Review: Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

Title: Five Flavors of Dumb
Author: Antony John
Publisher: Dial
Release date: November 11th 2010
Pages: 352
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: Bought
Find out more: Amazon ; Goodreads

Goodreads description:

The Challenge: Piper has one month to get the rock band Dumb a paying gig.
The Deal: If she does it, Piper will become the band's manager and get her share of the profits.
The Catch: How can Piper possibly manage one egomaniacal pretty boy, one talentless piece of eye candy, one crush, one silent rocker, and one angry girl? And how can she do it when she's deaf?
Piper can't hear Dumb's music, but with growing self-confidence, a budding romance, and a new understanding of the decision her family made to buy a cochlear implant for her deaf baby sister, she discovers her own inner rock star and what it truly means to be a flavor of Dumb.

First sentence:

For the record, I wasn't around the day they decided to become Dumb.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I love the idea for this book - a deaf girl managing a rock band? That's crazy and original and just so much fun.

When I first started reading I was a little disappointed that Piper can hear a little bit and can read lips really well - not because I'm evil and want Piper to struggle even more with her deafness, just because I thought it would have been really interesting to see how the author manages to have Piper communicate with people outside her family since they wouldn't be able to talk or sign. But I ended up enjoying reading about Piper's deafness the way it is - I love how her deafness plays an important role in the story, but isn't what it's really about - it's just a part of who Piper is. I ended up liking how she could usually understand people, and the situations where she pretends not to understand someone and has Finn or Ed sign random things to her are hilarious.

I love Piper - she's so easy to relate to. She has the everyday struggles of being a teenager, but she also has to deal with being deaf and managing a rock band. I really enjoyed seeing her grow throughout the book. The secondary characters are amazing. I loved reading about Piper's relationship with her parents and how that changed over the course of the novel, and I loved reading about her and her brother, Finn, who is so sweet. But most of all I loved reading about the bandmates - they're all so different and unique. Ed and Piper are adorable together; their relationship is so realistic, and I love how their romance is always there but never the main focus. I also love how Piper's relationship with Tash and Kallie grew over time.

The plot is amazing, fast-paced and so much fun. I loved reading about the band, and didn't want the book to end - I wanted to stay with Piper and the rest of the characters forever and see what happens to Dumb in the future.

The music aspect is great, too. Even if you're not that into rock (like me), it's still easy to connect to the music in Five Flavors of Dumb, since it's more about the feeling of it all than the actual music. I can't explain it, it just makes you want to scream and shout and get up and dance and laugh out loud - the whole novel just conveys an awesome feeling, which is probably what I loved most about Five Flavors of Dumb.

Five Flavors of Dumb is such an awesome book - it's so much fun, but it has a sweet message, too. It's one of my favorites of the year, and I definitely recommend it!