Contemporary March #11: Five Flavors of Dumb

WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

Goodreads:

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.

Review: First thing that hooked me was the fact that Piper, our main character, is deaf. You read me--deaf. I've never read a book about a deaf person before.

The fact that a deaf person was going to manage an up-in-coming rock band is what really got me. I was thinking "How is that going to work?" "Is she going to sign the whole time?" "Can she talk or does she just sign?"

Well, turns out Piper, besides signing, has hearing aids and is an expert at reading lips. This makes it a bit easier for her to hear/understand people. If I wrote this character, I wouldn't have given her the ability to lip read. It might have made the book a bit more interesting with her challenge to understand people and the band.

The name of the band I think is appropriate. Dumb. That's just what the band is in the beginning. They don't listen well to each other. One member is in it jsut for one of the other members. Another in it to get a girl (not the one in the band). And later the new members---one's in it for Piper, and the other is in it because she was aked to be but she can't play.

Well, first things first--a bit more about the plot.

So, Piper's parents raid her college fund to by her baby sister some implants so she can hear since her deafness is more serious than Piper's. What makes it worse is that only one of her parents is working while the other stays home and takes care of things (and it's not the mom). Well, after an argument with the lead of the band Dumb, she ends up the manager and has to get them a gig in one month. If she does, they split the money, which she now needs.

Well, on their way to rockstardom, everyone in the book changes in a way.

• Piper: the valedictorian of the class. Loved by the teachers, good grades. No trouble. Well, this band changes her. She discovers taht she's sick of being a good girl, and want to live life before she goes off to college. She gets new friends and changes her hair to something she would have never done. She takes risk that she never would have dreamed of doing, and let's out everything she thinks about her nonsupportive dad and the fact they used her college fund for implants.
• Tash: or Natasha. Picture her with carigo pants, green hair, and a guitar. Originally, she joined the band to try to get closer to Will, Josh's younger brother. And she really hates it when drop dead gorgous Kallie joins the band, thinking she'll steal Will's attention. But later, she starts to realize Will is just into music, not her, and starts to appreciate music. And she starts getting over Will. Thank God! (because there's someone else that likes her).
• Kallie: one of those girls that is popular but with a hidden background. Her dad and mom divorced, and dad can't pay child support, so she and her mom live in an apartment and she wears last season's clothes. But that's not the point. At first, she though Josh actually wanted her in the band because she could play the guitar (and she does; just not that good). But later she discovers he only asked her because he thought that would give him brownie points when he wanted to hookup with her. Gross. Then on, she tries to find a way to quit, but later says she'll stay and gets a backbone and stands up for herself.
• Will: Quiet, cares only for music. Not much to him at first, but he does coume out and speaks his mind about how Josh is treating Kallie and that he needs to leave the band because it's not Kallie that sucks, it's him [Josh].
• Josh: jerk. Josh the Jerk. Well, in the beginning, I thought that he actually wanted to go through with teh band and have Kallie in it so they could be better. But nope. When she proves she sucks, he wants her out. Not only that, but the other reason is because she rejected him. Then he keeps trying to get her to quit or get her kicked out, but Karma's a bitch. hehehe
• Ed: sweet, smart, drum playing Ed. His joining the band is kinda an involuntary action. He never had intended to join until Piper asked if he would. And the whole reason why he did (and why he's in chess club) is to get closer to Piper. He's even taking Sign Language classes for her. But like her, he was a good student with a promising band career. But the band lets him let go and live.
• Finn: not actually part of the band but does later. He's Piper's little brother and signs as well as she does, but feels like a slave and her shadow because he helps interpret for her and doesn't feel like his own person. But later he starts feeling like himself and helps out the girls with their chords. Plus, he's a poker genius. :D

Future: stand alone

Five Flavors of Dumb is one of themost creative contempoary novels I"ve ever read. It is a must read for everyone.

Rating, Cover, Ending:

* Won this book

Keep On Reading!

Up Next:

Actually, I'm done with it. Review to come soon!