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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book has been on my to read list forever, practically since the movie came out. I finally got around to it last week and it was a cute story. It wasn't the compelling type of book that I want to read over and over again but since it was a quick read, I think it was worth it.
I was surprised about how similar and completely different the book and the movie were all at the same time. There are things about the book that the movie portrays so beautifully and then there are moments in the movie that leave you flipping back through the book wondering where the screen play writers got that idea.
The biggest changes (I don't have a problem telling you them because if you choose to read you find out in the first pages.) Mia's dad is still alive in the book and you really hate the grandmother's character. That last part I was especially torn about. I love the grandmother in the movie and so hating her in the book seemed wrong to me. This dilemma is usually why I have a strict read the book before you see the movie policy, so I don't get hooked up on characters because I like the actress that plays them.
Josh is just a jerky and Lily's brother is just as sweet. I did like this book but not enough that I couldn't put it down or I am going to die without it on my shelf. It is worth it, if you need a small escape from the world that isn't going to depress you.
I was surprised about how similar and completely different the book and the movie were all at the same time. There are things about the book that the movie portrays so beautifully and then there are moments in the movie that leave you flipping back through the book wondering where the screen play writers got that idea.
The biggest changes (I don't have a problem telling you them because if you choose to read you find out in the first pages.) Mia's dad is still alive in the book and you really hate the grandmother's character. That last part I was especially torn about. I love the grandmother in the movie and so hating her in the book seemed wrong to me. This dilemma is usually why I have a strict read the book before you see the movie policy, so I don't get hooked up on characters because I like the actress that plays them.
Josh is just a jerky and Lily's brother is just as sweet. I did like this book but not enough that I couldn't put it down or I am going to die without it on my shelf. It is worth it, if you need a small escape from the world that isn't going to depress you.
Alright, so last fall I watched a whole bunch of teen movies from when I was in high school. I rewatched American Pie, Not Another Teen Movie, 10 Things I Hate About You...
And I watched the Princess Diaries for the first time.
The movies were cute, silly, and fun. For what they were there's not a whole lot of bad to say about them. Also Anne Hathaway (I really can't wait for Les Mis!).
I borrowed the books figuring I'd read them for fun (and because I'm at a loss for what book to read next in my regular genres)
As silly and teenyboppy as they are I'm actually kind of glad I'm reading them. They're extremely entertaining for me in a way that they might not be for someone in the target age range.
The Bad (sort of)
Warning: This section gets a bit nitpicky
The first book was published in 2000 or there abouts and set around the same time. I would have been a little older than Mia, the main character. And I can really tell. The author adds in all these little details that really seriously date the story. That's kind of cool for me because I'm able to read and remember what it was like to be 14(ish) around that time.
However the author throws in a whole lot of bits and pieces of slang, style, and celebrity idolatry that just make me laugh so hard. I mean it isn't enough that she dates the story with all these details that set the story in 1999/2000 but a lot of the things you see would have probably been a bit dated even at that time! Mia refers to good looking guys as baldwins and hot ladies as betties, terms that many people were first introduced to in the movie Clueless. In 1995.
Another thing I noticed in the book was that the author seems to go to some length to imply swearing while avoiding it entirely. Which shouldn't be surprising I guess. Mia is 14 in the first book so the target group would be too and this was at a time when you heard next to no swearing on television (outside of HBO). At a time when swearing alone could earn a movie a PG 13 or R rating.
Reading through you almost wonder if the author had any 14 year olds she could use to help form the characters. Some of the celebrity crushes are very very normal (Prince William of England) and some are a bit questionable. Men Mia seems to find attractive include Patrick Stewart, Harrison Ford, and Timothy Dalton. Now, as an adult I can see how these men could be attractive. When I was 14? Nope. And what 14 year old girl is into chest hair?
As for style, combat boots and Converse Mia? Again, is it 1995? These are things I pretty much never saw at a shoe store in 2000. I mean, I knew a few people who were into the combat boots but they were into pretty much dressing out of the army navy surplus store. This was a time when the popular outsider footwear of choice were Vans skate shoes (at least in my corner of the world).
There were a lot of characters that were stereotype archetypes. Best way I can say it. They just so full embody their stereotype that it kinda makes me wince a bit. The teen stereotypes are pulled directly out of teen movies. Watch Not Another Teen Movie and then read this book.
You kind of get the feeling that Meg Cabot is a little out of touch with the (at the time) modern day teenager. I don't know. I just feel Mia is a little more out of place than intended. If the story was set a few years earlier it might have felt less off to me.
The Good
Reading this book gave me the same feeling as flipping through an old high school year book. For all the little things that place the book firmly in 1995 there are a lot of things that anchor it in 2000 which helped me go back to that place in memory that allowed me to relate to these characters.
Mia is 5'9", skinny, mouse brown hair, flat chested, and size 10 feet. This is mentioned many times. It's a very important part of the character. And while this is a statement that almost belongs in the bad section I'm putting it under the good. Cabot goes through a lot of effort to illustrate that in a lot of ways Mia is just like any other teenager. Part of that is thinking that you are not like any of the other teenagers. At that age body image plays a really big part in how different you feel. When I was 15-16 I was also 5'9", skinny, mouse brown hair, flat chested, and with size 10 feet. I know very very well how different even just that can make you feel. Now, I wasn't as much of a drama magnet as Mia is but I've known girls who were.
For all the stereotypicality (I think I made that word up. But it works.) of the characters there is an authenticity to the situations and reactions. Stereotypes and cliches are what they are for a reason. In some ways the stereotypicality is what makes these characters relatable.
Overall
Overall it was a light, fun, cute read just like the movie is a light, fun, cute movie. The book lacks the Disneyfication of the movie (to be expected) so it doesn't have the same Ugly Duckling sort of quality and there are things that happen in the book that lend more authenticity than the movie has. It's worth reading just for a bit of fun entertainment (especially if you were in high school around when the book was published). It's not amazingly well written, it's not terribly written either. It was also written for teen girls at a time when publishers didn't really cater to teen girls and as a result you don't get the quality and maturity you might see in the books they have on the YA shelves today. It reads a lot younger because we as a literate society were still speaking down to teenagers and underestimating their intelligence (while at the same time expecting them to be intelligent enough to handle Catcher in the Rye, Inherit the Wind, The Merchant of Venice, and the Great Gatsby in English classes everywhere). If you can take into account and forgive the novel for The Bad (or atleast find amusement in it) then it's definitely worth reading just for fun.
And I watched the Princess Diaries for the first time.
The movies were cute, silly, and fun. For what they were there's not a whole lot of bad to say about them. Also Anne Hathaway (I really can't wait for Les Mis!).
I borrowed the books figuring I'd read them for fun (and because I'm at a loss for what book to read next in my regular genres)
As silly and teenyboppy as they are I'm actually kind of glad I'm reading them. They're extremely entertaining for me in a way that they might not be for someone in the target age range.
The Bad (sort of)
Warning: This section gets a bit nitpicky
The first book was published in 2000 or there abouts and set around the same time. I would have been a little older than Mia, the main character. And I can really tell. The author adds in all these little details that really seriously date the story. That's kind of cool for me because I'm able to read and remember what it was like to be 14(ish) around that time.
However the author throws in a whole lot of bits and pieces of slang, style, and celebrity idolatry that just make me laugh so hard. I mean it isn't enough that she dates the story with all these details that set the story in 1999/2000 but a lot of the things you see would have probably been a bit dated even at that time! Mia refers to good looking guys as baldwins and hot ladies as betties, terms that many people were first introduced to in the movie Clueless. In 1995.
Another thing I noticed in the book was that the author seems to go to some length to imply swearing while avoiding it entirely. Which shouldn't be surprising I guess. Mia is 14 in the first book so the target group would be too and this was at a time when you heard next to no swearing on television (outside of HBO). At a time when swearing alone could earn a movie a PG 13 or R rating.
Reading through you almost wonder if the author had any 14 year olds she could use to help form the characters. Some of the celebrity crushes are very very normal (Prince William of England) and some are a bit questionable. Men Mia seems to find attractive include Patrick Stewart, Harrison Ford, and Timothy Dalton. Now, as an adult I can see how these men could be attractive. When I was 14? Nope. And what 14 year old girl is into chest hair?
As for style, combat boots and Converse Mia? Again, is it 1995? These are things I pretty much never saw at a shoe store in 2000. I mean, I knew a few people who were into the combat boots but they were into pretty much dressing out of the army navy surplus store. This was a time when the popular outsider footwear of choice were Vans skate shoes (at least in my corner of the world).
There were a lot of characters that were stereotype archetypes. Best way I can say it. They just so full embody their stereotype that it kinda makes me wince a bit. The teen stereotypes are pulled directly out of teen movies. Watch Not Another Teen Movie and then read this book.
You kind of get the feeling that Meg Cabot is a little out of touch with the (at the time) modern day teenager. I don't know. I just feel Mia is a little more out of place than intended. If the story was set a few years earlier it might have felt less off to me.
The Good
Reading this book gave me the same feeling as flipping through an old high school year book. For all the little things that place the book firmly in 1995 there are a lot of things that anchor it in 2000 which helped me go back to that place in memory that allowed me to relate to these characters.
Mia is 5'9", skinny, mouse brown hair, flat chested, and size 10 feet. This is mentioned many times. It's a very important part of the character. And while this is a statement that almost belongs in the bad section I'm putting it under the good. Cabot goes through a lot of effort to illustrate that in a lot of ways Mia is just like any other teenager. Part of that is thinking that you are not like any of the other teenagers. At that age body image plays a really big part in how different you feel. When I was 15-16 I was also 5'9", skinny, mouse brown hair, flat chested, and with size 10 feet. I know very very well how different even just that can make you feel. Now, I wasn't as much of a drama magnet as Mia is but I've known girls who were.
For all the stereotypicality (I think I made that word up. But it works.) of the characters there is an authenticity to the situations and reactions. Stereotypes and cliches are what they are for a reason. In some ways the stereotypicality is what makes these characters relatable.
Overall
Overall it was a light, fun, cute read just like the movie is a light, fun, cute movie. The book lacks the Disneyfication of the movie (to be expected) so it doesn't have the same Ugly Duckling sort of quality and there are things that happen in the book that lend more authenticity than the movie has. It's worth reading just for a bit of fun entertainment (especially if you were in high school around when the book was published). It's not amazingly well written, it's not terribly written either. It was also written for teen girls at a time when publishers didn't really cater to teen girls and as a result you don't get the quality and maturity you might see in the books they have on the YA shelves today. It reads a lot younger because we as a literate society were still speaking down to teenagers and underestimating their intelligence (while at the same time expecting them to be intelligent enough to handle Catcher in the Rye, Inherit the Wind, The Merchant of Venice, and the Great Gatsby in English classes everywhere). If you can take into account and forgive the novel for The Bad (or atleast find amusement in it) then it's definitely worth reading just for fun.
I've always been curious as to how this book stacked up against the movie. All of the major plot elements are here, including the best friend, her brother, the teacher/boyfriend issue, and the sudden revelation about being a princess. In the book, though, Mia's dad is still alive but unable to have any more kids, Genovia is only a principality rather than a kingdom, and grandmother Clarisse is called "Grandmere" and is a rather awful woman who drinks, smokes, and generally seems to dislike everything. I will happily take Julie Andrews any day over this woman. Very fast read, though, in part because there wasn't really any new material to cover if you have seen the Disney film. Also, there being a Disney film is sort of funny since Lilly keeps referring to Disney as a fascist corporation. Off to read book 2!
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Although I hated Mia with all my 11-years-old being, this series was a guilty pleasure. The quality is still abysmal, though!
→1 star
→1 star
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i'm not 100% sure how to explain my feelings about this book other than me being simultaneously too young and too old for it. i was fully a newborn when it was published, so i don't have any nostalgia for the time period. i'm also no longer a 14 year old girl, so i can't really relate that much to mia anymore, not that i ever acted like her in the first place. maybe that sounds kind of nlog for me to say but i genuinely was nothing like mia as a teenager. frankly, maybe i just wasn't meant for high school in the early 2000s. maybe it's new york. either way, she was not personally relatable to me. frankly, i thought she was a bit of a brat, but in a very accurate 14 year old way, so i couldn't really take fault with it. the other characters were also kinda... eh? but they probably have more development in later novels, i assume. the adult in me gags at the thought of a senior being into a freshman, but once again, i am no longer the target audience.
it was also... very 2000s, and not necessarily in a good way. for a long time, i've been hearing about mia being like... proto-feminist, baby leftist, all that jazz, but for me, it came off as extremely privileged white feminism - once again, though, 14 year old girl. lily's campaign against the "racist ho's" really rubbed me the wrong way, but that is with my 2023 perspective, so...
idk. it was fine. i'm not mad at it, but i'm not sure if i'll ever read the rest either.
it was also... very 2000s, and not necessarily in a good way. for a long time, i've been hearing about mia being like... proto-feminist, baby leftist, all that jazz, but for me, it came off as extremely privileged white feminism - once again, though, 14 year old girl. lily's campaign against the "racist ho's" really rubbed me the wrong way, but that is with my 2023 perspective, so...
idk. it was fine. i'm not mad at it, but i'm not sure if i'll ever read the rest either.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated