I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President
by Josh Lieb
Age Group – 11 and up
Book acquired from local library
I was attracted to this book only because it was referenced a reviewed by both Jon Stewart and Judd Apatow. This book read as if it was created from the brainstorming sessions of The Daily Show and Superbad. Probably boys. Go figure since the author is the head write of The Daily Show. I don’t know if I was in for a intelligent humorous read, but I found myself laughing out loud and really enjoying this story of a kid named Oliver. This book will appeal to more than just young adult boys. I think many adults will find humor in this book as their are some pretty intelligent bits of humor throughout.
Oliver is the main character. He is a lazy, geeky kid who everyone makes fun of for being “chubby” or fat. What nobody realizes is that he is a super genius and a multi-billionaire on the down low. He has crafted this massive underground empire. He keeps it all under lock and key and hence the dorky image that he has created. However, he decides to run for class president and finds himself in the most difficult campaign that he has encountered. Why does he care to be class president? Despite his tough guy image that he tries to get across to the reader I think he just really wants his dad to accept him and be proud of who he is(his dad has no idea that he is a genius and quite wealthy either)
I have once again read a book where the narrator is an unreliable character. I was awestruck by this concept when I read LIAR and now I have come across it again. He wants so bad to be evil and tough. He tries to be a bad guy by stating in one part that he does not love, but not even two sentences later he is discussing trying to make his mother smile. You see this repeatedly throughout. The whole premise of him trying to grab the attention of his father already throws his evil image out the window.
This book will make you laugh. It will make you think about whether we truly no the people around us. This book is perfect for middle school. I will warn that there is some mild language used, but nothing that I have not heard from middle school students before. There is some profanity and some quick references to talk of middle school life. I would not recommend this book to 5th grade, 6th grade I think most could handle and after that anyone would be game.
There are some pictures that are posted throughout the book. I love them. The one with the kid that has his finger in his nose makes me laugh every time I looked at it. As some other reviewers have mentioned, this reminds me of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It really follows the same logic, but just at a higher level. I think this could be another book that misses the radar of the popular books, but will still find a large following. I hope that it spreads because anytime a book makes me laugh out loud, then I know it is a good one. Once again, I recommend this book. It is a fast quick read that will help you waste away a few hours, but you won’t be sad that you wasted those hours with this book.
P.S. By the way, you have to check out the website
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