For years, Karl has been part of the Madman Underground--kids forced to attend group therapy during school hours. Karl decides that for his senior year, he is going to get out of the group for good. He is going to act--and be--Normal. But Normal, of course, is relative. A Printz Honor Book.
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For years, Karl has been part of the Madman Underground--kids forced to attend group therapy during school hours. Karl decides that for his senior year, he is going to get out of the group for good. He is going to act--and be--Normal. But Normal, of course, is relative. A Printz Honor Book.
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A friend told me about this book so I got it out of the library and then, after reading it, I bought the hardback.
The characters are outsiders trying to make it through high school, dealing with neglect and abuse and bullying and all the other problems of adolescence. It is a wonderful read, hard to put down, and has a pleasing ending.
i am reading it again.
katierebecca
Nov 24, 2009
'Madman Underground' Great for Teens & Adults
It has been three days since I finished the last chapter of Tales of the Madman Underground, and I am still thinking about Karl Shoemaker. Honest, humorous, foul-mouthed, masculine, resourceful, and wounded, Karl is definitely the kind of protagonist you want to spend 500 pages with, and whose plights you sympathize with so greatly, you honestly lose yourself in the book, and in the five days during September 1973 that is the backdrop of his story.
Karl's father, the former mayor of their hometown in Lightsburg, Ohio, died of cancer, and his mother is now an alcoholic who believes in UFOs, the age of Aquarius, and keeping cats in great abundance. Because of his family situation, Karl has been stuck in group therapy provided by his school every year since his father's death, a group which he has dubbed The Madman Underground. But despite his strong connections to the other madmen, particularly Darla, who talks to everyone through a stuffed rabbit, and his lifelong best friend, suspected homosexual, Paul, Karl wants this year to be a normal year, and he hatches a plan called Operation Be F*cking Normal.
I could say a lot about this book, but I feel like every time I try to describe it, I'm not doing it justice. The title calls it a romance, and I suppose, in part, it is one, but more importantly, it's the story of Karl Shoemaker's difficult life, the unlikely friendships he shares with the other members of the underground, and his struggle to become normal while also trying to decide if that's even what he really wants. John Barnes doesn't miss a beat in telling this story. I found myself marking line after line of quotable passages. Many YA narrators fall flat, sounding all very similar to one another. Karl Shoemaker is a character whose voice you will remember and want to keep listening to even after you turn the final page.
Amazing. I recommend it to older teens, and certainly to everyone else.
