Underdogs by Markus Zusak

Underdogs is the complete trilogy of the Wolfe Brothers by Markus Zusak. I'm glad I read them in successive order. While reading The Underdog, I thought eh, the writings good but the story is so so. I started to enjoy it more during Fighting Ruben Wolfe, but fell in love with Cameron in Getting The Girl. I actually teared up at the end of Getting The Girl which is unusual for me. I don't get weepy while reading many books.

The Underdog is the story of Cameron and Ruben Wolfe. Cameron is the youngest brother. Ruben is his older brother. Steven is the oldest brother. Sarah is their only sister. The Wolfe family is lower middle class. Their mom tries to make them a decent meal each night but sometimes they have mushrooms as meat. Their dad is a plumber. I loved the language that Cam and Ruben used. It was hard for me to understand their Australian teen slang. A lot of words were similar to British slang so it was ok. In The Underdog you get to know Cam and Ruben and how they feel about their lives. They spend their time planning heists (and not carrying them out), playing One Punch (they share one set of boxing gloves), and walking their neighbors dog, Miffy.

In Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Cam and Ruben are starting to grow up. Cam's relationship with his family starts to change. His relationship with Ruben starts change too. Zusak's writing really pulls you in and you  makes you care about this struggling family, a family of fighters. I really started to fall in love with the whole family but Cameron especially.

Getting The Girl was the best one. Here everything comes to a head. Cam has to make choices and start to grow up. I cannot describe how much I loved how things wrapped up for Cam and Ruben. I was intensely proud of these characters. I don't really say that about a lot of characters but I was rooting for each of the Wolfes. I didn't want them to get everything their little heart's desired but I wanted them to have their own happy endings. 

I cannot express how much I loved this trilogy. While it's nothing like The Book Thief, the writing is amazing. The character development over the trilogy is some of the best I've read. Others who shared their thoughts on Underdogs: It's All About Books, Guys Lit Wire, and Read Love.

This is my twenty-sixth read for the YA Reading Challenge.

Getting The Girl was my seventh read for the Original TBR List.