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Book Summary

Reviewed by Stephanie Dunnewind

Scarred by seeing her father cheating with a graduate student, Olivia swears off boys and throws herself into a summer arts camp, where she plans to write a musical, "Castration Celebration." A cute boy, Max, weakens her determination, but is Max willing to wait for her? As the characters in Olivia's play, loosely based on Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing, mirror her own experiences, the teens work through issues of sex, dating, and friendship.

Is It Any Good?

2

Everyone has heard a story that has the teller laughing but leaves listeners wondering what was so funny. "I guess you had to be there" is the common explanation. CASTRATION CELEBRATION readers will feel like that through much of the novel, as Wizner describes his characters falling into "a fit of hysterics" over things that simply aren't very humorous. He works too hard informing readers that his shallow main characters are "witty" and their bantering "sharp," when authentic dialogue and an interesting plot arc would have gone a lot further.

There's plenty for parents to find questionable, but most of it is so lame that the real travesty is Wizner's bastardization of Shakespeare. The novel may appeal to readers who enjoy the crude humor of Judd Apatow movies (Superbad) but it can't carry off what centers those movies: a genuine heart. 

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