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Title: Can't see what everyone is talking about
Review: I have had a difficult time finding very many of the episodes funny unless you had grown up in the 1960s. If you were born in the 80s-90s I think most of the humor would be lost, because it needs the cultural/historical background to be understood. I found the book zenophobic (negative remarks about Chinese and people from the south) and it also seemed to glorify bullying. I think there are far better books out there that deal with the issue of racism than ones that include such negative subtexts.I have read a lot of juvenile fiction and this is one of the slowest paced books I have ever read. I think the only things that young readers might be interested in would be the bullying scenes. It takes a long time for the novel to move into the interesting plot line and there are several unexplained gaps in the end that leave the reader confused. I had to read this book as part of my job, but I really wanted it to end. Sorry, just being honest.
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