Blog Tour: Your Own Worst Enemy - Gordon Jack

Your Own Worst Enemy
Gordon Jack
Series: n/a
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

Three candidates, three platforms, and a whirlwind of social media, gaffes, and protests makes for a ridiculous and hilarious political circus in Gordon Jack’s second highly satirical novel. Perfect for fans of Andrew Smith and Frank Portman. They say that with great power comes great responsibility. Unless you’re student body president at Lincoln High School. Then you get all the responsibility but none of the power. And the three candidates running for president know all about that.

Stacey Wynn is the front-runner, but she didn’t count on Julia Romero entering this race. Julia is challenging Stacey for the title while also putting the moves on Stacey’s campaign adviser and only friend, Brian. And then there is Tony Guo, the way outsider. Tony is usually oblivious to the school’s political campaigning, as he’s oblivious to anything that isn’t about getting high and drinking all the Space Cow chocolate milk he can stomach. But when his favorite beverage is banned at school, a freshman political “mastermind” convinces Tony to become the voice of the little guy. But what kind of voice is that, really?

If this were an ordinary high school election, the winner would be whichever candidate was the most popular. But this year, each candidate may have to sink to a new low to win an election that could change the course of...very little.

REVIEW

I had featured this book as one of my Can't-Wait Wednesday picks. I had been expecting something along the lines of the movie Election, where the whole political process was depicted in a satirical way, and Gordon Jack definitely delivered that in Your Own Worst Enemy.

What seemed like a sure thing for Stacey turned into a cutthroat political race, which included false accusations, mud slinging, and even maligning by the media. Both Tony and Julia came out of nowhere to challenge Stacey, and to stop her rise to power.

I must say, I really liked all three candidates, even Tony, who was pretty ridiculous and really hilarious. Jack did a great job creating these characters, because though they were each crafted in a way to represent a specific type of political voice, they were still very human. It was their flaws, which helped me empathize with them, even when they were running off the rails a little.

It was easy to pick out all the current issues and ploys from the current state of American politics. However, because Jack was depicting all sides of just about every political hot button topic out there in an exaggerated manner, it didn't bother me. In fact, because he was showing all these things to the extreme, it showed how ridiculous we are about some things, while still shedding light on particular issues.

One thing I can tell you is that I laughed, a lot. This book was really funny, even hilarious at times, but it was also kind of deep and thought provoking, in a good way. Some truths are easier to digest when served with humor, and I found Jack's examination of the the political process and the current issues facing Americans to be quite palatable.

Overall: A hilarious and pretty honest look at American politics that left me laughing and thinking.

* ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gordon Jack always wanted to be a writer. In third grade, he put that on his “What I want to be when I grow up” list, just behind astronaut and professional dog walker. While working towards this goal, he had jobs as an advertising copywriter, English teacher, librarian, and semi-professional dog walker. The Boomerang Effect was his first novel. He lives in San Francisco with his family.

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