YA Burris Weems feels awkward and out of step with the world, and he scorns the conformity and confusion of his adolescent peers. During one summer, a variety of funny and sad events change his perception of himself. He makes a friend, falls in love, and loses his virginity. He loses his friend, and is betrayed by his love. In a bizarre cross-country trip, Burris tries to prove something to himself, and it almost destroys him. Burris is obnoxious but interesting. The people around him are stereotypes, but that is fitting with how he perceives them. Through the traumas of the summer, Burris becomes less critical of himself and of others and gains self-respect. Burris Weems' quirkiness is appealing, and his feelings of inadequacy and his bravado in the face of those feelings will make him a sympathetic character to those enduring the growing up process. Lois Jerolleman, Houston Public Library
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Matthews (Heart of the Country has set this contemporary coming-of-age novel in suburban Indiana. Fifteen-year-old Burris Weems, who is bright, talkative and admittedly pedantic, decides to dictate his secret thoughts into a stolen tape recorder. His first entries comprise a litany of what is wrong with the world in general and Burris in particular. He is short, he limps, he failed every subject last semester, he shares a tiny house with his chain-smoking mother and sister, and his sex-life is nonexistent. Burris has a realistic teenage voice, and his early, rapid-fire diatribes can be annoying. Things pick up considerably for Burris (and the reader) when he gets a summer job stacking cartons. Befriended by Lee, a co-worker, Lee's wife Diane and Diane's father Genewho, after a sex-change operation, is JeanBurris's world changes dramatically. The suicide of one of his new friends provides the impetus that sends Burris on a funny, harrowing and affecting journey across the U.S.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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