Title: Boys Don’t Knit (in Public)
Author: T.S. Eaton
Age group: YA
Genre: contemporary
Subgenre: general fiction
Page count: 272
Rating: * * * *
I loved this book.
The main character, Ben, is a 17 year old with mild OCD, anxiety, and terrible taste in friends. His loser friends get him into trouble, which gets him on probation. Part of his probation involves taking some sort of class to better himself (and keep him out of trouble), and he ends up in a knitting course, thinking it will be taught by the hot teacher at school…but instead it’s his crush’s mom.
The oddball characters int his book were all super hilarious, and even when they were annoying they managed to be heartwarming. Even his loser friends end up being loyal and dedicated in the end, even if their decision making skills are an epic fail.
I read this book almost in one sitting, and laughed through a good chunk of it. The only reasons it didn’t land a 5 star rating is that Ben and his friends, as teenage boys, say a lot of nasty things about women when no one is around to hear them (think “locker room talk”). I’m not okay with it, but I also understand that he’s a 17 year old boy and very immature in a lot of ways.
Secondly, this book takes place if the UK, and in the US edition a few things were changed (ex. football became soccer, crisps became chips, etc). However, I like reading the original UK language, and not all the changes were done consistently. Also, at one point in the book the author used the word “autism” when dyslexia would have been more appropriate.
Last, and this is just me being knit-picky (pun intended) I don’t think the author actually knits, because they think it is completely reasonable for someone to knit an entire sock in an hour, and to sell hand-knit sweaters for £25. Even the fastest knitter I know can only do half a sock in 2-3 hours, and I think the world champ for speed knitting would still need about 2 hours (I’m guessing).
Still, I read this in one day, and I’m off to reserve the sequel now. It is definitely worth a read if you enjoy YA books, or are frustrated with the “chicklit” brand of knitlit.
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