Book Review: My Big Nose and Other Nautral Disasters by Sydney Salter

Review: My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters
Author: Sydney Salter
No. Of Pages: 352
Release Date: 6th April 2009

I recieved this book through International Book Tours

Welcome to the summer of passion. For seventeen-year-old Jory Michaels, that means three sun-and-fun filled months of spending time with her best friends, obsessing over her crush, trying to find something she is passionate about, and…saving for a nose job. Jory is determined to lose the big, honking, bumpy monstrosity she calls the Super Schnozz—the one thing standing between her and happiness.

So accident-prone Jory takes a job delivering wedding cakes to save up for surgery; she even keeps a book filled with magazine cut-outs of perfect noses to show the doctor. To find her passion, she tries yoga; she tries becoming a foreign film buff; but nothing is quite as interesting as finding a boyfriend. And that can’t happen until Super Schnozz disappears…right?

Jory is in for some big surprises when passion finds her—and she discovers the beautiful people she longs to look like are not as perfect as they seem.

My Thoughts:

This is such a funny book!

Jory is a lovably annoying character with serious self-esteem issues. My Big Nose takes place during the summer before her senior year. The summer she wants to lose her virginity and get a nose job to fix Super Schnozz.

In the first half of the novel we watch the events unfold as Jory takes her first job. Just watching her write out the resume was funny enough and paramount to what was to come. Babysitting equalled experienced carer, and driving experience as a delivery driver came from ferrying groceries from the supermarket for her mum. Needless to say the job was an absolute disaster, and hilariously funny.

Whilst doing her job though Jory met Gideon, a moody and rather odd cafe worker who also has a Super schnozz. She befriends him thinking that he can only sympathise with her because of their mutual “problem”. Also enter Wooster Tom, a guy from the ‘burbs who sounds really nice, funny, genuine and all around good guy. Both boys a nice distraction from Tyler Briggs whom Jory has been crushing on for 12 months 16 days 3 hours and 45 minutes.

The second half of the book focuses on relationships between friends and guys. To be perfectly honest, if I had some of Jory’s friends I would want a nose job too, talk about some of the most unsupportive friends in the universe.

Jory does go through some funny things but also some very confronting ones, ones in which I was almost scared for her with what was happening. I think My Big Nose also provides us with an insight into the consequences of one’s actions, and how sometimes things can spiral very quickly out of our control. This is mainly shown at the frat party, and it was only sheer luck that kept Jory out of trouble, and her aversion to drinking “hard lemonade”.

Anyone who has ever had a problem with a certain part of their body will be able to relate to this book, it isn’t inspirational but it does provide a funny take on those who would go to extreme measures just to fit in.

Although My Big Nose is extreme, it is also believable. It is believable that someone would be so desperate for money for something that they would take a job as a driver even though they couldn’t drive a manual car. It is plausible to have issues with even your best friend because she is in your eyes so much prettier than you. It is plausible to want to change your body so badly that you would consider surgery to do it.

Overall, My Big Nose is hilarious and anyone who likes YA Fiction would love it. I would recommend this book just for the yoga scene; I was in fits of laughter for nearly an hour after Jory had cabbage soup, then went to a yoga class.

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