, but from the title I quite literally expected more “field guiding” than the title and intro paragraphs to each chapter. show less