Kids of Appetite – Book Review!

Hi guys! This week I’ll be talking about this amazing book that had me intrigued ever since it came out, I am talking about Kids of Appetite by David Arnold! But before I begin, I’d like to thank Socialbookco for sending me a copy to review. ♥

Kids of Appetite
by David Arnold
352 Pages
Published: September 20th 2016
Goodreads rating: 4.12 stars ( 1,044 Ratings )

My rating: 4.25 stars (⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆)

They lived and they laughed…and they saw that it was good.

Victor Benucci and Madeline Falco have a story to tell. It begins with the death of Vic’s father. It ends with the murder of Mad’s uncle. The Hackensack Police Department would very much like to hear it. But in order to tell their story, Vic and Mad must focus on all the chapters in between.

This is a story about:

1. A coded mission to scatter ashes across New Jersey.
2. The momentous nature of the Palisades in winter.
3. One dormant submarine.
4. Two songs about flowers.
5. Being cool in the traditional sense.
6. Sunsets & ice cream & orchards & graveyards.
7. Simultaneous extreme opposites.
8. A narrow escape from a war-torn country.
9. A story collector.
10. How to listen to someone who does not talk.
11. Falling in love with a painting.
12. Falling in love with a song.
13. Falling in love.

This book starts out as a “murder mystery”, we see our two main characters being questioned about the murder of Mad’s uncle. They look guilty, or at least those are the vibes they give. They are hiding something, they are stalling, they are all over the place with their stories and the police is not amused. While they are being questioned, we are presented with the whole story of this book.

One of our main characters, Victor Benucci, has Moebius syndrome – which is a neurological disorder that causes facial paralysis. Vic is unable to blink or smile (well, he can’t show much facial expression at all) and this causes people to look at him strange, and even judge him. This is not a trait that defined the character though, I’d say the main thing we need to know about Vic is that he misses his dad, who died two years ago, and feels extremely out of place in a home where his widowed mother is trying to rebuild her (love) life. He runs away on a quest, and this is where our story develops into the amazingness that it is.

Vic meets a group of people, ranging from kids to young adults, who welcome him. This group (Kids of Appetite) help Vic on his quest, and while we see them advancing on the quest we also learn about their pasts. We are showed some lives, which in different ways, connect. From domestic violence to being a refugee from the Republic of Congo, all of our characters are connected by one thing… the loss of loved ones. Each character has a unique story and a unique personality, the group is very diverse, some are serious, some are full of laughter. It really made me picture a REAL group, with a REAL connection.

The book has many hilarious references, from Harry Potter, Tom Hanks, Jersey Shore (YUP, you read right!), and many others! The most important reference is Mad’s love for The Outsiders. I love how the author mentions The Outsiders A LOT through a character. I loved that he did the same thing as the author of The Outsiders did, which in this book it’s called The Hinton Vortex. This was one of those things that made the book feel AMAZING once you read that last sentence and I do NOT want to ruin that experience for you by telling you more about it, but trust me… it blew my mind!

Anyway… before wrapping up my quick review, this book is full of quotable moments, and while I usually just pick one to talk about, I had to share two this time! So here are my favorite quotes from Kids of Appetite:

“We are all part of the same story, each of us different chapters. We may not have the power to choose setting or plot, but we can choose what kind of character we want to be.”

*cries* This quote is amazing, and it has so much meaning in this book; specially if you think about them being called “Chapters”.

“…I guess you could say I keep reading because I haven’t finished yet.”

This is regarding to Mad reading The Outsiders over and over… we all have that one book that we love more than any other, and I am sure we would not mind reading it more than once. This is relateable to me because it shows how much a person can love a book. I WILL NEVER BE FINISHED READING!

After this book, I feel a bit sad about not picking up “Mosquitoland”, but I will definitely add it now to my tbr list, I’d love to read more from this author!

You can get Kids of Appetite for the LOWEST price on the market via Socialbookco!