The Pigman by Paul Zindel

Page Count: 182 pages 
Published: October 1968
My Rating: 1 star
Genre: Contemporary
Series: The Pigman Book 1
Amazon link for The Pigman

  It started with a prank. John and Lorraine would have never taken it this far if they knew the consequences. Or maybe they would have. When John and Lorraine end up calling Anglo Pignati, it turns into a blossoming friendship. It wasn't long before John and Lorraine started feeling more comfortable with Mr. Pignati than their own parents. Together, the three friends learn to love and lose in a series of events that ends with one's death.
  This definitely isn't a series I'll be continuing. While Paul Zindel didn't wear out the polar opposites troupe too much in the book, you could definitely tell it had one of those "good girl, bad boy" things going on. Their parents were horrible and while Lorraine's mother may have good intentions, her daughter disobeys her time after time. It was clear that Lorraine's mother cared about her, but Lorraine just couldn't see how hard she worked. John also had deep family issues. He was nasty to his mother and father calling them names. His parents are unsupportive of him at the same time though. This book was just full of a whole lot of family problems. Mr. Pignati was also a horrible role-model for the kids too. I didn't personally like the book. The story moved very slowly.
  Now that I've talked about some of the bad stuff in this book, here's the good. John and Lorraine had some interesting adventures like the party scene. Their friendship also grew during the book too. I could also see the two grow as people. There was also one tiny plot twist that everyone saw coming from chapter 6.