Sunday, December 5, 2010

I am Number Four - by Pitticus Lore


Published: August 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins
Number of Pages: 440
Copy Provided by: Library
Summary: Goodreads

Summary:

The narrator of this action adventure novel calls himself Number Four, but the three previous numbers have all been caught and killed. Each of these superhuman entities resembles we mere earthlings, but that resemblance conceals powers new to our weakling planet. Pittacus Lore's unconventional fantasy will cause you to look closely at suspicious strangers.

Review:

When I first started reading this novel, I thought - Who is this Pitticus Lore person? What an interesting name. Turns out that Pitticus Lore is a charcter in the book but also as a pseudonym for someone you may already be familiar with. The series has being written by Jobie Hughes and James Frey. I am unfamiliar with Jobie but James Frey is most famous for being slammed on Oprah for creating an autobiography proven to be mostly fictional. At any rate, he/they are certainly turning things around with this fast-paced original creation.

For the most part, I found this to be an enjoyable story but there were only a few things that threw me off

**spoiler**

Number Four uses his legacy carelessly during a fright night hayride. This seemed unbelievable. Why be so obvious about something you are trying desperately to keep secret?

If Mark was such a jerk, why go to his party? Or have anything to do with him? Dude, he tried to get you beaten up!

**spoiler over**

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest...

Here are my favorite quotes from the book

pg. 124
"Hope?" he says. "There is always hope, John. New developments have yet to present themselves. Not all the information is in. No. Don't give up hope just yet. It's the last thing to go. When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope."

( I could not find the page number for this quote...sorry!)
"The force causes it to smash into a million little pieces..."
(ahh....the irony of James Frey....)

This title is currently being made into a movie starring Alex Pettyfer, Dianna Agron and Timothy Olyphant. Scheduled release date is February 2011 and the movie trailer can be seen on our WOW page. I can't wait to see how they interpreted this storyline and translated it to film. I am Number Four is like a marketing machine and if you really want to get into the hype, you can find out more here.

3 comments:

  1. Hey! Great review. I just read this one recently too. And you've definitely got a point about Mark's party - that definitely threw me off. And that's so cool that you noticed the underhanded James Frey plug :P

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  2. Thanks Amelia! Did you also notice that Tobie and Frey were used as alternative identities for number four when the fake IDs were being made? Sneaky Sneaky!!

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  3. I just finished this book and will post my review in a minute. I loved it and am looking forward to the film, but i think i enjoyed the book so much the film might disappoint me. We'll have to wait and see.
    *SPOILER -maybe
    I agree with you on the party thing, i can't see why he went. Had to get his powers out somehow i suppose :P

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