Blog Review # 6: Vampire/Horror "Suck it Up.."

Meehl, Brian. "Suck it Up". Random House, Inc. New York. 2008

Genre: Vampire- Horror, Supernatural. Fiction

Annotation: This fictional story is about a teen vampire, Morning McCobb who though had supernatural powers, still went through all the struggles that teenagers are associated with. He had developmental issues and looked different from his peers. He was orphaned and was raised in group homes. He was also challenged academically and was glad whenever he made a C. However, despite all these shortcomings, Morning McCobb became popular and a super-hero at the end of the story.


Nomination Justification: I nominate this book for the teenage reader because it has a well written plot with engaging and exciting characters. The writing style is in the first person and it is easy and pleasing to read. There is suspense all through the novel and the horror/vampire scenes were not too gory. The horror presented was enough to satisfy the curiosity of horror story lovers and would not be repulsive to readers who are new to the genre. There is also the presentation of information about vampires at the begining of the book like how to recognise a vampie in three easy steps. There was a slight use of humor throughout the book like on page 56 where Portia talked about the divorce of her parents. "She said when she was thirteen, her mother had hit the husband eject button, and Dad hadn't stopped flying until he landed in Australia."
   There was also the strong presentation of the themes of Identity, sexual attraction, immortality, power, and revenge. The protagonist/vampire mission was to get people of mortalty (lifers) to accept them (IVL League vampires) as a new generation of vampires who were not night-stalking, fang-popping and bloodsucking fiends. This mission angered one of the leaders of the ancient vampire cult (Ikor DeThanatos) who feared that revealing vampire secrets to human/mortality, would endager all vampires and he sought to destroy Morning McCobb. His quest for revenge opened up a lot of secrets and resolution.
   The teenage reader would find this book very exciting.