Exploits of a Reluctant (But Extremely Goodlooking) Hero.

Gregory Bryan is a member of the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.

The unnamed 13-year-old narrator of Maureen Fergus’s hilarious novel, Exploits of a Reluctant (But Extremely Goodlooking) Hero, has a giant-sized ego, a predilection for getting himself into trouble, and little awareness of (or concern for) others. Yet somehow, by book’s end, he does emerge as a hero of sorts. With dreams of inheriting a fortune through the family business—House of Toilets—our hero is generally happiest left to his own self-serving devices. When he is forced to volunteer at a Winnipeg soup kitchen, however, he begins to see people in a different way.

In order to put a reign on the protagonist’s free, and often offensive, speech, his mother gives him a tape recorder. The mother directs her son to speak into the tape recorder whenever he feels the urge to express his unfettered thoughts. The novel represents a transcription of the hero’s uncensored, tape-recorded words.

If it were not so funny, the accuracy of the protagonist’s voice would seem almost frightening. Middle school readers will get a kick out of Fergus’s writing style. Many will (perhaps unfortunately) see a lot of themselves in the book’s main character.

With her tongue very firmly implanted into her cheek, Maureen Fergus has created a novel that will provide readers many opportunities to enjoy a good laugh at the hero’s way of viewing the world. Highly recommended.