Reviews

• naughty but very realistic!

  My fourteen year old daughter asked me to purchase this book for her, as she enjoys reading books about teenage love stories and boys, so I wasn't at all shocked by the title 'doing it'. I was looking for an easy read and read the book after her telling me it was brilliant and I may actually like it. It throws you into the mindset of the three teenage boys straight away, and so you have to prepare yourself for the 'naughty language and details' throughout the whole book. Despite many people saying that it is a little too explicit, I think it is great! Yes, of course, there are some slightly 'cringey' uses of language in there, but it is realistic and lets face it- it is exactly the way a teenage boy thinks and acts. As a mother of two teenagers, one being a sixteen year old lad, I know that this book tells no lies about the mind of an adolescent male. I've often heard my son and his mates talking about girls with sometimes the most vile attitudes, and it takes a lot for me to not run in and tell them to stop being so disgusting, but that's just the way they are wether we like it or not. It certainly gave my daughter a clearer view of boys, but thankfully she wasn't too shocked as she said that most of the boys at her school are exactly the same! A fantastic read! I would reccomend it for any teenager/young adult for an easy read and a bit of a giggle.

• good

  good book, good price, good condition

• Raunchy yet Incredibly Fun

  Let me preface this by saying - this book was incredibly awkward to read in public (as in, while in the break room at work) due to not only the title, but also the content. Regardless of said awkwardness, Doing It is a really fun read and almost too realistic at times. Meet Dino, Jonathon and Ben - three juniors in high school. Like most 17 year old boys, they only have one thing on their mind - sex. Dino, a stock male who knows he looks good, likes Jackie - the hottest girl in school. Jackie, however, is so over high school boys and their immature ways - that is, until curiosity gets the best of her. Jonathon is good friends with Deborah, a sweet girl in his class, and that's it, he'll diligently remind you. Because Deborah, you see, is a bit overweight, so clearly he'll never be caught with her. That is, of course, until things get a bit crazy at a house party. And Ben - Ben has a secret of his own, one that can't get out, because if it does it'll ruin not just his life, but the life of the other person involved as well. The other female involved. The other older female who may be crazy involved. And thus starts Doing It, a book that follows the three boys through highs and lows, parties and breakups, mistakes and take backs. And, ultimately, through them not quite becoming mature enough to be men, but getting exactly what they're after. Doing It isn't for the faint of heart - as the title suggests, it's rather racy and very graphic. But, that just adds to its charm, in a way. Melvin Burgess has a way of writing these private moments in incredibly raw and blunt ways. Just like guys are. As an author, he doesn't hold back. He wants it to be like you're in a locker room overhearing these three guys talk about girls. It's truthful. And because of that, clearly, as a female, I hated all three of them. Okay, not really hated - they all had their charm, which, again, was what I really liked about the book. For instance, Dino is awful. He's the alpha; he's chauvinistic around women and macho around his friends. He's the most graphic of the bunch, constantly making sexual innuendoes and judging every girl by her looks (which, most 17 year old guys do). However, he's also sensitive. As he learns that his parents are having marital problems, you see a different side of him - the real side he hides from his friends. And although I thought the marital problems subplot was pointless at first, I realized how important it really was. It was necessarily in order to develop Dino's character, bring life to it. Jonathon keeps battling with himself regarding Deborah. Should he like her because she's great, or should he not because his friends think she's fat. And Ben, well, Ben learns that thinking with your brain is a bit smarter than thinking with...other body parts. In the end, he was my favorite character. He was smart, helpful. What I liked most was that the end didn't bring magic and happiness. Sure, some characters changed for the better - learning from their situations, but some ended up right where they started. And that's what usually happens, doesn't it? I liked Doing It because it really was a realistic portrayal of high school - how horrid it truly is at times. And the British slang (as Burgess is a British writer), just made it better. It's a book that should be given to high school guys, although I'm sure many teachers might disagree. Sure, there are graphic sexual scenes and horrid language, but there's also a bit of heart. And sometimes, guys really need that (heart, that is).

• Several viewpoints keep the interest

  As a female reader, this book was fascinating to me as a 'snapshot' of teenage boys' thinking processes. I laughed and screwed up my face as the boys talked about their girlfriends to each other in an extremely derogatory way, and yet all of them were terrified of the girls finding out they had behaved like this! All the boys have problems of their own - each is keeping a secret that he can't possibly share with anyone. Unlike girls, who tell each other everything (often to their own detriment, as such secretc can be used against them later), boys use words to impress each other and thus boost their own standing within the group - words that may not necessarily be true and are certainly unlikely to reflect their true feelings. The book is written in shifting points of view and alternately in past and present tense - a style that does hold the interest (as each chunk is short and quick to read) but also makes it difficult to keep caring about the overall story. I would have given this book three stars but for the storyline involving Ben, who is sleeping with his teacher. I thought this storyline showed excellently how an older (emotionally damaged) woman could manipulate a younger man in a sexual situation. And how that seventeen-year-old would feel trapped because, to all intents and purposes, he is living every boy's fantasy - even though it's turned sour. The book is explicit but not unnecessarily so. An interesting and insightful read.

• Refreshing change

  This is a difficult one to call. This book was never intended for people like me...a middle aged mum, so I'm not sure I'm qualified to judge. The author apparently wrote this book because he felt, and I agree, there was a short-full in the market for YA male readers. I chose this book because it was a coming of age drama about three young lads who are finding out about love and sex and how to cope with relationships written from the male prospective. Males in general are not emotional creatures and I was curios to know how the author would develop these characters and their emotional connections to girls without making it slushy and romantic. I'm not sure the author was able to capture the essence of modern youth who live their lives through social media today but I respect the author for trying and over all I feel he did a good job. I laughed a lot at the antics the guys got up to and the situations they found themselves in. It reminded me of The Inbetweeners sit com. Yes it's crude and vulgar in parts and may even make you squirm, but this it how teenage boys think and to shy away from that would make this book very unrealistic and not attractive to the YA male reader at all. I felt the book dealt with some very sensitive subjects that some young men find hard to talk about, so I would definitely recommend this book to 15 to 18 year old's. For my age group not so much...unless, like me, your just curios about the workings of the male psyche.

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