sticks and stones will break our bones but words will break our spirit

I read this book in a couple of days. I kind of couldn't put it down. I mean once I realized what the general plot lines were, especially the Collin thing (I totally saw it coming!), I just had to know how it all turned out. And I have to say when I first finished the book, I was a little disappointed in the ending. Ok, a lot disappointed. And not just because I got bored waiting for everyone to figure everything out. It was just too neat. Even the defeat in the elections which had kind of been the anchor of the book took a backseat to everything else. I didn't like that because everything else had worked out. But Jen brought up a good point in class: why not? Why not have everything work out? And it was then that I started to appreciate the ending much more for its unreality. I have to say, though, I still had a problem with many of the characters. I actually wanted to reach into the book and slap Addie off her soap box a few times. There was a little too much blood coming from that bleeding heart for me, if you know what I mean. She was presumptuous to the point of being offensive and I suppose that was Howe's point but still...those parts were harder to read. I did appreciate DuShawn's (ew) sense of humor about the whole thing though. And that he was clever enough to resist in his own way. I'm not sure I can ever fully accept the characters of his two girl friends though. I'm still working through some issues I have with their portrayals. And I gotta say, Skeezie came from left field. There were times during the early part of the novel when Skeezie would say something and I would start flipping back to see if I maybe missed that the action was taking place in 1955. I'm still not sure what that was about. It's funny that most people had a problem with Joe and he was the character I found most accurate. I've known a few Joes in my life. Even in 7th grade but especially in high school. I liked that this book did exactly what I think it was intended to do, which was to get us talking about different school environments. Even if it was to just compare our own experience with others in our group. But I have to say, some of the names on the list made me feel as though there were perhaps some deeper issues that needed to be addressed among the student body. Some of the words were racial slurs which I found disturbing. Especially because most of the kids misused them. Where are they getting this from? That's what really scared me about The Misfits.
And although it never becomes quite clear what is up Ms. Wyman, I still found her character to be hilarious for some reason. It might be the way that Bobby never seemed too fazed by her severity. I expect that if her attitude had really bothered the children, I wouldn't have taken her so lightly.