Thursday, September 25, 2008

TTYL by: Lauren Myracle

I've tried to start this review about half a dozen times. I wish there was a more eloquent way to put it, but I can't find one. So I'm just going to say... I loved this book!

Total: Four stars.

It was truly a fun, fast, and (looking for another 'f' word here, but coming up empty-handed...) real. Told all in IM conversations is the story of three teenagers, Zoe, Maddie, and Angela. It starts on their first day of school and goes from there, throughout the many fights, parties, road trips and dramas of fifteen-year-olds.

Sure, it sometimes gets tiring to read, but it never sways off the road of reality. All three girls have distant voices. Maddie's the firecracker. Zoe's the perfect one. Angela's the drama queen. Even though - from my above descriptions - they seem to fall into stereotypes, it's the relationships between the three girls that are constantly evolving (and devolving) that shape them into honest-to-God people. I felt like I could've been reading saved IM convos with some of my friends.

A recurring theme in the book is drawing the line between funny and hurtful. Especially in regards to Maddie. She has trouble keeping friends outside of Zoe and Angela, partly due to not knowing what makes a comment okay. This causes lots of trouble for her in the latter half of the book.

I would recommend this to someone with a short attention span. The short 'chapters' are perfect for reading at the bus stop or between classes.

1 comment:

Maddie said...

I positively loved the whole series. Reading these books are one of the few things I can recall from sixth grade...(: