Biggest Fake in the Universe
Biggest Fake in the Universe is a middle grade fiction novel by Swedish author Johan Rundberg and translated by Eva Apelqvist. Movits is just an average thirteen-year-old middle school student who loves chess, outer space, and his guinea pig, Domino. However, when he goes with his best friend Ruben to watch some local skateboarders, he falls in love with a mysterious girl, Bea, who is one of the best skaters in Sweden. To get her attention, Movits transforms himself into a stellar skater - or at least he tries, but before long the ruse has gone too far and Movits must make a decision.
This middle grade novel is full of humor as a middle school boy discovers love for the first time and its warping effects as he tries to change everything about himself to get close to Bea, his love interest. The story opens with Movits and his family having a cozy breakfast when Ruben shows up inviting Movits downtown to watch Ruben’s brother and friend perform in a skateboarding competition. Unwilling to let him go along with friends, Movits’ family attends with him, which includes his older sister Jonna and younger sister Bernie.
Once encountering Bea at the Dog Bowl skateboarding event, Movits is completely smitten, unable to eat and think straight, but he is insistent that he is not in love, until his neighbor Ingbritt encourages him otherwise. Ingbritt is an older lady who has lots of gentleman friends, and Movits considers her an expert on love. In their early encounter, she tells Movits, ““Love doesn’t follow rules,” [...] “Sometimes it strikes like lightning, wham, wham! Sometimes it grows slowly, like a cactus in the desert. Only one thing is certain: You have no control over it” (42). She goes on to tell him, “Remember to listen to your heart [...] When you do, things usually turn out okay” (43). Families seeking stories with a Biblical Worldview will want to make a note about this messaging as it doesn’t align with scripture for we know “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” (Jeremiah 17:9). It is also a dangerous message to tell young people that they have no control over what receives their affection.
Nevertheless, once Movits is determined to become a skater himself, Ruben, his best friend, is committed to joining him on his new adventure. It isn’t long before they seek lessons from Ruben’s brother and as they begin to hang out and learn from them Movits ends up in a recorded video where he does a miraculous grind. Movits knows it was entirely unintentional, but before he knows it, the video has gone viral online and a local TV show Best in Class has recruited him for an upcoming episode. This event is where the story opens and returns at the end of the novel.
In the end, Movits has no choice but to confess to the producers of Best in Class and to Bea. Fortunately, she likes Movits for who he truly is, not for his skating ability.
Noteworthy quotes/mentions:
In the opening breakfast scene, Movits’s father is wearing his wife’s robe and his mother is just wearing a large, old t-shirt without pants (8). This is their cozy breakfast, but certainly is a bit of an awkward picture for middle school readers, but does add to the humor the book is going for. Throughout the novel, the father is the character who worries more over Ruben’s safety and shares a situation in which he had a crush on a girl when he was younger.
On the way to the skateboarding event in the beginning of the book, Movits is staring at some high school girls and relays his thoughts about how he has never been kissed, but that his friend Ruben had already kissed four girls. “But for me, it had never been quite the right time to make a move. I didn’t really go to parties that often, only when we had one at school. But according to Ruben, the best kind of party was at somebody’s house, as this presented an unrivaled kissing opportunity” (13).
Ingbritt mentions liking one of her recent gentlemen because “he had a cute butt” (43).
In the chapter titled “Candy Cane” Movits is watching TV with his family. In a show of his parents’ choosing, there is a scene where a boy and girl are “Sucking face”, “messy, wet tongue kisses” (69). Jonna, Movits’s sister, chooses not to watch it, but Movits “couldn’t stop looking.” He continues to consider their kissing and states, “It was as if the guy had smeared something tasty on his face and the girl was trying to eat it” (69). Movits then asks his parents if people really kiss like that. His mother affirms that they do when people start “going out.”
Elias, Ruben’s brother, skips school. It seems as though it is something he does often is not concerned with consequences for doing so (74).
Ruben tells Movits that the reason you go out with someone is so you can kiss (77).
Movits discusses moments of jealousy he has towards Ruben (96).
When Movits goes to school after being chosen for Best in Class, people are acting weird. He mentions that a student named Sebastian “kept turning around, winking at me, as if we had a secret together. Or maybe he was flirting with me. Whatever he was doing, it was strange” (126).
The word “damn” is used on page 128.
“Suddenly Bea leaned forward. Then she kissed me. A real kiss, right on the mouth! It felt as if I had been dipped in gold and rolled in diamond sprinkles” (167).
I originally ordered this book, because I enjoyed the Moonwind Series and the premise of the book seemed cute. However, in the end, I was not impressed and would put this in the Pass on Reading pile. The chapters are short and fortunately fast paced, but I still found it difficult to finish. Additionally, if you are looking for books that you cannot connect some Biblical truth to, then this is definitely one to pass on.
