Beau, Lee, The Bomb & Me

by Mary McKinley

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Beau, Lee, The Bomb & Me sounded like it was going to be a fun story with a lot of heart. Well, it's more like a big, ol' mess and then gets a lot of heart at the end. Rusty is our 200+ pound narrator who is tortured daily at school, so she's happy when there's a new kid to take some of the pressure off of her. Of course, she and Beau strike up a friendship and brave the bullies together. At least until things go too far and Beau is beat up. He needs to get away, so he decides to reach out to his gay uncle in San Francisco. Rusty gets her mom's van, and then their friend Leonie jumps in with them, and off they go on a road trip from Seattle to the city by the bay.

I immediately hated Rusty. She is completely irritating. She's smart, which is great, but she's also one of those smart people who uses her brains to put others down. She doesn't do it to their face, but she makes a lot of snarky comments about everyone. And just about anytime she makes a reference to something, she follows it up with "look it up" because apparently there's no way we can know what she's talking about. She also has no filter, so the first half of Beau, Lee, The Bomb & Me feels very rambly and all over the place. Rusty seriously says everything that comes to mind, and that girl has some high and mighty opinion on EVERYTHING. I just could not stand her. She does mellow out during their trip though, which was good. Oh, and there are no chapter breaks which added to the rambly feel, and the most common punctuation was an ellipsis...

I also had major issues with Rusty's best friend, Leonie. She's the pretty girl who's kind of an outcast because she's a slut. That's all well and good, except she's also an idiot. This girl knows nothing. She's been having a relationship with one of her teachers for two years (she's 16), and doesn't understand why she can't shout their love from the rooftops. Um, seriously? It's illegal! Rusty explains this to her but she doesn't know what her boyfriend being in a "position of authority" means and why that's bad. She does have some big revelation about their relationship later and calls it off, but not because she realizes he's using her (and she still doesn't understand why it's illegal!!!), but because he doesn't pick her up or meet her anywhere. She always has to go to him. Are you kidding me right now!? Leoni also didn't know what homophobia was, and then didn't get what it had to do with Beau, who is gay and getting harassed because of it. Basically, everyone had to explain everything to her because she knows nothing. Then she'd get stuck on some aspect of conversations that wasn't even the point of what they're talking about, and it was just frustrating!

The road trip portion of Beau, Lee, The Bomb & Me was kind of fun, but I was very annoyed with it at first. Beau and Leonie want to take a detour to Forks, which is 200 miles out of their way. If I was Rusty, I'd be irritated by them too. But instead of explaining that they're short on gas money and it's too far out of the way, she goes on and on and on about how stupid Twilight is until Lee points out that just because she doesn't like it, doesn't mean she gets to make them feel bad for liking it. And then Rusty is all concerned about their funds, but stops at two restaurants in one day and orders full meals, then whines when Lee wants a t-shirt as a souvenir. But then Rusty rents a cabin so Beau can see the ocean, because apparently the Pacific Ocean doesn't exist at their destination, and then proceeds to whine about money again. COME ON!

Once our trio (plus a dog Lee rescues) arrives in San Francisco things do get better. I really liked Beau's uncles. They were both funny, but also taught them a lot about their struggles and what they're doing to change things. However, there are pages and pages of ranting, which felt like having their message shoved down my throat. I totally agree with everything their saying, but it kind of felt like an attack of opinion. And it just kept going and going and going. Uncle Oscar also came across as an inspirational poster rather than a believable character. The last quarter of Beau, Lee, The Bomb & Me was pretty great though. I loved how everything turned out, especially for Rusty, even if I still didn't like her at all.

In the end, Beau, Lee, The Bomb & Me was a huge disappointment. The only character I actually liked and thought was written well was Beau. I felt so bad when he didn't get the answers he hoped for, but it's not up to his uncles to tell him how to live his life. It was also nice to see his eyes opened up to a whole world of possibilities. Unfortunately, everyone else sucked, especially our narrator.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.