So, this book is on my friend Jen's top 10 list from last year. I have tried and tried to check it out from the library, but those darn kids always have it. So I stuck it on hold at NYPL, and got it a week later. I started it at 8pm read til 11 and then finished the next morning.
Face it, we all have unthinkable thoughts...mine most often happen while taking the subway!
Jacob's unthinkables are poignant, scary and hilarious.
Take a boy with a psycho dad, out-of-the-picture mom, rebellious brother, emerging libido, stick him in Hebrew school and crank open his brain!
Jacob's dad is obsessed with Jacob's Jewish upbringing. Since older brother Asher got kicked out of Hebrew school due to graffiti involving rabbis, pork and a lobster, Jacob is the only hope. And in dad's eyes, reading Hebrew is the only thing Jacob is good at anyway. Jacob has more on his mind, however. Things like spooning with his hot babysitter, escaping to Rhode Island with Asher, surviving public school after yeshiva...and staying out of dad's way.
I haven't read a YA book that so thoughtfully looks into the lives of boys in a long time. 3 Clams and an Oyster comes close, but Jacob's younger age somehow makes him more appealing.
5 stars
