The River Witches

by Ben Shecter

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060256087
• ISBN13: 9780060256081
• Release Date: September 1979
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 180 Pages
• Age Range: 10 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 5 and higher

Customer Reviews

They don't make books like this any more

If you read my other two book reviews, you'll notice that I am a fan of Paul Zindel's writing. And after reading The Pigman and The Pigman's Legacy, I wanted to get my hands on anything the man's written. I picked up Confessions Of A Teenage Baboon one day, and I haven't put it down since.Basically the book revolves around fifteen-year-old Chris Boyd and his struggles with his dysfunctional mother and the memories of his late father. His mother is a nurse, and whenever she gets a new patient, she and Chris move into the patient's home to take care of him/her. This time around the patient is an elderly woman named Carmelita Dipardi. And the members of the Dipardi household make the families in the movie "American Beauty" look normal. There's Carmelita's drunk son Lloyd and her disturbed husband, as well as Harold, a kid from the neighborhood that always seems to be around.Here Chris battles love, hate, pain, violence, and especially depression, while temporarily living in the madhouse that is the Dipardi residence. The book can be shocking at times, but all the way through it's very enjoyable. It's filed under YOUNG ADULT, but adults can enjoy it just as much as teens...even more so, I think. I'm 21 and I enjoy it. In fact, I literally read it almost every day and I still never get tired of it. Do yourself a favor and pick it up.

Good Zindel- different

This book was good- just regular, straight-up Zindel. Chris is an interesting character and Lloyd is fairly interesting too. I haven't read this in a while, but I do recommend it for any longtime Zindel fan. Do not begin with this one, however; start with I Never Loved Your Mind or The Pigman.

Can Relate!

In Confessions Of A Teenage Baboon I alone with other teenagers knows how it feels to be moved around from place to place. Leaving friends, best friends, loved ones and neighbors just because of your parent(s) jobs! My mom was also a live-in nurse so I know how it feels. This book is full of depression! Feelings are expressed emotionally and violently. Alot of times it is hard to admit you are getting close to somebody and you lie to yourself until it torments you. Chris was in alot of tough situations between stress, deceit, and love! I feel the same way towards some things and I would suggest this book to anyone who feels alone or needs advice or maybe someone who is tired of their own problems and wants to read about someone else's for a change! This book deserves a four. The only reason I did not give it a five was because it took too long to actually get to the point!

Full of drama and really lifelike.

I thought that this book was really good. When I picked it up I did not know what it was going to be like but when I started to read it I really liked it. I also thought it was a very exiting book because I did not know what was going to happen next. I just started reading Paul Zindel books, and now he one of my favorite authors.

A Fantastic book with strong emotional appeal.

Years ago i read this book because at the time, Paul Zindel was my favorite author, and let me say, i was not disapointed by this novel. Like other novels written by Paul Zindel, Confessions of a Teenage Baboon deals with a dramatized depiction of teenage life in its worse. This story leaves you wanting to turn the page and read on. If the reader is familiar with Paul Zindel, they are familiar with a supremely climatic ending, well, Confessions wont disapoint. THis story makes the reader aware of life outside a hum-drum life. Paul Zindel does not glorify or fantisize on any aspect of teenage life. In fact, after reading one of his novels, you will wonder how it is possible that he is not a teenager himself. Story line of this novel? I read this novel four years ago, so i dont remember the exact details. But let me say: Teenage anxt, the unexpected, drama, comedy, a hilarious title, unbelievably real characters, and brutily real situations. May i also recommend all other Paul Zindel books: The Amazing and Death-Defying Diary of Eugene Dingman, The Girl who Wanted a Boy, I never Loved your Mind, A Begonia for Miss Applebaum, The Efect of Gamma-Rays..., David and Della, Harry and Hortense at Hormone High, My Darling my Hamburger, Pardon me Your Stepping on my Eyeball, The Pigman, A star for the Latecomer. believe me or not, i have read all of these. i am deffinately the expert on Paul Zindel, and i plan to read all of these novels a second time.