Review: Naomi and the Horse-Flavored T-Shirt by Dan Boehl

SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS.COM:

Endless Ranches is a town like any other town in Texas. Everybody works for the paste company, eats paste for breakpaste, plunch, and dinner, and walks to work. But things were different before the factory came to town and all of the horses disappeared.

Fourteen-year-old Naomi knows something is not right, but nobody talks about it. Naomi’s mom changes the subject when Naomi asks about her missing father and one of her teachers disappears after he tells the class about the town’s past. But on her birthday, Naomi’s mother gives her an amazing gift that unlocks the truth about Endless Ranches: her father’s horse-flavored T-shirt. Accompanied by Sammy, a teenaged farmer forced to steal paste so he can feed his brothers and sisters, Naomi uncovers a devious Paste Company plot to subdue the townspeople and raise an army of mindless white people.

MY TAKE:

As a foodie, I definitely don't want to live in a world wherein the only food is paste. I wonder, though, if I grew up eating only one kind of food, would I care?

Naomi grew up in Endless Ranch, a small town in Texas, in a world wherein there is no more gasoline. In this world, people eat paste and everything they need is produced by the paste factory. Weird, right? I mean, eating paste, what's the nutritional value of that? Also, even the names of their movies, books and songs contain the word "paste".

The bizarre eating habits of the Endless Ranchians are not the main point of the story, however. Nor is it the missing horses or the horse-flavored t-shirt.

In this dystopian society, the biggest issue is corporate greed. Think of the Paste Company as the greedy corporations and the Endless Ranchians as the 99%, although a lot more oppressed, and you get the picture. I'm not exaggerating about the Paste Company. Some of the dialogue that the Paste Company's CEO and scientist said is very reminiscent of what corporations say.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dan Boehl for the e-copy.

THE GOOD:

1. Well-developed world.
2. Interesting premise.
3. It's anti-corporate greed.

THE BAD:

1. Some readers might find it hard to relate to some of the characters.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

"We don't have a TV at my house," he said. "We got reality, so we don't need it."

READ IT IF:

1. You love horses.
2. You want to ease into reading dystopian literature.
3. You are anti-corporate greed.

RATING:



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