I picked up Partly Cloudy by Gary Soto for a few reasons. One, it was short. Two, it was poetry. Three, it was about love. Certainly, the book delivered all of these things. It didn't rise far above them, but it delivered them.
The book, which is exactly 100 pages long, is divided into two equal sections; one written from girls' points of view and one from boys' points of view. It seemed to me as if all of the poems, none of which exceeded three pages in length, were written from a 13-year old's point of view. This, however, guaranteed that the poems were clean, lacking any references at all to sex. I enjoyed this; it gave me a sugary rush. I actually enjoyed the girls' section more because the characters were more diverse and developed in their voices (even though, of course, they were all written by Mr. Soto). The boys' section lacked depth and the characters either seemed stereotypical or stereotyped. Still, it wasn't bad by any means. One detail that was irksome to me, however, was the solely heterosexual point of view. All of the girls loved boys and all of the boys loved girls, as they lamented in their poems.
Regardless of these things, I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read, and an enjoyable one. If you're bored, pick it up. If you're lovestruck, pick it up. If not, maybe skip it.
Posted by Collin Knopp-Schwyn
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