Author: Flynn Meaney
ISBN: 978-0-316-10214-8
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Copyright: 2010
Plot Summary: Bloodthirsty begins in a dark alleyway with tall and pale Finbar Frame and petite, willing Jenny, beginning to be turned into a vampire. Finbar stares at her delicate neck and the jugular within; he dives for her neck then states that he is not a stereotypical vampire. He, in fact, turned himself into a vampire. The story then flashes back to the Frames' move to New York from Indiana and introduces Finbar and his twin brother, the star athlete Luke. After the move, the twins are sent to different schools: his popular brother to an all-boys school and Finbar to a public school, to give him a chance to open up. Coming to New York, Finbar finally gets to meet a girl he chatted with online, a gorgeous, snooty, upperclass girl named Celine, who promptly declares they should just be friends. On the heartbreaking train ride home, a girl sits next to Finbar and declares she knows his secret: he is a vampire. Finbar, thinking she is calling him an old, creepy, pasty stalker, leaves, but the idea is planted in his head. He realizes he could be a vampire and begins to undergo his damned transformation to pick up girls.
Critical Evaluation: As a parody book, Bloodthirsty does an excellent job in imitating others works without relying on them for plotline and characters. Drawing on popular culture and the current trend of vampire popularity, Meaney writes a book that is easy to relate to for readers as well as able to elicit laughter from others. The main character and narrator of Finbar Frame is an individual and distinct character who both male and female characters can relate to and empathize with, especially anyone who has felt different and left out from society. His thought processes and off-hand comments contain popular culture references that readers will recognize, and hopefully will not become dated too rapidly. Finbar's slow transformation into a vampire is more realistic than most stories in which the character evolves, as it is a mental change rather than a physical. As he says to Jenny, "Turn yourself. Just decide that you are someone else. Decide that you are a vampire. If you believe you're a vampire, everyone will believe you're a vampire." In other words, Finbar tells the readers that they can be whatever or whoever they want, as long as they have the willpower to make the change themselves rather than depending on an exterior (and vampiric) force to do it for them.
Reader's Annotation: Some vampires are good; some vampires are evil. Finbar Frame is a vampire to get girls.
Information About the Author: Bloodthirsty is Meaney's debut novel. Meaney graduated from Notre Dame and currently is a graduate student at Hunter College in New York City.
Meaney is currently working on her second book which is due out in fall 2011. Once her website is fully functional, follow Meaney here!
Genre: High school life; Romance; Self-acceptance; Parody
Curriculum Ties N/A
Booktalking Ideas:
- Finbar Frame, a 16-year-old teen, curses his luck. Next to his fraternal twin brother Luke, who is tall, athletic, and popular, Finbar can only be described as tall, lanky, and pasty with creepy pale eyes. Withdrawn and isolated, everything changes when a girl on the subway calls Finbar a vampire. Then, he realizes that vampires are popular and when vampires are popular, thin, pale teens like himself could also be popular! Finbar does a mental remake of himself, molding his personality into a bloodthirsty vampire who can lure all number of willing victims into his clutches...
Reading Level: 16+
Challenge Issues:
- While there is some language within this book, it would not equal more than a PG-13 rating in a movie house. Similarly, Finbar's descriptions and thought processes are no more explicit than other books with teen narrators.
Why This Book?: Staff recommendation
Reference Page:
Meaney, F. (2010). Bloodthirsty. New York: Hachette Book Group.
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