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33 Snowfish
On the run in a stolen car with a kidnapped baby in tow, Custis, Curl, and Boobie are three young people with deeply troubled pasts and bleak futures. As they struggle to find a new life for themselves, it becomes painfully clear that none of them will ever be able to leave the past behind. Yet for one, redemption is waiting in the unlikeliest of places.
With the raw language of the street and lyrical, stream-of-consciousness prose, Adam Rapp hurtles the reader into a world of lost children, a world that is not for the faint of heart. Gripping, disturbing, and starkly illuminating, his hypnotic narration captures the voices of two damaged souls — a third speaks only through drawings — to tell a story of alienation, deprivation, and ultimately, the saving power of compassion.
With the raw language of the street and lyrical, stream-of-consciousness prose, Adam Rapp hurtles the reader into a world of lost children, a world that is not for the faint of heart. Gripping, disturbing, and starkly illuminating, his hypnotic narration captures the voices of two damaged souls — a third speaks only through drawings — to tell a story of alienation, deprivation, and ultimately, the saving power of compassion.
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2003
About the author
Adam Rapp
51 books264 followersAdam Rapp says that when he was working on his chilling, compulsively readable young adult novel 33 SNOWFISH, he was haunted by several questions. Among them: "When we have nowhere to go, who do we turn to? Why are we sometimes drawn to those who are deeply troubled? How far do we have to run before we find new possibilities?"
At once harrowing and hypnotic, 33 SNOWFISH--which was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association--follows three troubled young people on the run in a stolen car with a kidnapped baby in tow. With the language of the street and lyrical prose, Adam Rapp hurtles the reader into the world of lost children, a world that is not for the faint of heart. His narration captures the voices of two damaged souls (a third speaks only through drawings) to tell a story of alienation, deprivation, and ultimately, the saving power of compassion. "For those readers who are ready to be challenged by a serious work of shockingly realistic fiction," notes SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, "it invites both an emotional and intellectual response, and begs to be discussed."
Adam Rapp’s first novel, MISSING THE PIANO, was named a Best Book for Young Adults as well as a Best Book for Reluctant Readers by the American Library Association. His subsequent titles include THE BUFFALO TREE, THE COPPER ELEPHANT, and LITTLE CHICAGO, which was chosen as a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. The author’s raw, stream-of-consciousness writing style has earned him critical acclaim. "Rapp’s prose is powerful, graphic and haunting," says SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL. [He] writes in an earthy but adept language," says KIRKUS REVIEWS. "Takes a mesmerizing hold on the reader," adds HORN BOOK MAGAZINE.
In addition to being a novelist, Adam Rapp is also an accomplished and award-winning playwright. His plays--including NOCTURNE, ANIMALS AND PLANTS, BLACKBIRD, and STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS--have been produced by the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the New York Theatre Workshop, and the Bush Theatre in London, among other venues.
Born and raised in Chicago, the novelist and playwright now lives in New York City.
At once harrowing and hypnotic, 33 SNOWFISH--which was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association--follows three troubled young people on the run in a stolen car with a kidnapped baby in tow. With the language of the street and lyrical prose, Adam Rapp hurtles the reader into the world of lost children, a world that is not for the faint of heart. His narration captures the voices of two damaged souls (a third speaks only through drawings) to tell a story of alienation, deprivation, and ultimately, the saving power of compassion. "For those readers who are ready to be challenged by a serious work of shockingly realistic fiction," notes SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, "it invites both an emotional and intellectual response, and begs to be discussed."
Adam Rapp’s first novel, MISSING THE PIANO, was named a Best Book for Young Adults as well as a Best Book for Reluctant Readers by the American Library Association. His subsequent titles include THE BUFFALO TREE, THE COPPER ELEPHANT, and LITTLE CHICAGO, which was chosen as a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. The author’s raw, stream-of-consciousness writing style has earned him critical acclaim. "Rapp’s prose is powerful, graphic and haunting," says SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL. [He] writes in an earthy but adept language," says KIRKUS REVIEWS. "Takes a mesmerizing hold on the reader," adds HORN BOOK MAGAZINE.
In addition to being a novelist, Adam Rapp is also an accomplished and award-winning playwright. His plays--including NOCTURNE, ANIMALS AND PLANTS, BLACKBIRD, and STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS--have been produced by the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the New York Theatre Workshop, and the Bush Theatre in London, among other venues.
Born and raised in Chicago, the novelist and playwright now lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews
November 12, 2021
I picked this book up since my local school board wants to burn it since it is "evil" and is "child pornography." I'm not sure if we read the same book or not because I didn't see any explicit scenes in this book.
Is it as pure as the Boxcar Children? No. But it's also not 50 Shades of Preteen Grey like it was made out to be. It's more like a teenage, PG-13 version of Requiem for a Dream (without the gratuitous sex and drugs scenes). The three leads come from hard lives and all they know is abuse. Sadly, this is the reality for far too many kids in the world.
The best word for this book is sad. However, it does end with a message of hope and change for one of them.
Read the book before you decide to burn it. And even then, don't burn books. That never leads to good things.
Is it as pure as the Boxcar Children? No. But it's also not 50 Shades of Preteen Grey like it was made out to be. It's more like a teenage, PG-13 version of Requiem for a Dream (without the gratuitous sex and drugs scenes). The three leads come from hard lives and all they know is abuse. Sadly, this is the reality for far too many kids in the world.
The best word for this book is sad. However, it does end with a message of hope and change for one of them.
Read the book before you decide to burn it. And even then, don't burn books. That never leads to good things.
June 22, 2007
What the fuck. No, I mean, seriously. What the fuck.
May 22, 2014
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
3.5 Stars
I read 33 Snowfish MONTHS ago and haven’t been able to figure out what to say about it. I still can’t quite figure it out, but the number of books read to books reviewed ratio on my home page is becoming a bit overwhelming so this is what you’re going to get. Sooooooooo . . . how did 33 Snowfish make me feel? Kinda a little something like this:
I read this back in my “it’s cold and winter is never going to end so recommend real bummers for me to read and justify my self-diagnosed Seasonal Affective Disorder” period. Having previously read something by Adam Rapp (Punkzilla), I expected 33 Snowfish to meet my criteria. Rapp is an author who, rather than making adults defend their choice to read a Young Adult novel, instead makes one question if it’s okay for young adults to be reading a Young Adult novel.
The subject matter is bleak (this is the story of runaway children – a pyromaniac, a drug addicted prostitute, a severely abused former kidnap victim and a baby). The prose is gritty, raw, and well, basically makes you just want to throw in the towel on having any sort of faith in humanity until the very end.
Rapp takes the cake when it comes to writing YA that crosses all lines and not being afraid to get really dark to make his books as real as possible. Recommended for only the most mature of young adult readers. Be prepared to openly discuss matters such as drugs, prostitution and sexual abuse while they are reading. And don’t forget the cookies. Make sure you have some cookies to counteract the sad.
3.5 Stars
I read 33 Snowfish MONTHS ago and haven’t been able to figure out what to say about it. I still can’t quite figure it out, but the number of books read to books reviewed ratio on my home page is becoming a bit overwhelming so this is what you’re going to get. Sooooooooo . . . how did 33 Snowfish make me feel? Kinda a little something like this:
I read this back in my “it’s cold and winter is never going to end so recommend real bummers for me to read and justify my self-diagnosed Seasonal Affective Disorder” period. Having previously read something by Adam Rapp (Punkzilla), I expected 33 Snowfish to meet my criteria. Rapp is an author who, rather than making adults defend their choice to read a Young Adult novel, instead makes one question if it’s okay for young adults to be reading a Young Adult novel.
The subject matter is bleak (this is the story of runaway children – a pyromaniac, a drug addicted prostitute, a severely abused former kidnap victim and a baby). The prose is gritty, raw, and well, basically makes you just want to throw in the towel on having any sort of faith in humanity until the very end.
Rapp takes the cake when it comes to writing YA that crosses all lines and not being afraid to get really dark to make his books as real as possible. Recommended for only the most mature of young adult readers. Be prepared to openly discuss matters such as drugs, prostitution and sexual abuse while they are reading. And don’t forget the cookies. Make sure you have some cookies to counteract the sad.
August 9, 2020
Oh, so raw, sweet, and compassionate. 'Gritty innocence' seems to be Adam's forte, indeed.
"Once me and Boobie and Custis get settled, we’re all going to marry each other."
"Once me and Boobie and Custis get settled, we’re all going to marry each other."
April 29, 2008
Reviewed by Mark Frye, author and reviewer for TeensReadToo.com
Author and playwright Adam Rapp has created a masterful tale of woe in 33 SNOWFISH. With all of the trappings of "high literature" (there are stream-of-consciousness passages and multiple narrators), the author transcends the Problem Novel genre in this homage to Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING.
Like many of Faulkner's novels, 33 SNOWFISH depicts society's lowest, common denominator while somehow managing to make these characters three-dimensional and fairly sympathetic. They are at once repulsive and pitiful; the reader is drawn into their lives much like commuters passing by a car wreck. One cannot help but look or want to lend a hand.
This is the story of Custis, Curl, and Boobie, two teen runaways and one pre-teen. Each has a myriad of issues and a litany of anti-social behaviors that include pyromania, murder, prostitution, robbery, kidnapping, and weapons possession. We are dragged along on their ill-fated journey, where we learn about their past while watching them in the disastrous present. That the author finds a way to redeem one of the characters by the end of the story is a remarkable and credible feat.
Many reviewers issue a disclaimer about 33 SNOWFISH due to the lives of kids on the street being so graphically and dispassionately outlined. There are many adult themes and some profanity. This book is not for the squeamish. But neither is it a trite, formulaic, sensationalistic bombshell; every word, every paragraph, and every page is essential to the journey of these characters, even though only one meets an end that is appealing.
Rapp is to be commended for not "dumbing down" a story of the street for a wider readership. Many other young adult novels have a didactic message that is cumbersome and cliché, sounding a warning as loud as a tuba, leaving nothing for the reader to reflect upon. But 33 SNOWFISH is that rare book that is art for the sake of art, that makes the reader think for the message, that makes its audience reach for the gift of understanding, and the novel does it without wasting any words or pages.
Faulkner's fans and his detractors will appreciate this novel, as will young adult readers. Highly recommended.
Author and playwright Adam Rapp has created a masterful tale of woe in 33 SNOWFISH. With all of the trappings of "high literature" (there are stream-of-consciousness passages and multiple narrators), the author transcends the Problem Novel genre in this homage to Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING.
Like many of Faulkner's novels, 33 SNOWFISH depicts society's lowest, common denominator while somehow managing to make these characters three-dimensional and fairly sympathetic. They are at once repulsive and pitiful; the reader is drawn into their lives much like commuters passing by a car wreck. One cannot help but look or want to lend a hand.
This is the story of Custis, Curl, and Boobie, two teen runaways and one pre-teen. Each has a myriad of issues and a litany of anti-social behaviors that include pyromania, murder, prostitution, robbery, kidnapping, and weapons possession. We are dragged along on their ill-fated journey, where we learn about their past while watching them in the disastrous present. That the author finds a way to redeem one of the characters by the end of the story is a remarkable and credible feat.
Many reviewers issue a disclaimer about 33 SNOWFISH due to the lives of kids on the street being so graphically and dispassionately outlined. There are many adult themes and some profanity. This book is not for the squeamish. But neither is it a trite, formulaic, sensationalistic bombshell; every word, every paragraph, and every page is essential to the journey of these characters, even though only one meets an end that is appealing.
Rapp is to be commended for not "dumbing down" a story of the street for a wider readership. Many other young adult novels have a didactic message that is cumbersome and cliché, sounding a warning as loud as a tuba, leaving nothing for the reader to reflect upon. But 33 SNOWFISH is that rare book that is art for the sake of art, that makes the reader think for the message, that makes its audience reach for the gift of understanding, and the novel does it without wasting any words or pages.
Faulkner's fans and his detractors will appreciate this novel, as will young adult readers. Highly recommended.
December 13, 2012
33 snowfish is at the literary pinnacle of YA fiction. I stayed up until 2:17am to finish reading this novel, I just couldn’t put it down, I was in its thrall. It reminded me of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I read that novel with similar voraciousness.
Adam Rapp’s characters are about as unlikely as they come, three homeless kids struggling to survive while also having to deal with a baby and their own personal demons. This is a novel that really takes to task some of our expectations about humanity. Physical and sexual violence are part of the lives of these characters, and it is told with brutal honesty and without a hint of sentimentality. He just tells it like it is for the characters he has created: A patricidal arsonist (age 17), a drug addicted prostitute (age 14), and an emotionally damaged former kidnap victim (age 10).
Rapp’s poetic writing is peppered across every beautiful page and adds so much depth and lyricism to the text that one can get lost in a poetic turn of phrase and almost forget the horrible acts these characters are suffering from and participating in.
This is one of the best examples of what literary YA fiction CAN be.
Adam Rapp’s characters are about as unlikely as they come, three homeless kids struggling to survive while also having to deal with a baby and their own personal demons. This is a novel that really takes to task some of our expectations about humanity. Physical and sexual violence are part of the lives of these characters, and it is told with brutal honesty and without a hint of sentimentality. He just tells it like it is for the characters he has created: A patricidal arsonist (age 17), a drug addicted prostitute (age 14), and an emotionally damaged former kidnap victim (age 10).
Rapp’s poetic writing is peppered across every beautiful page and adds so much depth and lyricism to the text that one can get lost in a poetic turn of phrase and almost forget the horrible acts these characters are suffering from and participating in.
This is one of the best examples of what literary YA fiction CAN be.
November 12, 2021
When my county schoolboard decided to expurgate the high school library based on the description of this book, I bought a copy on Kindle. After all, I was angry with them for deciding to purge 'objectionable' books from my kids' school based on plot descriptions from wikipedia. And I realized that if my argument was that they should not decide to ban books based on an internet description, I should not argue for its inclusion based solely on an internet description. (Although it's worth noting that the book won several awards, which one would assume was at least some evidence of a book's literary merit. And it's worth noting that the burden of proof should always land on those who wish to exclude books rather than on those who would seek to save them. But alas, not everyone operates by these basic principles.)
Frankly, I didn't really want to read this book based on the description. I am a sensitive reader: the books I read often deeply affect my mood. I am deeply affected by depictions of violence and will often choose not to read certain books if I think the content will leave me depressed. The plot description of this book did not appeal to me. It is about three kids who are on the run after kidnapping a baby in order to sell it. The characters are Custis, a child who has recently escaped from being forced to appear in pornographic films; Curl, a teenage prostitute drug-addict; and Boobie, a teen arsonist and putative murderer who rarely speaks. I expected that I would read a well-written narrative about how terrible life can be for certain people and come out of the book feeling depressed.
I was wrong. So wrong. To say that this is a book about three troubled teens on the run is to describe Slaughterhouse 5 as a book about a veteran's life after WWII. I emerged from reading 33 Snowfish with a burning desire to dissect the story and discuss the literary mechanisms in the book. The story did not leave me depressed, but rather kindled a desire to think, analyze, and discuss.
Early in the book, you begin to suspect that perhaps the narrator is unreliable. By the middle of the story, you are certain of it. And at the end of the story, you seriously consider rereading the book to explore which parts of the book are true and which are fictional constructs of the narrator's troubled mind. Unlike 'Fight Club' or 'Psycho', there is no final reveal. Instead, the discovery that the narrator is unreliable is left entirely to the reader. There are just enough hints sprinkled around -- Custis's headaches and episodes of missing time, for example. Readers are left to discover the gaps in the story themselves, and consequently begin to ask questions such as "Wait, why is no one looking for this kidnapped baby?", which give rise to new questions: "Hold on: is there a baby? Is there actually a Boobie? What about Curl?"
And upon finishing our read of the book, we realize what the book truly is: an unvarnished glimpse into a deeply troubled mind of a person who has suffered intense childhood trauma. We watch the main character begin to struggle through his deeply antisocial behavior and grapple with the intense psychological difficulty of loving and connecting to others. We are offered the chance to connect with a truly mentally ill mind and emerge at the other end with an intense empathy and a sense of hope rather than despair.
This book is fantastic, but it is not for young readers (I would recommend it only for those over 15) and will not be to everyone's taste. Its first-person narrative follows the characters' thoughts, so it contains cursing, including the f-word, and the n-word, and the main character refers to some children in his past as 'retards'. None of this is portrayed as socially acceptable. In several instances the other characters reprimand him for using the n-word.
The book does not contain scenes in which sexual acts are specifically described. However, there are multiple references to sexual acts in the book, as well as references to drug addiction, suicide, murder, and arson. It is a book with intense and mature themes. But those who would ban it from library shelves based solely on this content need to understand that these themes are integral to the story, and not at all alien to high school students. There is no gratuitous sex or violence. There is no glorified drug use portrayed as fun or enjoyable. Instead, the book is full of scenes that are uncomfortable precisely because they are narrated in a candid and unvarnished way.
And the writing is superb. Written in a stream-of-consciousness manner full of disjointed, tangential glimpses into the past, the book pulls the reader into its narrative with its compelling writing. The book is full of symbolism begging to be analyzed. And like all truly great literature, it leaves the reader with numerous questions and very few answers: questions that you will be itching to discuss with anyone else who has read the book.
Frankly, I didn't really want to read this book based on the description. I am a sensitive reader: the books I read often deeply affect my mood. I am deeply affected by depictions of violence and will often choose not to read certain books if I think the content will leave me depressed. The plot description of this book did not appeal to me. It is about three kids who are on the run after kidnapping a baby in order to sell it. The characters are Custis, a child who has recently escaped from being forced to appear in pornographic films; Curl, a teenage prostitute drug-addict; and Boobie, a teen arsonist and putative murderer who rarely speaks. I expected that I would read a well-written narrative about how terrible life can be for certain people and come out of the book feeling depressed.
I was wrong. So wrong. To say that this is a book about three troubled teens on the run is to describe Slaughterhouse 5 as a book about a veteran's life after WWII. I emerged from reading 33 Snowfish with a burning desire to dissect the story and discuss the literary mechanisms in the book. The story did not leave me depressed, but rather kindled a desire to think, analyze, and discuss.
Early in the book, you begin to suspect that perhaps the narrator is unreliable. By the middle of the story, you are certain of it. And at the end of the story, you seriously consider rereading the book to explore which parts of the book are true and which are fictional constructs of the narrator's troubled mind. Unlike 'Fight Club' or 'Psycho', there is no final reveal. Instead, the discovery that the narrator is unreliable is left entirely to the reader. There are just enough hints sprinkled around -- Custis's headaches and episodes of missing time, for example. Readers are left to discover the gaps in the story themselves, and consequently begin to ask questions such as "Wait, why is no one looking for this kidnapped baby?", which give rise to new questions: "Hold on: is there a baby? Is there actually a Boobie? What about Curl?"
And upon finishing our read of the book, we realize what the book truly is: an unvarnished glimpse into a deeply troubled mind of a person who has suffered intense childhood trauma. We watch the main character begin to struggle through his deeply antisocial behavior and grapple with the intense psychological difficulty of loving and connecting to others. We are offered the chance to connect with a truly mentally ill mind and emerge at the other end with an intense empathy and a sense of hope rather than despair.
This book is fantastic, but it is not for young readers (I would recommend it only for those over 15) and will not be to everyone's taste. Its first-person narrative follows the characters' thoughts, so it contains cursing, including the f-word, and the n-word, and the main character refers to some children in his past as 'retards'. None of this is portrayed as socially acceptable. In several instances the other characters reprimand him for using the n-word.
The book does not contain scenes in which sexual acts are specifically described. However, there are multiple references to sexual acts in the book, as well as references to drug addiction, suicide, murder, and arson. It is a book with intense and mature themes. But those who would ban it from library shelves based solely on this content need to understand that these themes are integral to the story, and not at all alien to high school students. There is no gratuitous sex or violence. There is no glorified drug use portrayed as fun or enjoyable. Instead, the book is full of scenes that are uncomfortable precisely because they are narrated in a candid and unvarnished way.
And the writing is superb. Written in a stream-of-consciousness manner full of disjointed, tangential glimpses into the past, the book pulls the reader into its narrative with its compelling writing. The book is full of symbolism begging to be analyzed. And like all truly great literature, it leaves the reader with numerous questions and very few answers: questions that you will be itching to discuss with anyone else who has read the book.
July 28, 2017
For some reason I really loved this. Raw and sad, but hopeful. The ending almost made me cry.
September 14, 2009
That was one hard book to get through. Not because it's difficult reading, because the material is just so earth-shatteringly sad that you want to stop reading it, stop experiencing it, but you just can't. It's like being glued to watching a train wreck. Rapp does an amazing job making you hate characters that you also love at the same time, and also want to rescue from their life situation. If you can get past the emotional gut reaction toward the characters you will appreciate a truly staggering work of emotional capacity and depth.
August 13, 2007
This is a hauntingly dark novel that takes an unfiltered view at three children who have been forced to live lives they did not deserve. Rapp develops the characters as not just people to feel sympathy for but actual tenderness despite their seemingly unmoral actions. The redemption for Custis gives this book a gripping conclusion and hopeful side.
April 10, 2013
This review was difficult to write as it was difficult to read 33 Snowfish. I've debated on how to rate the book as the subject matter was disturbing and horrific. Even though this is not a story that I ever want to read again, it is also a story that will never leave me. It left an indelible impression upon me.
When I think of 33 Snowfish or any of the characters, tears come to my eyes. I hoped for the best for all the characters, but I just didn't know if or how that could be accomplished. It was an incredibly difficult, sad, and depressing story to read.
When I think of 33 Snowfish or any of the characters, tears come to my eyes. I hoped for the best for all the characters, but I just didn't know if or how that could be accomplished. It was an incredibly difficult, sad, and depressing story to read.
January 8, 2009
Weirdest book i've ever read. It was beautiful
February 19, 2011
this was a really tough book ~ because that's what it's about. It doesn't hold back any punches. The kids are abused, addicts and delinquents. They commit crime after crime and just try to get by.
I loved it for it's brutal honesty and it's painful reality.
I also love that it leaves you hanging. All the questions aren't answered and all the issues aren't resolved or even fully discovered ~ and you never get one kid's point of view. I tend to see this trend more with adult books than YA books, but I think that is also a harsh reality too ~ you don't always get to know how things turn out. You just get to glimpse a piece of someone's tale and then their story goes one way, and yours goes another.
I don't know if I would ever recommend it to my daughter (this is certainly NOT her type of book) but it does have some nice tough things to talk about together. But, not really topics we would HAVE to cover at any time because she has grown up so different than these kids did.
I loved it for it's brutal honesty and it's painful reality.
I also love that it leaves you hanging. All the questions aren't answered and all the issues aren't resolved or even fully discovered ~ and you never get one kid's point of view. I tend to see this trend more with adult books than YA books, but I think that is also a harsh reality too ~ you don't always get to know how things turn out. You just get to glimpse a piece of someone's tale and then their story goes one way, and yours goes another.
I don't know if I would ever recommend it to my daughter (this is certainly NOT her type of book) but it does have some nice tough things to talk about together. But, not really topics we would HAVE to cover at any time because she has grown up so different than these kids did.
January 28, 2012
I loved this book. The narrators took some getting used to. They used a lot of slang which you need to figure out the meanings but once you get into the novel, it goes fast. The story is beautifully written. Although the characters are going through extremely tough times the issues are addressed in a 'tactful' manner. (I hesitate to use tactful to describe the story but the issues talked about are not written in an extremely negative manner but something that can be used in high schools.) I loved the descriptions in this novel and found them beautiful. This is a must read.
August 12, 2007
More cut from the hellbent-on-bleak world of Adam Rapp. This one, however, has a somewhat hopeful ending, as Adam Rapp endings go. Like, there is a glimmer of Maybe-the-World,-while-sucking-mightily,-doesn't-suck-QUITE-as-much-as-it-at-first-glance-appears. As usual, his prose is spare and strange and beautiful, but that doesn't make up for how calculatedly grim his books. As someone else said in her review: What the fuck?
May 27, 2009
Boobie (a pyromaniac whose parents are dead), Curl (a drug-addicted young prostitute), and Custis (who is on the run from an abusive pedophile) are on the run in a stolen car with Boobie's baby brother in tow. They create a family of sorts and care for each other as they struggle to create a better life.
The story is brutal, sad, and difficult to read, but will stay with you long after the final page.
The story is brutal, sad, and difficult to read, but will stay with you long after the final page.
October 2, 2011
I always forget the name of this book.
It's one of the most depressing EVER.
It's so disturbing! You have 3 messed up characters and a baby. One of them is a foul mouth racist little boy. Also horrible things ensue.
It's one of the most depressing EVER.
It's so disturbing! You have 3 messed up characters and a baby. One of them is a foul mouth racist little boy. Also horrible things ensue.
March 13, 2013
fucking hell, this guy can write!
longer review to follow
longer review to follow
December 20, 2021
Frankly, I never would have known of this book without reading a news article reporting how certain school boards are petitioning to have this book burned. As a retired LA teacher, this was enough to warrant my investigation.
Although sometimes painful and frequently sad to read, this is an outstanding YA fiction about three emotionally and physically damaged youngsters who break loose in the hopes of finding a happier existence on their own. Adam Rapp pulls no punches in describing their past histories or in detailing how these contributed to their current distorted views of life. Ultimately, it also reveals how compassion can lead to redemption despite overwhelming odds.
Brutally realistic, this book will clearly not be for everyone, but it does send a powerfully inspiring message and merits the right to exist so readers can make their own decisions.
Although sometimes painful and frequently sad to read, this is an outstanding YA fiction about three emotionally and physically damaged youngsters who break loose in the hopes of finding a happier existence on their own. Adam Rapp pulls no punches in describing their past histories or in detailing how these contributed to their current distorted views of life. Ultimately, it also reveals how compassion can lead to redemption despite overwhelming odds.
Brutally realistic, this book will clearly not be for everyone, but it does send a powerfully inspiring message and merits the right to exist so readers can make their own decisions.
February 9, 2022
2.5 stars
"Shoo"
"Shoo"
January 14, 2018
I struggled to figure out how to rate this. Based on writing alone, it's definitely 4 or even 5 stars. Rapp has captured his characters in a lyrical and strangely beautiful way, and the horror-tinged narrative is completely gripping. I was left with a lot of questions regarding the plot however, not the least of which is For this reason, along with some of my criticisms of the portrayal of the character Seldom (see below), I ended up knocking a star off my initial four-star rating.
Notes on representation: The three main protagonists are white. One viewpoint character is ignorant and racist, and there is liberal use of the n-word. A black character is introduced who changes this characters' mind. In some ways, this character falls within the "Magical Negro" trope (for more information, see this Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical...).
Notes on representation: The three main protagonists are white. One viewpoint character is ignorant and racist, and there is liberal use of the n-word. A black character is introduced who changes this characters' mind. In some ways, this character falls within the "Magical Negro" trope (for more information, see this Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical...).
January 30, 2016
"I got that small feeling that gets inside you when some badness is about to happen.
Custis started shaking because he hadn't eaten anything all day except for this stick he kept dipping in some Hellmann's mustard. And I had to sit down on the ground because my arms were itching so bad it was like ants were running on them.
I couldn't tell you what Boobie did to his parents. All I know is that there was blood on his shirt that night and according to the North Caledonia Daily Register Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Flowers are dead."
:(
It is the three of them. Young Custis, the homeless boy who is stubborn, naughty, and misunderstood. Curl, the teenage prostitute, addicted to drugs, but with a kind heart. And Boobie, the young man who taking them all away, to run away from the police, because he killed his parents.
The three of them together. Custis. Curl. Boobie.
And the baby. The kidnapped baby.
They all are going away in hopes of finding a better life together. But things are changing. Everybody has got a horrid past. These children are all lost in one shape or another, and it is wicked clear that they are in need of something greater than they already have.
And things get ugly. It's just the bitter honest truth. And it hurts.
Because though you can run away from the police, you can't run away from your past.
"When Boobie came out of the bathroom that book of matches was burning right in his hand. He walked a few steps and then he dropped it in the middle of the bed and it caught fire and he just stood there and watched it for a minute. Curl kept watching the wallpaper fish and I was frozen with the baby. After a minute the feathers in the pillows was on fire, too, and they was flying all over the room like electric snow.
When the fire started crawling off the bed and onto the floor, the alarm went off. Boobie grabbed the baby's TV and pulled Curl towards the door."
I cannot put into words how much this book destroyed me.
It is so painfully real. The truth and the brutal honesty that this story practically sang, it tore at my insides and left me hollow. Reading this was like getting dissected and then crudely stitched back together with yarn. The ending was not sad. It was not happy. The whole story just had this haunting aura to it.
If anything, it's disturbing.
I loved the beautiful descriptions and figurative language, and just the fresh way of telling things in a new perspective. I really liked how it was up to you to infer what was happening to the characters, and what was really on their minds, and what they have done. It fit nicely with the eerie plot.
I cried. I cried because I fell in love with Custis and Curl and Boobie and the little baby, and I felt so sorry for them, and things are so unfair. It's just not fair, this world and what happens. Their story left me shaking.
Terrifying. Beautiful. Real.
"Boobie didn't look like he was doing too good, cuz his eyes was all big and scared and he kept staring at me. It was one of them stares that makes you feel like you got glass in your stomach."
Custis started shaking because he hadn't eaten anything all day except for this stick he kept dipping in some Hellmann's mustard. And I had to sit down on the ground because my arms were itching so bad it was like ants were running on them.
I couldn't tell you what Boobie did to his parents. All I know is that there was blood on his shirt that night and according to the North Caledonia Daily Register Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Flowers are dead."
:(
It is the three of them. Young Custis, the homeless boy who is stubborn, naughty, and misunderstood. Curl, the teenage prostitute, addicted to drugs, but with a kind heart. And Boobie, the young man who taking them all away, to run away from the police, because he killed his parents.
The three of them together. Custis. Curl. Boobie.
And the baby. The kidnapped baby.
They all are going away in hopes of finding a better life together. But things are changing. Everybody has got a horrid past. These children are all lost in one shape or another, and it is wicked clear that they are in need of something greater than they already have.
And things get ugly. It's just the bitter honest truth. And it hurts.
Because though you can run away from the police, you can't run away from your past.
"When Boobie came out of the bathroom that book of matches was burning right in his hand. He walked a few steps and then he dropped it in the middle of the bed and it caught fire and he just stood there and watched it for a minute. Curl kept watching the wallpaper fish and I was frozen with the baby. After a minute the feathers in the pillows was on fire, too, and they was flying all over the room like electric snow.
When the fire started crawling off the bed and onto the floor, the alarm went off. Boobie grabbed the baby's TV and pulled Curl towards the door."
I cannot put into words how much this book destroyed me.
It is so painfully real. The truth and the brutal honesty that this story practically sang, it tore at my insides and left me hollow. Reading this was like getting dissected and then crudely stitched back together with yarn. The ending was not sad. It was not happy. The whole story just had this haunting aura to it.
If anything, it's disturbing.
I loved the beautiful descriptions and figurative language, and just the fresh way of telling things in a new perspective. I really liked how it was up to you to infer what was happening to the characters, and what was really on their minds, and what they have done. It fit nicely with the eerie plot.
I cried. I cried because I fell in love with Custis and Curl and Boobie and the little baby, and I felt so sorry for them, and things are so unfair. It's just not fair, this world and what happens. Their story left me shaking.
Terrifying. Beautiful. Real.
"Boobie didn't look like he was doing too good, cuz his eyes was all big and scared and he kept staring at me. It was one of them stares that makes you feel like you got glass in your stomach."
August 21, 2010
33 Snowfish
by Adam Rapp
Candlewick Press, 192 pgs
ISBN: 0763629170
"That little fish was trapped in her cheek and one froggy eye was staring out at them squiggles she spray-painted on the wall." (Rapp 120). That's what Custis sees. That's what he thinks of when he thinks of Curly. Fish. Her favorite thing. Boobie loves to draw. He has a notebook that no one would dare touch though. And Custis? Well, he isn't the most educated person but then again he's trying to survive by himself when really he's like a small child. Most importantly, he isn't the most open person to people of different races.
Custis, Curly, Boobie and a baby are on the run. From what? Only Boobie knows, but he's a person of very few words. Told from the point of views of all three characters, this short book may seem like an easy read but much more lies beneath the surface. All three teenagers have their own problems and together they seem like a small family. Living together in a tent and then taking off in a van to get away from the cops, together they do what is necessary to survive. It used to be just Boobie and Custis. And then it was Boobie, Custis and Curly. Suddenly Boobie returned with a baby and they all had to skip town. The story continues their travels and exemplifies what these youngsters have to do to survive. Stealing, "tricking", and other things aren't things society commends but these are the ways that allow them to stay together, to eat something once in a while and to be able to live some kind of life that they're missing.
Although this is a really short novel, I was surprised by how much substance it actually had. Each character was so complex and different and putting them together was like a big mess. The ending is really surprising and I have to admit that I liked it. Custis in the end learns so much about life that he's never had to opportunity to see and in the end, he realizes that there's so much more than he had thought. So much more than one or two people with a tent who seemed to care about him.
by Adam Rapp
Candlewick Press, 192 pgs
ISBN: 0763629170
"That little fish was trapped in her cheek and one froggy eye was staring out at them squiggles she spray-painted on the wall." (Rapp 120). That's what Custis sees. That's what he thinks of when he thinks of Curly. Fish. Her favorite thing. Boobie loves to draw. He has a notebook that no one would dare touch though. And Custis? Well, he isn't the most educated person but then again he's trying to survive by himself when really he's like a small child. Most importantly, he isn't the most open person to people of different races.
Custis, Curly, Boobie and a baby are on the run. From what? Only Boobie knows, but he's a person of very few words. Told from the point of views of all three characters, this short book may seem like an easy read but much more lies beneath the surface. All three teenagers have their own problems and together they seem like a small family. Living together in a tent and then taking off in a van to get away from the cops, together they do what is necessary to survive. It used to be just Boobie and Custis. And then it was Boobie, Custis and Curly. Suddenly Boobie returned with a baby and they all had to skip town. The story continues their travels and exemplifies what these youngsters have to do to survive. Stealing, "tricking", and other things aren't things society commends but these are the ways that allow them to stay together, to eat something once in a while and to be able to live some kind of life that they're missing.
Although this is a really short novel, I was surprised by how much substance it actually had. Each character was so complex and different and putting them together was like a big mess. The ending is really surprising and I have to admit that I liked it. Custis in the end learns so much about life that he's never had to opportunity to see and in the end, he realizes that there's so much more than he had thought. So much more than one or two people with a tent who seemed to care about him.
March 5, 2015
This book draws you in. Not necessarily because you want to read it but because the writing suck you in so hard that you can't escape the grasps of this book. The writing of this book is phenomenal. It's the type of writing that takes control of you from start to finish.
This book is about a young boy who is running away with a prostitute and a boy who has just killed his parents- and of course a baby. I think you can see why I didn't mean to get sucked into the premise of the story.
This book is short, and moves quickly, yet there is a lot of mystery and suspense scattered throughout the book.
I enjoyed reading through the eyes of Custis, the main character. He is young and lost and I found myself curious about where he would end up by the end of the book. There is a lot of slang in the way he speaks, and decoding the it was part of the fun of this book. The other two characters in the book Boobie and Curl were an important part of the story, but I found it hard to attach myself to them. Overall, I found it hard to become attached to the story because I couldn't draw any parallels between my life and theirs'. The unnamed baby in this book was just another example of how the author made the book interesting in a book that was hard to relate to. I think it might be hard for a lot of reader to attach themselves to the story, but the strong writing compensates for that and makes it worth the read.
As you can probably imagine, this book contains a lot of adult content. I deatls with murder, prostitution, rape, and theft, just to name a few. The first sentence of this book reveals that one of the characters has an STD. I definitely wouldn't recommend this book to younger readers.
The ending of this book was satisfying and I loved how Custis makes a decision that is best for him, instead of running. I like seeing Custis in a more vulnerable stage it really brought a realness element from the story. The ending of this book is a good example of strong character development.
This book is about a young boy who is running away with a prostitute and a boy who has just killed his parents- and of course a baby. I think you can see why I didn't mean to get sucked into the premise of the story.
This book is short, and moves quickly, yet there is a lot of mystery and suspense scattered throughout the book.
I enjoyed reading through the eyes of Custis, the main character. He is young and lost and I found myself curious about where he would end up by the end of the book. There is a lot of slang in the way he speaks, and decoding the it was part of the fun of this book. The other two characters in the book Boobie and Curl were an important part of the story, but I found it hard to attach myself to them. Overall, I found it hard to become attached to the story because I couldn't draw any parallels between my life and theirs'. The unnamed baby in this book was just another example of how the author made the book interesting in a book that was hard to relate to. I think it might be hard for a lot of reader to attach themselves to the story, but the strong writing compensates for that and makes it worth the read.
As you can probably imagine, this book contains a lot of adult content. I deatls with murder, prostitution, rape, and theft, just to name a few. The first sentence of this book reveals that one of the characters has an STD. I definitely wouldn't recommend this book to younger readers.
The ending of this book was satisfying and I loved how Custis makes a decision that is best for him, instead of running. I like seeing Custis in a more vulnerable stage it really brought a realness element from the story. The ending of this book is a good example of strong character development.
June 19, 2009
After finishing it you can look back & say, "okay, umm wow." THis book made me look at what is to be said about children who come from rough beginnings. Everyone has the desire to be loved and cared for but not everyone is open to allowing it in. Sometimes adults cannot fill a void that another peer could we just have to remember that. Some people are destined to a life of mediocrity or even worse; it's what they do with their destiny that determines it all. Life is full of choices: some are made for you, some you actively choose, some you choose by being passive.
adam rapp made this a hard pill to swallow. but once you get it down it's oh so good
adam rapp made this a hard pill to swallow. but once you get it down it's oh so good
February 27, 2015
33 Snowfish by Adam Rapp is a heartfelt novel about three homeless children and their will to survive. Rapp does an amazing job exploring the emotions of his characters. This was an extremely sad novel, but well worth the read!
January 8, 2022
"'You a evil boy, Custis,' she'll say. 'You evil like a priest on Monday.'" (location 58)
"I had no idea where he came from. It was like the dark of the night had imagined him there." (location 349)
"Most of the time eyes can say more than words, anyway. Eyes can tell you more about an itch, that's for sure -- how it grows and how it knows. Nasty little itch. Eyes will tell you." (location 408)
"A gentle breeze from Hushabye Mountain
Softly blows o'er Lullaby Bay
It fills the sails of boats that are waiting
Waiting to sail your worries away
It isn't far to Hushabye Mountain
And your boat waits down by the key
The winds of night so softly are sighing
Soon they will fly your troubles to sea
So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain
Wave goodbye to cares of the day
Watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain
Sail far away from Lullaby Bay..." (location 432-33)
"There's only so much pavement that the road makers lay down. After a while, the highway quits going north and it just turns into the sky." (location 505)
"And then once we got past Cedarwood Apartments I went quiet and Boobie just stopped and stood there for a minute and looked up at the sky, which was so black it was like God burnt it and shit, like the whole west side of Joliet was missing in that burn, like everything disappeared but the two of us." (location 567)
"The bathroom's the only place you can go if you ever want to feel okay, cuz toilets make you feel safe cuz of how cool the water feels when you float your hand in them." (location 835)
"After the first sideways snow all the birds that ain't tough flew away in big boomerangs. Then the trees died. Curl says the trees died cuz birds got medicine in their wings that keeps the trees alive. Sometimes at night you can hear them dead trees breathing." (location 950-60)
"At night the sky glows purple like the light from a TV when a VCR movie is done playing. And the stars get so big they look like knives coming at you. Some of them stars look like spaceships, too. Especially them blue ones.
It would be cool if one of them blue stars came and a spaceman lit up his insides and showed us his moon bones. We'd let him stay with us for a few days. We'd give him some of Boobie's Basics and let him mess with the baby so he could study him and learn about Earth...
Them spacemen probably got some pretty cool stuff on their spaceship, too -- like them video games you play with helmets and rocks that tell the future and computers and robots that can sing Pepsi-Cola commercials and shit.
And if things go pretty smooth that spaceman might even invite us to go back with him, and he'd give us astronaut suits and put the baby in a little gravity crib with galaxy blankets and we'd leave the TV behind and skate with the aliens and the fire from the launch pad would make a big launch burn on the van and then -- blow! -- our spaceship would blast off and like four seconds later the pigs would pull up in their Impalas and their Caprice Classics, like skeighty-eight of them suckers, and they'd jump out and slam the doors and watch our spaceship disappear through the sky like a little golden chicken egg.
That would be pretty crisp.
All Earth's got is a bunch of Joliet suckers and Rockdale suckers and pit bulls and shit, anyways. And the Joliet suckers poison the Rockdale suckers cuz they don't want them stealing their money, and when the Rockdale suckers die the pit bulls eat their bones, and then the Joliet suckers catch the pit bulls and turn them into hamburgers and French fries and eat them and they get so fat their money suits don't fit them no more, and then they gotta buy some new ones, and that's what it's all about down here on Earth -- some rich Joliet suckers getting richer so they can buy cell phones and emails and fatter money suits.
Them spacemen probably got stronger hearts than humans, too, cuz they don't got no pit bull worries or no money suit worries or no Bob Motley worries. All them worries make your heart small, and the smaller your heart, the less it glows." (location 981-1002)
"When everything's all skanked and the trees is dead and you got a lung frost and the snow keeps falling sideways and you don't got nothing but a sheepskin and a couple of curtains to keep you warm, you can always french your hand." (location 1023)
"After a while you could tell that being warm wasn't going to change nothing. It was like there was a new kind of coldness inside you. It wasn't no coldness that had to do with the weather. It was the kind of coldness that lives under the world, in a big black cave, with a bunch of bats and lost bones and shit." (location 1218)
"I had no idea where he came from. It was like the dark of the night had imagined him there." (location 349)
"Most of the time eyes can say more than words, anyway. Eyes can tell you more about an itch, that's for sure -- how it grows and how it knows. Nasty little itch. Eyes will tell you." (location 408)
"A gentle breeze from Hushabye Mountain
Softly blows o'er Lullaby Bay
It fills the sails of boats that are waiting
Waiting to sail your worries away
It isn't far to Hushabye Mountain
And your boat waits down by the key
The winds of night so softly are sighing
Soon they will fly your troubles to sea
So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain
Wave goodbye to cares of the day
Watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain
Sail far away from Lullaby Bay..." (location 432-33)
"There's only so much pavement that the road makers lay down. After a while, the highway quits going north and it just turns into the sky." (location 505)
"And then once we got past Cedarwood Apartments I went quiet and Boobie just stopped and stood there for a minute and looked up at the sky, which was so black it was like God burnt it and shit, like the whole west side of Joliet was missing in that burn, like everything disappeared but the two of us." (location 567)
"The bathroom's the only place you can go if you ever want to feel okay, cuz toilets make you feel safe cuz of how cool the water feels when you float your hand in them." (location 835)
"After the first sideways snow all the birds that ain't tough flew away in big boomerangs. Then the trees died. Curl says the trees died cuz birds got medicine in their wings that keeps the trees alive. Sometimes at night you can hear them dead trees breathing." (location 950-60)
"At night the sky glows purple like the light from a TV when a VCR movie is done playing. And the stars get so big they look like knives coming at you. Some of them stars look like spaceships, too. Especially them blue ones.
It would be cool if one of them blue stars came and a spaceman lit up his insides and showed us his moon bones. We'd let him stay with us for a few days. We'd give him some of Boobie's Basics and let him mess with the baby so he could study him and learn about Earth...
Them spacemen probably got some pretty cool stuff on their spaceship, too -- like them video games you play with helmets and rocks that tell the future and computers and robots that can sing Pepsi-Cola commercials and shit.
And if things go pretty smooth that spaceman might even invite us to go back with him, and he'd give us astronaut suits and put the baby in a little gravity crib with galaxy blankets and we'd leave the TV behind and skate with the aliens and the fire from the launch pad would make a big launch burn on the van and then -- blow! -- our spaceship would blast off and like four seconds later the pigs would pull up in their Impalas and their Caprice Classics, like skeighty-eight of them suckers, and they'd jump out and slam the doors and watch our spaceship disappear through the sky like a little golden chicken egg.
That would be pretty crisp.
All Earth's got is a bunch of Joliet suckers and Rockdale suckers and pit bulls and shit, anyways. And the Joliet suckers poison the Rockdale suckers cuz they don't want them stealing their money, and when the Rockdale suckers die the pit bulls eat their bones, and then the Joliet suckers catch the pit bulls and turn them into hamburgers and French fries and eat them and they get so fat their money suits don't fit them no more, and then they gotta buy some new ones, and that's what it's all about down here on Earth -- some rich Joliet suckers getting richer so they can buy cell phones and emails and fatter money suits.
Them spacemen probably got stronger hearts than humans, too, cuz they don't got no pit bull worries or no money suit worries or no Bob Motley worries. All them worries make your heart small, and the smaller your heart, the less it glows." (location 981-1002)
"When everything's all skanked and the trees is dead and you got a lung frost and the snow keeps falling sideways and you don't got nothing but a sheepskin and a couple of curtains to keep you warm, you can always french your hand." (location 1023)
"After a while you could tell that being warm wasn't going to change nothing. It was like there was a new kind of coldness inside you. It wasn't no coldness that had to do with the weather. It was the kind of coldness that lives under the world, in a big black cave, with a bunch of bats and lost bones and shit." (location 1218)
June 22, 2007
I don't know, this book was painful, but it also felt gimmicky, like it was trying too hard to be surreal and awful.
April 6, 2013
What the shit...?
August 25, 2015
Well for sure this book was raw and hard and very sensible subjects and I am glad it did not end as bad as I thought it would.
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