Review: Appetite for Detention

Appetite for Detention
Sloane Tanen

This book was an unmitigated disappointment. Previously reviewed Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same and Going for the Bronze, two of Tanen's other books, were ironically and sarcastically funny, and had a sly way of ferreting out the kinds of things we want to know about others but would never ever ask, a sense of airing one's laundry in a public space. It was therefore with much anticipation that I looked forward to Appetite for Detention; however, it fails to deliver.

Appetite for Detention features the same pipe-cleaner-chickens as Tanen's previous works, and similarly themed issues and insecurities, dolled up this time as high school experiences. The reader follows a loose collection of named chicks (Annelise, Marissa, Edgar, and others) through the trials and tribulations of high school. Some of the vignettes are funny, as is expected of Tanen; others feel forced, and a few are simply silly. Tanen is either unwilling to confront the realities of high school in her usual cynical style, or she would rather dawdle in a world of stereotypes. The book might have been better had it been longer, and had the characters she chose to develop not seem curtailed. Perhaps a return to the adult-themed humor books would be best, though an article in Publisher's Weekly implies that this might be her last effort with her dioramas. In either case, Appetite for Detention isn't up to her previous efforts and might be better left unread.

I give it a 2 out of 5.

See it for yourself:
Appetite for Detention