| Title | : | Be More Chill |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0786809965 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780786809967 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 287 |
| Publication | : | First published April 19, 2004 |
Alternate cover:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Be More Chill Reviews
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This is the most vile and terrible book I have read in a long, long while. I finished this in one day, not because it was engrossing, but the material presented in here was so shocking I needed to read until the end to make sure it wasn't a satire.
The premise of this book is essentially that a high-school aged boy, Jeremy, who longs after a particular girl and has low self-esteem about his persona, comes across a small pill-sized supercomputer called a "squip" that can act as a instructional guide on how to behave and what to do to accomplish one's goals. Using this, he is able to be considered "cool" and be among other popular teenagers who he once admired.
What is just terrible about this book is that the author portrays and discusses girls and women as objects.
Jeremy intentionally engages in sexual and romantic relationships with girls that he is not interested in, in order to demonstrate his sexual activity and be praised and viewed highly for it among his peers. By doing this, he hopes to gain the favor of his crush who maintains a distance from him. The Squip instructs him in how to seduce these girls. He gives instructions such as "make traces along her back with your fingers" and other touching, which is generally okay, but becomes problematic when the author, Vizzini, writes every single girl to positively respond to these actions -- as if these are the "keys to success" with girls, and that every girl will accept this behavior towards them.
The Squip, after an interaction with one girl says to Jeremy, "GOOD JOB. THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT. NEVER EVER BE MEAN TO GIRLS, UNLESS THEY'RE UGLY. [...] SHE'LL TELL HER FRIENDS HOW GOOD YOU WERE AND WE CAN BUILD FROM THERE." (152)
*Forgive the capitalization; that is how the book is actually stylized.
There is also some lesson that the Squip gives him, instructing him that women and girls are attracted to pheromones. Once you get with a girl, other girls will come to you and want you. -- Again, this is terribly problematic, because it states that every girl will want to have sexual advances made towards her because of the boy's prolific history. Then the Squip gives this comment, "HOW DO YOU THINK GUYS WITH GIRLFRIENDS BECOME SO ATTRACTIVE TO OUTSIDE FEMALES THAT THEY'RE FORCED TO CHEAT WITH?" (155). Now, this is suggesting that there is justification in infidelity on the male's part because of females' "innate" attraction.
Jeremy himself makes a comment later in the book to his crush, who was heartbroken about being cheated on by her ex-boyfriend, "I reassure, 'We're all dicks, if you give us the chance. We're just guys. We react to threats and rewards.'" (219).
Another issue this book runs into is that though infidelity is dismissed when males commit it, girls are continuously and pervasively labeled "sluts" and "whores" and have every insult in the book thrown at them (by both girls and boys).
"Jenna went into her thing about, 'Elizabeth let four guys do her on the bus' and I had the balls to say to her what I've always wanted to say, deadpan: 'Shut up, Jenna. We know Elizabeth is like your Spider-Slut alterego or something.'" (171).
Every character in this book "slutshames" or shames girls for being sexually active or having multiple partners -- this is a serious matter.
Another thing to note is that Jeremy's love interest is not as sexually active as other girls, and is often described to be different than the other girls he meets whom he respects very little, once again, enforcing the hypocritical view of sexuality between the genders.
There are also other terrible things written:
(1) Some boys in the book capture pictures of girls in sexual acts and post them online without them knowing. Vizzini writes no voice of moral conscience explaining that this is wrong; instead, his characters revel at the "opportunity".
(2) A girl physically harms herself due to mental illness, but she is portrayed as a manic-pixie girl. The main character treats her with skepticism, and just says, "weird." (196)
(3) When the main character hesitates to be in a sexual situation or start a relationship, the character is continually accused of being homosexual by the Squip.
Also, the word "gay" is continually used as an insult, as a slur.
At the end of the novel, as you might expect, the boy sheds the chip/pill from his system and feels regretful of his actions. However, this isn't brought on by the realization of his terrible treatment of girls or his old friends, but by a freak accident that injures his new friends. And, he regrets the decision of taking the chip because his crush ultimately rejects him.
Thus, at the end of the novel, though the Squip is realized to be a bad and immoral influence on the main character, no comment is made whatsoever about his behavior with the female characters. Jeremy is just portrayed as a tragic hero.
Here is why all of this is very, very bad, and I seriously think this book should not be praised or even really published: Boys, aged 12 - 17, some of whom might be reclusive or have low self-esteem, and have some of the desires that the main character initially did, might pick up this book. As they read, they'll believe: "I have to dress this way. I have to talk this way. If I say this, girls will like me and smile at me. But I have to say just the right thing. And, I should only pay attention or be nice to girls who I'm interested in, forget the others. The way to ultimately get the girl I want is to touch them this way and manipulate them in this way. They'll totally fall for it. And I'll get what I want (sexual favors)." This perpetuates misogyny, and this way of thinking puts many girls in danger.
This is a very disgusting book.
Reconsidering another book by this author I once read,
It's Kind of a Funny Story, I realize that the two female characters that were love interests, were also portrayed with this misogynistic attitude. I shelved the book as a "Favorite" because he truly spoke well about depression, but how wrong he is about other issues makes my stomach churn. I will be editing my review for that book with respect to my thoughts this evening. -
Ned is actually a good friend of mine - we briefly dated when I was a sophomore in college and we've remained friends (the book is dedicated in-part to me, in fact) - but I swear to God, I'd love Be More Chill even if I'd pulled it off a shelf.
I really can't put it down; it's refreshing to read a young adult novel that's a quick read, but still a thought-provoking, laugh-out-loud funny one. His writing is so readable and fluid and his characters could walk off the page and fit in at any high school in America. Why didn't they give us books like this to read in high school?
It's weird for me to read this book because the main character, Jeremy, I really think is based on Ned. Jeremy says things about himself that I have heard Ned Vizzini talk about or seen him do. Of course, the book is a little bit sci-fi, so heaps of it are made up, but this book is a quite memoir-eque fictional novel in that it seems to be how Ned has worked out his high school dorkiness and confusion and angst about not getting with girls.
Good job, Ned. Sorry it took me two/three years to finally read it. -
Be more chill is about high school junior, Jeremy Heere and how he, in his most fragile desperate teenage state, spent 600 dollars on a supercomputer called 'the SQUIP' that teaches him how to be cool…. or more appropriately chill.
This book is the most over exaggerated high school cliché popularity satire I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. It was so overdramatic it was hilarious. The SQUIP was also a super interesting concept, and Jeremy’s social awkwardness was amusing to read about, and his feelings of anxiety were relatable as heck. Solid book, entertaining enough, my only complaint was it ended too abruptly, and I was expecting more. More character development, more meaning??? More consequences for Jeremy’s actions.
All and all, a good book, nothing to rave about but also nothing to rant about. So, I’m calling this a success. -
Not very impressed, sometimes being inside of a teenage boy's head is no fun at all.
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Wow. I cannot believe how much I wanted to like this book and how disappointed I was by how misogynistic it is! Misogynistic, by the way, technically means "hates women" and, while I don't think Ned Vizzini (or the protagonist, Jeremy) hates women, I think this book INCORRECTLY represents high school girls as complete idiots. He presents the idea that if a boy simply wears the right t-shirt and says two "correct" sentences then she will instantly become sexually and personally attracted to him. Really?!?!? REALLY?!?!? (Can you tell this book made me mad?!?) I really liked the premise of the book, and it seemed to be a fairly accurate portrayal of adolescence in many ways, but the way that girls are portrayed was just too flat, simple, demeaning and inaccurate for me to be able to recommend this book. Argh....
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Find all of my reviews at:
http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Let’s keep this one short and sweet. This was another book that was on my TBR for eternity. It got placed there due to my reaction to
It’s Kind of a Funny Story. It finally made it to the currently reading stack (late, naturally) when I attempted to check out a copy for Young Adult Week. Good news is, I read it in a couple of hours. Bad news is, it was terrible. Lacking in character development and relying on the clichés that all boys are oversexed perverts who are lucky they haven’t gone blind despite their masturbatory tendencies and all girls are dumb sluts looking for validation from the nearest penis, it was clear I was pulling a Sergeant Murtaugh because I was most definitely “too old for this shit.” However, like so many things of late there’s a different version of this story that is pretty great . . . .
Maybe leave the book on the library shelves and track down your nearest community theater instead???? -
So here’s the premise: teenage boy is awkward, nerdy, uncool. He hears about a pill, a “squip,” that is a microcomputer that will give him instructions on how to be cool (or “more chill”). He gets a squip, becomes cool, and eventually the squip fails - its technology isn’t perfect yet.
You might have been thinking - wait, wait, as YAF shouldn’t this book have ended with the boy realizing he’s better off as himself, without the aid of a microcomputer telling him exactly what to say? No. No, that’s not the moral: the moral is wait to buy yourself the exact piece of technology that will make imperfect-you more perfect so that you might have money, friends, and sex.
And the sex part? Apparently young women lack self-esteem to such an extraordinary degree that not only do they cut themselves while purging while gossiping about their slutty ex-best-friend, but they are also willing and committed to having sex with any man who might be interested. The only exception to this rule the young woman that our hero is in love with - and it turns out she’s “weird,” and hence “frigid.”
This book shouldn’t be read by anyone, let alone a young adult trying to sort out how they might learn to be okay with their awkward weirdness, because the message? You’re not okay, and it’s not likely you’ll be okay unless you buy something really expensive and/or have sex with an self-loathing young woman. The book, as a result, both deeply disturbing and depressing. Maybe that’s how it is with kids these days? Nah. I think instead Vizzini might try being less chill, and instead he might try to be more responsible. -
3.75
En un universo donde Eminem murió por causa de un accidente de Hockey, Jeremy Heere, un inseguro chico de preparatoria, lidia con la impopularidad que su día a día lo obliga a vivir. Lo único que nuestro protagonista quiere es ser "cool" y salir con la bella Christine, su compañera de clase y obra teatral, pero dado su estatus, le es imposible. En una serie de eventos, Jeremy encuentra la respuesta a todos sus problemas: "Squip", una microcomputadora en forma de pastilla que le abre las puertas a un mundo de infinitas posibilidades.
El libro en esencia es brillante. El toque de Vizzini es sumamente notorio, y ese mismo lo vuelve una joya del fatídico humor que lo caracteriza.
El mundo necesita más de Ned Vizzini, pero ya no hay más Ned Vizzini. -
I've been listening to the Be More Chill original musical cast recording and enjoying the sound of the music while not necessarily understanding all the words yet. (Living with me is a hellish experience of hearing songs sung with the lyrics I think I heard or improving the lyrics to what I think they should be.) Since I probably won't have a chance to see the actual show for quite a while yet, I thought I'd read the original book to help me understand the plot. Also, there's a graphic novel adaptation I want to read next.
So, yeah, this book is sexist crap. A nerdy, lustful teen boy swallows a mind-reading micro quantum computer to teach him to become a cool womanizer. This plot was old when Jerry Lewis swallowed a serum to become Buddy Love. It's Cyrano de Bergerac tossing his heart and wandering into John Hughes' Weird Science.
For a bit of shock value, Keanu Reeves and Eminem are referenced in bizarre ways.
From what I can glean from my first listen of the album, the plot of the musical was tweaked in several ways. I'm going to read the CD booklet to find out exactly what I've not been hearing. Regardless, some of the songs are catchy, and I can always fix them when I sing along in the future.
UPDATE 4/25/2021:
I read through the lyric booklet of the CD to find out if I had missed all that sexist garbage because I had been focused more on the music, emotions, and choruses rather than the words of the verses. Thankfully, the songs seem to have dispensed with a lot of that foolishness and changed many of the book's plot points. I didn't read the book of the musical, but unlike the novel the songs don't put you exclusively in Jeremy's slimy little brain along with the Squip. There are several songs that I'll be happy to hear come up in my regular music rotation, especially the rightly popular, "Michael in the Bathroom." -
Jeremy Heere is a typical high school geek. Unable to socialize with other people, he instead chooses to analyze their reactions to him, tallying up insults and laughter on self-made Humiliation Sheets.
And he's damned tired of it.
All Jeremy wants is to be Cool. He wants to rub shoulders with the Hottest Girls in School. But most of all, he wants the attention of Christine, a girl in his drama club who won his heart over.
Jeremy doesn't think any of this is possible until he learns about the "squip." A supercomputer that is swallowed as a pill, the squip implants itself in the user's brain and gives that person instructions as to how to behave and how to reach their goals. Soon, Jeremy finds himself working out to become buff, socializing with people who used to make fun of him, and transitioning from geek to...Cool.
But Jeremy never pauses to consider the fact that he is handing control over his life to the squip. The consequences of this may not be what he bargained for.
This book was a laugh out loud funny approach to the social tug-of-war that is high school. Readers will want to slap Jeremy upside the head for some of his responses (or lack thereof - grow some stones, dude!), but Vizzini draws the book to an interesting - and unpredictable - end. -
*This review contains mild spoilers*
Bleh.
Like many people, I picked this book up because I loved the musical. I listened to it recently and I wanted to learn more about the characters I loved: awkward Jeremy, passionate Christine, sweet Michael and so on.
This was the polar opposite.
If I had not known the musical was based on the book, all I would have remarked is the similar names and the similar description (Loser High Schooler takes supercomputer pill to make him cool), and NOTHING ELSE.
Things I liked:
I prefer the book squip to the musical squip.
Uhm... I... Yes, I do believe that that's it.
Things I hated:
This book treats women like disposable objects. I'M NOT EXAGGERATING.
When Jeremy first gets the squip, he makes out with this girl named Brooke. Even though it seems great at first, things go badly and Jeremy leaves.
BROOKE IS NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN.
This happens with a couple of other female characters. They are all treated like sex objects, including Christine, Jeremy's supposed love interest. She is a shallow self.
What is she interested in? Uh, theatre, I guess.
What's her personality like? Well, this one time, she was bossy, but that was forgotten again pretty quickly.
Other things? I guess....she doesn't like Jeremy. Or maybe she does. Who knows?
One dimensional characters really don't offer much depth.
Neither does Jeremy. Why does he take the pill? Uh...he wants to be cool, I guess.
Michael? He likes asian girls. He doesn't have human emotions. That's about that.
It's all boiled down to stereotypes. Some girls are sluts, some girls talk behind other people's backs, some girls are sexual objects to be filmed and posted online.
Some guys are bullies, others are just there, like Jake, to add conflict and make himself harmless when the plot demands it.
None of it has the relatable charm of More Than Survive, or the funny moments from Be More Chill (Part One), or the slow realization of Upgrade, the bone-crushing sadness of Michael In The Bathroom, the relatability of The Smartphone Hour (Rich Set A Fire) (lets be honest, we all know people like that), the creepy chill of The Pitiful Children and The Play, as well as the beautiful ending of Voices In My Head.
The book doesn't live up to the musical.
The book is disgusting.
And now, after this incoherent rant, I'm done with it. -
Are you popular?
Well, are you? Because, like, there's this pill. Yeah, it'll make you act, look, seem, sound, make, break, buy, sell, find, invent, STINK of coolness. And... get this, you'll be able to touch boobies
Nawww, dawg! I ain't playin' ya! You won't need no frizzy black wig or alter ego! No beaded curtains or orange hair! ('cuse my Brady Bunch flashbacks... I'm showing my age, yo.)
You just swallow this pill and then you like get this really hip computer chip embedded in your brain that tells you how to act and what to say and argues with you until you are da bomb. But, wait... are you really? I mean... do you really want to be THAT guy? Is stealing your mom's car and almost losing your nerdy, but wicked awesome, bff worth it? Will it really get you the girl of your dreams or just that hot chick that will go down on anyone?
Who the fuck cares?
I was hoping that this would break that formula. I was hoping that the attempts of hipness would be, idk, groundbreaking. I didn't want a freakin' modern day after school special.
But, whatever.. I'm used to disappointment. If you want a slightly more original conspiracy based YA book about microchips, you might want to check out
Feed. -
Written as a teenage boy, and seemingly for teenage boys, I had a tough time relating to this book. I understand it’s a metaphor for technology ruling our lives, but the treatment of girls, and all the adults, is vile.
I really enjoyed Vizzini’s other book, It’s Kind of a funny story, but this one was just too juvenile. -
I wish I could give this 3.5 stars.
Jeremy Heere is your average high school dork. Day after day, he stares at beautiful Christine, the girl he can never have, and dryly notes the small humiliations that come his way. Until the day he learns about the "squip." A pill-sized supercomputer that you swallow, the squip is guaranteed to bring you whatever you most desire in life. By instructing him on everything from what to wear, to how to talk and walk, the squip transforms Jeremy from Supergeek to superchic. Now an off-Broadway musical!
I saw the Broadway show and was curious about the book since people at the show were so in love with the book. It's a fun book, more for teenagers I think. It didn't grab me like the show did but I understand why people enjoyed it.
I say see the Broadway show! -
A weird and awesome exploration of a story I was already familiar with. Ned has a unique voice that taps into the core of teenage angst.
-
I don’t know what to think about this book. I want to think positively about it because I really like the musical, but it’s so different and there are multiple issues with this book. It follows Jeremy who is in high school and has extremely low self esteem, and a massive crush on a girl called Christine.
Why is Jeremy so mean to Michael? And why did Michael just accept all of Jeremy’s crap? At some point Jeremy should have realised that the Squip is just a piece of technology and Michael has been his best friend for many years and treating him like dirt is just going to make him leave. Of course, it’s all explained that Michael realised what was going on, and there were no hard feelings, but that just takes the onus off of Jeremy completely. Jeremy wasn’t a bystander, he chose to do what the Squip told him, but the book ends up treating him like he was a bystander.
The interactions between Jeremy and the Squip concerning women is absolutely disgusting. It encourages cheating and the double standards concerning cheating; men are to be seen positively for cheating (Jake) and women who cheat are to be seen as “sluts” or “whores” (Elizabeth). This is demonstrated by every character in the book, except maybe Michael. In any case, the author writes every girl to be the same, and to respond to the same stimuli in exactly the same way which is just adding to the general idea that women are objects.
The way that mental health is treated is abhorrent. When Jeremy encounters a girl who is possibly bulimic, and has mental health issues, he calls her “weird” and does nothing. The girl herself is never seen or mentioned again.
Whenever Jeremy doesn’t want to do something sexual, he is referred to as gay by the Squip. This is further used as a general insult throughout the book.
Jeremy himself doesn’t feel remorse for what he’s done with the Squip, only feeling sad that his crush rejected him, thus leading to the revealing of why he did what he did in the form of a book for Christine. If I were Christine reading this book, I’d reject Jeremy for his blatant misogyny and lack of interest and care in girls. It just feels like Jeremy aims for Christine because she’s the only one who refuses to have sex with him after the Squip “helps” him. The issue of being a bystander returns here. Jeremy himself is just an awful character. -
Strong 8 out of 10
Be More Chill was a really funny book. This book is about a boy named Jeremy, who is the stereotypical geek in high school. Jeremy has a crush on a girl and he wants to become cool. Then he figures out a way to become cool. The way to become cool is to ingest a micromachine called a squip. The squip lives inside your brain and tells exactly what you need to say to sound cool in any given situation.
I think this book requires a certain type of mindset going into it to actually enjoy it. That mindset would be to not take this book seriously at all. This book is definitely meant to be taken satirically. If you take this book at face value that means you'll be horrified by how vulgar this supposed "Young Adult" book is. This book is filled with complex issues such as drugs, partying, alcohol, sexism, stealing, and a whole barrage of other mature themes that I don't want to get into.
This book is absurd. I love all the pop culture references, and I love how all over the place the narrative is. This book is so bad that it is good. I found this book to be really funny, especially all of the Keanu Reeves stuff. I really enjoyed this book.
Also, I did not know that there was a musical going into this book. I read this book because my mother recommended it to me. Also, I definitely wouldn't suspect that this type of book would be made into a musical, just from the book alone. -
The musical is 10X better
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this book was stupid and teenage boys are so disgusting
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My teenage son and I now have a book club
5 stars for sure? Nah, but maybe....this book has been turned into a musical. My reluctant-reader-first-born-son has been tough to get reading. I have been sharing some books with him when I think he would like them, and he reads and smiles but never has passion for the story. Finally one day he reads a book and gives it to me....and ta-da: a funny, relevant, sweet, silly and door opener to all those awkward parent-adolescent talks but slightly less awkward, so in that way, a 5-star experience. What would others think? Maybe just a 4, but maybe that 5 after all. -
I love the musical so when I stopped by the library and saw this book I just knew I had to get it. I really enjoyed this book and I finished it pretty quickly.
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Okay, this review isn't formal in any way, so bear with me. For those not aware, this book has a corresponding musical of the same name. Here's what I'm going to do: I'm doing a whole Musical vs. Book segment at the end of my review, so if you just want to know what I think about the book itself, just ignore the last part of my review. If you only care about my thoughts on how the musical differs from the book, feel free to skip to the end. That being said, here are my thoughts on the book.
The book follows Jeremy Heere, his crush on Christine Caniglia (who he only likes because of her looks, as he has never spoken to her), and his discovery and use of the SQUIP. Now that you get the main idea, let's start with my complaints.
The first complaint I have to say is that the book doesn't age very well. There are words and ideas that are very outdated. This mostly applies to what's considered "cool" and even more with what's considered acceptable. The reader is supposed to sympathize with Jeremy (and to a lesser extent, Michael). I had a hard time doing so. Both of these boys (and all of the boys in the novel, in complete honesty) are such insufferable douchebags, I don't feel bad about them not having friends. They are all incredibly misogynistic, as pointed out by many other reviewers. Michael even has a specific interest in Asian girls, which was off-putting. The ladies in the novel are reduced to nothing more than walking sex dolls. The only girl given a hint of personality is Christine, who clearly doesn't like Jeremy and explains to him that she'd like to stay friends with him. But Jeremy isn't satisfied with that, no no, because he's a cool man and goes out of his way to make unwanted advances toward Christine, even making her cry in front of 300 people, (but it's okay because the SQUIP told him to! More on that later). Along with the misogyny, there's subtle homophobia mixed in, too. Basically, what it comes down to is the fact that this book was published in 2004. This stuff was a lot more accepted in literature over 10 years ago than it is now. It's disgusting, yes, but this is how teenage boys acted, and some still do act this way. Don't even get me started on what is considered cool in this book. It's basically all of the aforementioned misogyny and homophobia, but with Eminem thrown in a little bit. This book ages like a bottle of fine milk.
Now, onto my second major complaint. The Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor. The SQUIP. The SQUIP (or squip) is the turning point of the book. The squip's objective is to take an uncool person and make him cool. It makes him be more chill. It does this by implanting itself into the subject's brain (via a travel through the bloodstream after the subject injects the pill that contains the squip). After the squip is in the brain of the uncool person, it feeds the person instructions on how to speak and act. This is a problem. The squip says that having a predatory attitude toward women, disrespecting your parents, and abandoning your friends is cool. Jeremy takes the squip, listens to all of its instructions and you can probably guess where it goes from there.
My last major complaint is the ending. I was shocked. I won't say exactly what it was for sake of not sharing any huge spoilers, but it boils down to everything that Jeremy had done being forgiven because he had a squip. He had the choice to not listen to it, or not buying it in the first place, but NOPE! NOT HIS FAULT! HE HAD A SQUIP!!
Moving on. Even with my gripes, I managed to finish the majority of this book in one day. This isn't a big deal for a lot of the people on this site but it's a huge deal for me. I've only ever read a few books so quickly. This was because I was so engrossed in seeing what was going to happen next. There was always something happening next. Some of the things that happened were better than others. I can't talk about this without some major spoilers, which is disappointing because it looks very disproportionate against my complaints. Also, this whole review is getting a little hefty.
End verdict: I think I (kind of) enjoyed this book because I love the musical. Had it not been for the musical, I probably would not have finished, let alone enjoyed, the book.
________________________
Thanks to my not-so-subtle segue, we're on to the Musical vs. Book section!
As stated before, I love the musical. These characters have an actual personality, for one thing. There is much more development of the friendship between Jeremy and Michael, and it makes a WORLD of a difference. Michael is my favorite character in the musical because of his role and my emotional attachment to what he goes through. As for the book, I don't think it would make much of a difference if Michael was never a character in the first place. It is INCREDIBLE how much of an improvement there is when the narrative is told in more than one point of view (though, I understand why the book was in Jeremy's POV to work for the ending).
Another thing: While Jeremy is still a douche in the musical, he is astronomically less of a douche. He's also a douche for a different reason. In the musical, he's a lot more respectful to women, which is refreshing. However, he still uses other girls for the sake of getting Christine. I'd say it's much better, though. The main reason he sucks, to me anyway, is his willingness to cut Michael off completly. That might be my bias talking.
The ends of both pieces are so different you'd think that the writers of the musical didn't finish reading the book and just decided to make their own ending. The ending of the musical is a lot better, though. The squip is actually seen as evil in the musical, as it should be. In the book, In the musical, Jeremy tries with everything he has to shut it off because it's, you know, evil. However, the musical has the same problem of
Okay, I'll end my review here. I have lots more to say, but considering the length of this, I'll spare any curious readers. If you want to discuss this more with me, feel free. -
That was fun.
-
He should have been more chill
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I never cared for the cool people. Me, I have always wanted to read books about outcasts: impossibly flawed and so truly themselves. I found comfort reading about people who didn't fit in, but who fit in their own skin. People who were themselves in their original way, who I wanted to be like, because they weren't scared of themselves. Jeremy Heere, the protagonist of
Be More Chill is an outcast, a weirdo. But not in a way that I liked, as bitchy as that may sound. The entire book (apart from the ending perhaps) revolves around Jeremy completely changing himself trying to get laid. His only goal is being Cool, and he's willing to buy a six hundred pill-sized supercomputer for that. And when Jeremy is supah-dupah-cool his life immediately becomes great and amazing.being Cool is obviously the most important thing on Earth.
It's kinda demotivating, because to me it seemed as if the main message is "be Cool or your life sucks". But of course, being cool does have negative side effects, and telling you that is no spoiler since it's also written in the blurb on the back:But Jeremy discovers that there is a dark side to handing over control of your life--and it can have disastrous consequences.
Even though I didn't like Jeremy and his ideals, I did adore him for loving his friend and Christine the way he did. He could have any friend in the world and ditch Michael, but he still wanted to include him.How does anybody do it? You get good clothes, walk in with confidence and shed unnecessary humans. Like Michael.
He could have all of the hot girls, but instead he only wants Christine:
He's not unnecessary--he's my friend."That's who I like and that's who I want to be with"
The book was quite painful to read, because it depicts adolescents as horny kids who don't use their brain but think with their dicks. But then again, it does contain some truth... I applaud Vizzini for not shying away from this, and even more for the humour. The quirky and fast-paced writing made the book not only bearable, but also fun. It's not a very serious book, but it can arouse serious questions about the influence of technology and peer-pressure on the lives of (young) adults. As David Levithan put it:there are timeless, device-agnostic questions underneath --with every leap forward we take with technology, we lose a little something else when it comes to independence and individuality.
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3.5 Stars.
Ned Vizzini some how managed to capture the horrors and benefits of extremely advanced technology all the way back in 2004. Pre iPhone.
While the characters were not always like-able, or even minimally moral, they rang true for the authentic teenage voice.
Originally, I only picked this up because I hoped to hear Will Connolly’s and George Salazar’s voices in my head for a few hours. I mean, c’mon; the musical is pretty grand.
However, instead I got a profound outlook on technology, teenage peer pressure, and as always with Vizzini’s work (and a David Levithan afterword), a little insight into the human condition.
Full review to come. -
I read this book when it came out in 2004. I LOVED it so much and tried to get all my friends to read it. Nobody was interested. Surprise now it’s a broadway musical that everyone loves. Lol. I was cool before it was cool ;-)
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when jeremy heere hears of squip, a tiny supercomputer you swallow, he must have one for himself. because of the squip, he goes from super dorky to super chill almost overnight.
my least favorite vizzini book so far. despite being fresh out of high school, i didn’t find myself relating to the high school-aged MC. the “squip” concept was pretty neat and i thought it was executed well. i didn’t hate the ending, but it definitely fell flat.
recommended for anyone wanting a quick sci-fi (ish?) read. -
When starting this book, I had quite high hopes that it would live up to the musical. Unfortunately, it did not in the slightest. The book's ending left a bad taste in my mouth and felt unfinished. This book perpetuates misogyny, sexism, and depression. The SQUIP explains that girls are to be sexual objects and are used as popularity "points". Jeremy is even told by the SQUIP to be in relationships with girls that are uglier than him so he can hook up with them. The saddest part is that all this horrid advice is given by the SQUIP works. Truly disgusting.
If any insecure heterosexual male is looking to take pointers from this book: DO NOT. None of these things are true and if your thought process is like this then I know two things about you. One, you have/are going to peak high school. Two, you will/have harassed women. Please be respectful to all people, regardless of gender.
At multiple times, it felt so unbelievable that it took me out of the reading. When Jeremey confessed to his parent that he went to a party he was not supposed to, stole his mom's car, did ecstasy, drove without a license, and ditch school multiple times, Jeremy had no consequences to his actions except seeing a therapist once a week. Are you kidding me? If I got caught doing one of those things, I would be grounded till the day I die.
Of the many problems I have with this book, I do want to touch on the lack of diversity seen in this book. In the musical, there is way more diversity than in the book. It important that all kinds of people are represented so you are not selecting one kind of audience. In the book, it specifies that almost EVERY character is white and usually touches on how white a character is. I would like if I could create the characters to my own interpretation, instead of having whiteness shoved down my throat, would be a nice change.
Out of the outrageous things I read in this book, the main character, Jeremy, was the most disappointing because he had no arc in his character. In the musical ending, Jeremy realizes that the only voice he should listen to in his head should be his own. Jeremy realizes that he should be himself, which is one of, if not the most important part of the musical; that he is perfect the way he is. Jeremy's arc, in the book, is to hook up with a girl named Christine. Be More Chill is supposed to about acknowledging that sometimes we are insecure and feel vulnerable, but it is important that we should love ourselves for who we are and live our authentic selves. Not trying to hook up with some classmate and then not take accountability when you kiss them without consent.
I do not recommend this book but please do look into the musical. I can promise you that the musical is so much better than this dumpster fire of a book.
