Have you ever felt different, like no one understands you? That's how Lucy feels in the book Sweet Blood by Pete Hautman. Lucy is a sixteen year old girl suffering from diabetes. She has done a lot of research on diabetes and now believes that in the olden times "vampires" were really just people showing signs of diabetes. She writes a paper, explaining her theory, for a class and it gets her in trouble with her parents and school. Her parents begin to believe that maybe she is getting to weird and they seek help for her. Lucy think that "vampires" as i meantioned before people with diabetes but the thing is, she want to be one.Here parents takes away every teens life, her computer. Now, so she is no longer able to get on a Transylvanian chat room where her name is "Sweet Blood". In the chat room she talks to many people who have an interest in vampires. One is a man named Draco who is a self proclaimed "real vampire". At school Lucy becomes friends with a guy who takes her to a "Goth" party. Where she meets a man who shares her interests in vampires. He seems to know way too much about her, he seems to be the only one who understands her, and she begins to wonder if he may be a real vampire. Lucy continues coming to these parties and before she knows it her life is spiraling downwards and she can't control it. It almost ends in death. I'm not much into the vampire and gothic culture but Sweet Blood is an amazing novel in its own way. At first I thought that this book was creppy and i would not read it again. But now thast i finnished my mind changed, I really enjoyed reading it. It was a easy book to read that I recommend to teens who may feel a little different from everyone around them and whom may feel like no one quite understands them.
When Luzy Szabo was six-years-old, she found a dying bat in her yeard. Not knowing what it was, other than a small critter, she picked it up and brought it to show her mother, who quickly beat it to death with a broom and threw it in the trash. When her father arrives home, he’s angry, and worried, as Lucy’s hands are covered with scratches. She knows they’re from berry bushes, but doesn’t want to get in trouble for being someplace she wasn’t stupposed to be, so she doesn’t say anything. And off to the hospital for rabies shots they go.A few months later, Lucy is diagnosed with Diabetes. And no matter what anyone says, she’s convinced the events are related.Life for Lucy changes after this. The shots, the worry, the constant equation of food + insulin + blood sugar. She grows into an angry teen, with a theory that early diabetics were the people the vampire legends stemmed from. She even writes an essay about it.The essay doesn’t go ober well with her teacher, nor with her parents, who then search her computer and decide they don’t like some of the internet sites she’s been visiting. With no computer, and feeling friendless, Lucy becomes even more sullen. When a new guy shows up in town, she starts breaking rules to hang out with him. She also stops paying attention to her illness.Forgetting to eat, overexertion, missed shots, and poor judgement lead to an episode of ketoacidosis, hospitalization, and eventually, change.A new spin on vampirism, and an intriguing look into the life of a teen with chronic illness, Sweetblood is a quick read that gets the mind churning.
What do You think about Sweetblood (2004)?
Almost all books I have read are because of the fact that someone whose opinion I trust told me the book was good. For "Sweetblood" I didn't think it would be great because I had never heard of it or seen it before in my life until I found it in my teacher's classroom. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I started the book and in the middle of it I couldn't even put the book down. Unlike most teenage vampire novels, this one shared a perspective view on the life of vampires in a sophisticated and unique way.
—Isabella Sanchez
Lucy is an angsty teenager who has diabetes and is certainly not okay with it. She feels that it controls her life and rebels in the usual ways - grades slipping, breaking rules, delving into topics that make her parents uncomfortable. Her parents and teachers react in a way that is in its own way over dramatic by making her see a shrink over a paper she wrote about historic vampirism. I remember reading this book very quickly in high school and thinking that theory that the main character has about vampire legends coming from untreated diabetics was very interesting - but that was the best part of the book. The characters were over dramatic and shallow, the setting was so much in the back ground that I cannot even place where it was, and besides the aforementioned theory the plot was forgettable as well. All in all it is a book that I would recommend to a teen girl who is over dramatic and a little silly who needs something to read for school. I gave it two stars for the theory behind the diabetic vampires. Without that point it would have gotten one.
—Jessica
For all the vampire lovers out there, here's another one. I would give it to those blood-sucking students though it lacks a little bit of depth. There isn't much plot and the main character, Lucy, isn't too memorable, yet it scrapes by with just enough vampire lore to qualify. Vampires aside, Lucy's character fights diabetes, which is why she is so stuck on vampires. Hautman paints the picture of kids living with diabetes and how much is rules their lives. Pick it up just for the education on diabetes.
—Alicia
