Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie: The good, the bad, and the pie

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie is one of those books where I knew I should have read it, but kept on postponing it because I didn't want to.

But once I actually sat down and read it, It was surprisingly a great book, and I could see why so many people liked it. I had actually read one of Sonnenblick's books before Dangerous Pie, Zen and the Art of Faking It, and I was quite fond of that book too. Even so, I was reluctant to read Dangerous Pie because it didn't really interest me. Now that I have read it though, I must say that it was much better than expected, however, I do have some bones to pick with this book. So without further ado, let's jump into this book and see if it really is all the rage, or if it was just one massive flop that tried to accomplish too much.

First off, the good. Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie is beautifully crafted, and the writing is so compelling and full of hilarious satire and relatable references. The story is presented very well, and I feel like the character development and story structure were phenomenal. The book is about an awkward 13-year old boy, Steven, who is an ace on the drums, but as clueless as you can get when it comes to sports. Steven is just trying to fit in we see him go through the regular struggles a teenage boy would face. It all changes when Steven finds out his brother, Jeffery, has leukemia, a form of cancer. Steven's world is flipped upside down, as he has to deal with his brother's sickness, school issues, and the family's growing financial problems. I really like how the story did not once feel rushed or paced wrong, and Steven was a really relatable and perfect character for this kind of book.

Now... on to what I didn't like.

This book was a bit too sappy and dramatic for my taste. Also, some of the important chapters just weren't presented well and felt incomplete and lackluster, and at times the dialogue and character interactions didn't feel right. Other than that, the only other thing is that the title is misleading. Yes, there are drums. Yes, there are girls. But Dangerous Pie? That's only mentioned in one or two chapters. Dangerous Pie was just something that Jeffery always "cooked" for Steven, but wasn't really that important. If you've ever seen one of those clickbait videos on YouTube, this was similar in the sense that Dangerous Pie was used to make the title more interesting. Of course, Dangerous Pie could be a very symbolic metaphor for a theme or motif of the book and could be very important to the story, and I could be 100% wrong.

But that's just me.

So, in short, I liked this book, but I also didn't. But it was an enjoyable read, and I'm glad I finally picked it up. It was definitely more than expected and I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a realistic and heartfelt story. I would rate this book an 8/10.

That's all for now, and remember, if you'd like to help contribute to this blog, we are only adding new authors for a little longer, so act quickly.

Thank you for reading, and goodbye!