Reviews for Chiggers

The average rating for Chiggers based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-11-17 00:00:00 Lawrence Barraza I normally like Hope Larson, but wow, this totally didn't do it for me. It's summer camp. And... that's about it. I suppose there's some novelty factor if you're eager to relive your summer camp experiences, or if, like me, you never went to summer camp and want to know what it's really like. And this, I imagine, is what it would be really like. Activities that probably seem much more exciting as a young teen. Friendships that are totally forever, but don't last beyond camp. Petty conflicts. Meh. It's high school writ small, basically. There's just so much that isn't expanded on, isn't explained, isn't really talked about. Which I suppose is authentic to the camp experience, but it isn't really the most compelling read in the world.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-09-24 00:00:00 Michael Radcliffe Chiggers are a genus of mite found in North America, locally abhorred even more than the mosquito. Unlike mosquitoes, a chigger is extremely difficult to see with the naked eye, and frequents places where people sometimes must pass through (grassy areas, forested regions, or even alongside bushes), thriving indiscriminately upon the skin cells of living beings. And not only do these bites itch and become inflamed, but sometimes the chiggers themselves remain just beneath the skin of their hapless hosts. It is with no small degree of sympathy, then, when a particularly obnoxious summer camper gets sent home, ostensibly because she was suffering from a high degree of chigger bites ("in the worst place," as her fellow campers delicately phrased it). True, the girl emitted nothing but scathing comments against her fellow campers, her surroundings, and everything else she could think of... but when she thought that she was alone, or that no one else was awake to notice her, she allowed herself to give into this plague of intolerable itching... scratch-scratch-scratching almost to the point of pure despondence. Abby, the protagonist of Hope Larson's Chiggers, is innocently unfamiliar with the girl's secret plight... yet has come to see a side to her which had remained well-concealed and hidden behind her exterior "tough girl" persona. And thus, the girl is "mysteriously" sent home from camp one night, as she represents one of the most poignant symbols throughout the story. The crux of the tale revolves around Abby and this girl's "replacement," Shasta. Much like her predecessor, Shasta feels unwelcome within her environment, but she has good reason to. Nobody at the camp has shown any real interest in getting to like her, save for Abby herself. The reasons for this are never made clear - there are some remarks about Shasta's "snobbish" behaviour, although her actions do not represent any such characteristic (which leads the reader to believe that, perhaps, her shallow dismissal by all but Abby has something to do with the fact that she is not the original camper, the one suffering so from the chiggers). This is not to say that Shasta does not suffer in much the same way as the plagued camper. In fact, Shasta shares with her peers a tale of being struck by lightning -- and, truth be told, the thunder clouds which creep over the camp do, indeed, seem to have a certain vendetta against the girl. She is wholly aware of this phenomenon, too, and dumps her stoic exterior in favour of her "real" self, the scared little girl who relies upon the discarded sympathies of her camp mates. Abby's character does not come across as a do-gooder. Instead, she appears as a real person of her representative age group. So when she befriends Shasta, it is entirely natural, and within the realm of believability. She enjoys Shasta as the unique, exotic person she is, not some tragic downcast non-entity. Her friendship is perfect, without any underlying disingenuous "social causes." Abby just sincerely likes the new girl, and that's all there is to it. It is the flaws within the characters which create the most pathos within Chiggers. Young girls have their hearts bruised by each other, by their own actions, and they have to find a way to keep functioning as if nothing happened. It is the ritual of growing up amongst other like-minded people, realizing that the world is not solid nor static, but perpetual in its changing nature. Abby, Shasta, and all of the teenagers at the camp are growing inside. Today, life is about RPGs, friendship bracelets, and iPods. Tomorrow, they learn more about themselves and the people around them. People they trust. People they like, or perhaps even love. Chiggers is the story of personal growth, without all of the preaching or attitude-corrections ordinarily dictated to them by adult members of their little "society." During the first several pages of Chiggers, it is somewhat difficult to keep the names and faces straight on the page; one disillusioned camper runs into another as the panels melt together. However, long before the book reaches its midway point, the important names and faces become clearer, and the story (slow-moving though it may be) unfolds without a hitch. It could be argued that nothing of import happens within the span of 176 pages, but nothing could be further from the truth. The story may lack in dramatic action, but the depiction of personal growth is perhaps the most vital strength the book displays. Like it or not, Abby and Shasta find themselves leaving camp as changed people - and nothing traumatic had to happen to instill this development. Chiggers represents a fine accomplishment on behalf of Hope Larson, and is deserving of at least a couple of read-throughs before one can even begin to decipher the subtle sub-texts within the book. It is a world wherein everything is simple, yet nothing is obvious.