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摘要
摘要
With his shaved head and begging bowl the new kid is an automatic target for the bully boys of Edward Rucher High--an easy mark for their casual cruelty.Watching this, Justin would gladly stay as far from the newcomer as possible--until their economics teacher pairs them for a project and he finds himself becoming fascinated by the kid the others mock as Buddha Boy. The thing is, friendship with an outcast always carries a price, and soon Justin must decide if he can stay silent in the face of what he knows.A scorching portrait of contemporary high school life, featuring a character listeners will never forget.
评论 (4)
出版社周刊评论
Koja (Straydog) accomplishes quite a feat with this novel narrated by high school sophomore Justin: she explores the tenets of Buddhism via an unlikely friendship between two classmates. Justin does not understand the odd behavior of transfer student Michael Martin, why he has a shaved head and begs for his lunch ("Like a monk, you know?" says Michael). But after a teacher pairs Justin with Michael-who goes by "Jinsen," his spiritual name-for a project, he begins to gain some insight into Jinsen's actions. The author cleverly structures the novel as a flashback, even as events unfold chronologically, so that readers can benefit from Justin's newfound knowledge of Jinsen's spiritual practice. For instance, the second chapter begins with a brief explanation of "karma" ("Karma means that what you do today, and why you do it, makes you who you are forever: as if you were clay, and every thought and action left a mark in that clay... but there are no excuses,... no I-didn't-really-mean-it-so-can-I-have-some-more-clay"), allowing Justin to circle back to this idea throughout the narrative. Koja convincingly paints Justin as "somewhere in the middle" of the high school social strata, so that when he takes a risk for Jinsen, who is taunted (called "Buddha Boy") and physically threatened by his classmates, readers see how far Justin has progressed in his own self-realization. A compelling introduction to Buddhism and a credible portrait of how true friendship brings out the best in people. Ages 12-up. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
《儿童读物杂志》(Horn Book)书评
(High School) The new student at Edward Rucher High School--""this skinny bald-headed kid in a size million T-shirt""--goes from table to table in the cafeteria, begging for change like a Buddhist monk. His name is Michael Martin, but he wants to be called by his ""spiritual name,"" Jinsen. Most of the kids call him--sneeringly, scornfully--Buddha Boy. When narrator Justin is assigned to work on a school project with his new classmate, he discovers that Jinsen is a gifted artist and suggests he join Mr. Snell's art class. But Jinsen's amazing talent and nonconformist attitude anger a group of thuggish school leaders who destroy his art projects--and are further threatened by his passivity in the face of physical violence. The story may recall others about classroom outcasts, but what makes it distinct are its philosophical underpinnings, its subtle characterizations of outsider Jinsen and conventional-kid Justin, and a stream-of-consciousness prose style that embeds dialogue deep inside run-on sentences (""When the bell went Jinsen was still cleaning up, Snell heading over to the table but 'Come on, Justin,' from Megan frowning by the door, keeping that frown all the way to the lockers, the parking lot, idling her mom's new red Jeep and 'Use the gas pedal, Meg,' said Jakob in the back"") and gives the novel an original, offbeat voice. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
《书目》(Booklist)书评
Gr. 6^-10. No one in the rich, suburban high school likes the weird new kid who looks like a Buddhist monk and begs at lunch. But Justin is drawn to the stranger and defends him against vicious school bullies. Koja's short novel is openly preachy, and the packed plot is absurdly contrived: the saintly outsider turns out to be an amazingly gifted artist who was once a delinquent as violent as the school bullies--until his parents died and he went catatonic and a Buddhist art teacher showed him how to find truth and beauty in art and religion . . . It's the simple writing, along with Justin's informal first-person narrative, that will draw readers to the crucial ethical issues, especially "the social-status in-out thing" among the kids, and the way school authorities accept it. Then there's the elemental question of how hard it is to do the right thing, and to keep on doing it. "We're all gods inside, right? Karma, right?" Teens will find much to talk about here. --Hazel Rochman
《学校图书馆杂志》(School Library Journal)书评
Gr 7-10-Justin-an "average" kid-serves as the interface between readers (and to some extent his schoolmates) and Michael Martin, aka Buddha Boy, whose Buddhist teacher named him Jinsen, "fountain of God." Justin mostly wants to pass through high school unnoticed (beneath the notice of the school's "royalty"), doing his work and enjoying his friends. He is fortunate to have supportive, albeit divorced, parents-another facet of the novel that sets it apart in a field full of useless adults. But Justin is stirred out of his camouflage by the animosity that the new kid incites, quite unintentionally, simply by being different. Both irritated and intrigued by Jinsen's apparent imperturbability to his tormentors, Justin is also astonished by Jinsen's artistic abilities. Koja flawlessly walks a tightrope in her presentation of Jinsen-devout without being sanctimonious, insufferable, or simply unbelievable-and solidly nails the small-minded, fearful, and even paranoid mind-set that dominates the high school milieu. Like Chris Crutcher and Chris Lynch, the author is deeply concerned with the psychological motivations for behavior and the belief that explicable causes generally underlie what may seem to be inexplicable actions. At the heart of her story is a deeply religious character who is neither naive nor clownish, neither self-righteous nor pitiful. Buddha Boy has a whole lot of action compressed into a short time span, but Koja admirably refuses to yield to melodramatic writing or black-and-white solutions. Quickly paced, inviting, and eye-opening, this is a marvelous addition to YA literature.-Coop Renner, Blackshear Elementary School, Austin, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.