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The Body Of Christ(opher Creed)

Customer Rating:

Speaking as an English teacher of seventh and eighth graders, CHRISTOPHER CREED is a refreshing and challenging book filled with the kind of rich symbolism and personal introspection that teachers can spend hours poring over with kids. Carol Plum-Ucci's debut novel is about a wealthy and popular boy named Victor who hears one day at church that the resident geek-wad at school (do they still call them geek-wads?), Christopher Creed, has gone missing. Not a hair. Not a fiber. Nothing is left but a single email that provides more questions than answers. Victor is a thoughtful kid, which is not always easy to be when your friends are mostly dismissive gossips, and the news is presented to him at a very important point in church: the point where he is wondering about the Christ on the cross. According to history, Christ was crucified naked. And yet, on every crucifix and in every tableau of the moment, Christ is always wearing a strategic loincloth. "Why?" Victor wonders. If it's okay to show him tortured and dying, why are we all so worried about his genitals? Plum-Ucci takes this interesting theological point and uses it to underpin a much broader social lesson. It is a lesson about the lies people tell themselves, about the lines families draw, and about how ready we are to see the blood on others, without having the guts to open our eyes to their most vulnerable and private places. Creed's disappearance and Victor's stumbling investigation into it cause massive rifts in the town and his school, exposing (to some) the secrets most people rip their eyes out not to know. It's not what I would call a pretty book, but it feels very real, and the characters and their struggles are just as fully realized. There's a lot here to think about, and even more to remember. TO PARENTS: This book contains swear words and also frequent references to sex and alcohol. I applaud Plum-Ucci for doing this. Teenagers, as little as you might want them to know, are all too aware of these things. Any book that seeks to connect with teens on any kind of relatable level can't possibly leave out things like this. These are the tantalizing dangers of youth (and even adulthood) and pretending like they don't exist is only asking for the teens to go out and learn about them on their own. Plum-Ucci's book in no way glorifies these things, but since it is told from the perspective of a teen, it isn't particularly harsh about them either. It's unabashed, is what it is, and rightly so. As far as the slang: some have said that the slang/idioms used by the teens in the book are outdated and lame (do people still say "lame"?). I wouldn't know about that, living as a thirty-year old in Seoul, South Korea, but I would venture that any book that has authentic dialogue would probably be out of style in a few years anyway. Just a thought.

If you can slog through the first third of the book, it's worth it

Customer Rating:

It's hard to know what rating to give this book because the first third of the book was awful. The writing was so immature. It sounded like a totally unconnected adult trying to write like a teenager and failing at it. I really didn't know whether I would get through the book. But I usually like Printz award books. And, after 100 pages, the wannabe-a-cool-teenager speak ended and it got really exciting. I really enjoyed the last two-thirds of the book and it made toiling through the beginning worth it. I'm not sure how connected the author really is with teenagers. I'm a decade shy of my teen years myself, but as a teacher in both middle and high school, the inauthentic language was really a turn-off (as was her lack of computer knowledge).

First choice for Teen Book Club

Customer Rating:

As a high school English teacher, and supervisor of a student-led Book Club, I loved this book. It is filled with all the elements of High School U.S.A.--cliques, bullies, athletes, populars, not-populars,etc. I liked getting into the mind of Torey Adams and learning his views (and questions) on spirituality, relationships, etc. There is profanity and references to sexual relationships among teens, but I was impressed with the element of teen abstinence and "doing what is right" as well.

A Great Surprise

Customer Rating:

I stumbled upon this book in a bundle of stuff handed down to me from a friend. I wasn't even sure it was something I'd like, but I thought I'd give it a chance before I took it to the used book store for credit. I was very surprised at how fast I read it. It's rare and wonderful for me to get greedy for a book I'm reading to the point that I want to put off all other things in the day. I couldn't put the book down until I found out what happened! A quick read worth the attention.

A book to read

Customer Rating:

"The Body of Christopher Creed" begins in a way that's a bit confusing. It's a bit difficult to keep track of the times (because there are changes). Even so, from the first word, the reader is hooked, trying to figure out what's happened and what will happen next. Christopher Creed, the loser everybody beat on and laughed at, has gone missing. Murdered, suicide, runaway... Nobody knows. All that remains is an extremely cryptic note that nobody can figure out. Torey Adams, our narrator and main character, becomes somewhat obsessed when he discovers he is mentioned in the note. He tries to figure out what happened to Christopher Creed, and gets into a lot more than he expected. There are quite a few excellent things about this book. The first is, strangely enough, the ending. Thoroughly satisfying and extremely heartwarming, the ending is the kind that makes a reader want to return to the book time and time again. Another impressive thing here is the writing itself. Clear, well-done - Torey's voice is one that is easy to follow but still impressive in every way. The best part of the book is probably the storyline itself, and the messages embedded in it. Small towns, discrimination, losers, and parental problems are all brought up and handled easily, in such a way that it's just interesting and fun to read. It's the kind of book that's almost impossible to put down. Truly a great story, a wonderful read, and an important one too. Enjoyable, thought-provoking, and interesting, "The Body of Christopher Creed" is a perfect choice for teens. Highly recommended.