Check out Spontaneous, by Aaron Starmer!
We love to read books, and to talk about books. Check out our entire series here! Need more book chatting and suggestions in your life? Listen to our Books and Beverages podcast!
I like to read YA books- but they have to be interesting. This book fulfilled that qualification, without a single doubt! I read this over two days – the second evening I stayed up way too late to finish it because I couldn’t put it down. Like some of the other commenters, I did not love the ending – but I’d still read it again because it was so interesting.
Mara, the main character, is a senior in high school. She’s smart and sarcastic – always good things for a protagonist. A kid in her math class suddenly explodes one day – a big shock to everyone. The second kid exploding was also a shock. So was the third kid. By the time a dozen have exploded, the FBI are involved along with all kinds of other individuals and organizations who are trying to figure out how these kids are spontaneously exploding.
“A TIME magazine Top 10 YA & Children’s Book of 2016!
An ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection
With all the perfectly lovely young adult novels out there, you decided to check this one out? It’s got spontaneously combusting teenagers in it, dude. Not the slow burning type either. We’re talking the randomly exploding variety. Seniors in high school just walking along, heading to class, whistling Beyoncé, when—WA-BAM!— they’re suddenly dripping off the lockers.
Is that really something you’re into?
Confession: I’m actually kinda into that too. So, now that we’ve established we’re both thoroughly weird and, I assume, thoroughly open-minded, we can give it shot, right? Let’s at least read the opening chapters of this bad-boy and see if it features some of the more intriguing elements such as…
– Exploding teenagers (obviously).
– Hallucinogenic mushrooms.
– Pyromaniacal boyfriends.
– Triplet toddlers in powder blue suits.
– Amur leopards and doomsday preppers.
– A foul-mouthed female POTUS.
– Ashtanga yoga.
– Youtube sensations.
– Self-driving Priuses.
– Rogue FBI agents.
– Mad scientists.
– Homecoming.
– Spring break.
– Prom.
– And … Jennifer Lawrence.
Notice how I put Jennifer Lawrence last. She’s in the book, so it’s not cheating. And hey, if it takes America’s most beloved movie star to sell this thing, then that’s what it takes.
So, in closing: Jennifer Lawrence.”