10 things to do before I die Book

Could you imagine having 24 hours to live? I couldn’t have either and 10 Things To Do Before I Die didn’t help me imagine it much. The plot was extremely unbelievable and the characters were shallow and predictable. Nonetheless this was a fun, fast paced adventure that sometimes was a bit difficult to put down.
The main character was Ted Burger. He was incredulous because he goes through such an unusual transformation. He starts out as an immature high school student who doesn’t like his girlfriend, hates his parents and always stays in the comfortable box in his mind including eating at the Circle Eat Diner and playing guitar in his room fantasizing about Shakes the Clown. Shakes the Clown is a semi-popular band that Ted worships. After he goes through everything, eating the “poisoned” fries and trying to complete his list, he becomes a guy who doesn’t stand around anymore, he starts doing things, standing up for himself and making life happen instead of letting it happen to him. It may sound like a classic movie/book transformation but it really the way Ehrenhaft told the story that made it very hard for the reader to believe.
Ted’s best friend Mark was a very fun but predictable character. Ted always described him as a “compulsive maniac”, which was a good way to describe him but he had no second layer. You never saw him be compassionate, mean or anything else. His lack of depth as a character lead to his predictability. Nevertheless he still seemed like a cool guy who I would like to meet.
One afternoon in the Circle Eat Diner the Ted, Mark, and Nikki, Mark’s girlfriend, a crazed recently fired employee comes stomping into the restaurant with a gun shouting threats. Mark jumps out at him and knocks him to the ground. This scene was very thrilling, suspenseful, and exciting but what 17 year old boy who lives in the rich part of New York would ever do that. That’s what sort of tore this whole scene apart.
Even though at most points I enjoyed sitting down and reading this book I couldn’t help but realize the simple writing along with the many other faults. Maybe if I were a little younger I would have enjoyed this book overlooking all the details pulling this joyous book down.