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scarlette22's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-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
4.5
stephxsu's review against another edition
5.0
THAT’S IT. Upon my college graduation this May, I am packing up my worldly possessions and moving to Australia, land of infinite YA talent. I have been fortunate enough to read a number of wonderful Aussie YA authors—Cath Crowley, Kathy Charles, Kirsty Eagar, Jaclyn Moriarty, Melina Marchetta—but Lili Wilkinson’s PINK raised in me the rare and wonderful feeling of wanting to walk up to everyone I see and go, “This book. Oh my word. It’s…words fail me in describing its awesome. READ IT.” I’m going to equate this feeling to the one I got when I finished Robin Brande’s Fat Cat, still one of my favorite books ever, and then gushed endlessly about it for years and years and tell people repeatedly that they need to read it.
So. *breath* Let’s begin to explain why PINK is the Holy Grail of YA Contemporary Awesome, at least probably for those who share my taste in contemporary fiction. First of all, it is important to note that this is the most elegantly casual portrayal of LGBT teens I have encountered in YA. “Elegantly casual” sounds like an oxymoron, but what I mean by that is that it is a lovely realistic presentation of the ambiguities of teen sexuality. Lili Wilkinson doesn’t try to fit Ava and the other characters into character types in LGBT fiction that have been done before. Instead, they are simply allowed to…exist as they are, and it’s not a big freaking deal. David Levithan didn’t quite do it for me with his utopian romance Boy Meets Boy, but I am enamored by PINK’s skillful and intelligent handling of sexual orientation and identity.
Speaking of intelligence, PINK has the type of smartness that will appeal to everyone, regardless of your IQ level. Ava and the Screw kids are, without a doubt, nerds—specifically of the sci-fi geek kind. This means that they constantly engage in the most entertaining of conversations regarding the strangest and most obscure topics everywhere. There’s nothing like using one’s excessive brainpower for nerdy humor, and as someone who goes to a nerdy-cool college, I adored the banter. The Screw kids are weird, but they’re cool-weird, and best of all, each of the five has his or her own distinct personality.
PINK has all of the essentials that I love in a contemporary novel: a strong-voiced protagonist who is still in the process of growing, wit, full characterization. Not to mention some delectable extras: the sci-fi geek details, musical theatre (!), a cute boy, and memorable side characters. Without a doubt, PINK is going on my favorites shelf, and I eagerly look forward to the next time I reread it, so that I can experience the joy of this wonderfully well-written book all over again.
So. *breath* Let’s begin to explain why PINK is the Holy Grail of YA Contemporary Awesome, at least probably for those who share my taste in contemporary fiction. First of all, it is important to note that this is the most elegantly casual portrayal of LGBT teens I have encountered in YA. “Elegantly casual” sounds like an oxymoron, but what I mean by that is that it is a lovely realistic presentation of the ambiguities of teen sexuality. Lili Wilkinson doesn’t try to fit Ava and the other characters into character types in LGBT fiction that have been done before. Instead, they are simply allowed to…exist as they are, and it’s not a big freaking deal. David Levithan didn’t quite do it for me with his utopian romance Boy Meets Boy, but I am enamored by PINK’s skillful and intelligent handling of sexual orientation and identity.
Speaking of intelligence, PINK has the type of smartness that will appeal to everyone, regardless of your IQ level. Ava and the Screw kids are, without a doubt, nerds—specifically of the sci-fi geek kind. This means that they constantly engage in the most entertaining of conversations regarding the strangest and most obscure topics everywhere. There’s nothing like using one’s excessive brainpower for nerdy humor, and as someone who goes to a nerdy-cool college, I adored the banter. The Screw kids are weird, but they’re cool-weird, and best of all, each of the five has his or her own distinct personality.
PINK has all of the essentials that I love in a contemporary novel: a strong-voiced protagonist who is still in the process of growing, wit, full characterization. Not to mention some delectable extras: the sci-fi geek details, musical theatre (!), a cute boy, and memorable side characters. Without a doubt, PINK is going on my favorites shelf, and I eagerly look forward to the next time I reread it, so that I can experience the joy of this wonderfully well-written book all over again.
anncarsdale's review against another edition
3.0
Ha estado bonito y ligero de leer, pero no he terminado de conectar mucho con los personajes
arundlestl's review
4.0
This book is about identity. How well do you know yourself? Ava decides to change everything. It starts with a pink cashmere sweater she buys for reasons she doesn’t understand. Then she decides she wants to be the kind of girl who wears this sweater. She goes from public school, black wearing quiet girl with the super cool girlfriend, Chloe, to a brainiac, preppy pink wearing popular girl at the prestigious Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence. Here’s the deal: Ava is suddenly not so sure she’s gay. She was positive when she came out to her parents and everyone else a few years before, but now she feels different. She’s decided to reinvent herself at her new school. This means a lot of lying: to new friends, her parents and Chloe. At first, she keeps it all together making friends with the popular girls called “the pastels”, auditioning for the school musical, and even kissing Ethan. But eventually she realizes that hurting others in an effort to find yourself is a terrible thing to do. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I just…I wanted to be something I’m not. I wanted to try being perfect for a while.” Ava confesses when her world starts crashing down. No worries, it has a good ending though!
My favorite thing about this book is the language. Ava describes the girls at her new school by saying “If you could go to the supermarket and buy six-packs of people, Alexis and her friends would be located in the gourmet section,” whereas the students who are in stage crew “stood out like cockroaches at a butterfly convention”.
My favorite thing about this book is the language. Ava describes the girls at her new school by saying “If you could go to the supermarket and buy six-packs of people, Alexis and her friends would be located in the gourmet section,” whereas the students who are in stage crew “stood out like cockroaches at a butterfly convention”.
emjay24's review against another edition
3.0
This book reminded me of Mean Girls – the teen raised liberally by liberal parents who is now in a more conventional setting, trying to fit in with both the popular well-groomed kids and the outcast kids, and failing at both. Ava goes to a not academically challenging school, where they don’t even get actual grades. Her parents have her call them by their first names and encourage her to be liberal, strong and a feminist. They were very excited when she came out and love her girlfriend Chloe, an ironic, overly broody smart girl at her school. But Ava wants more. She is smart and wants to be challenged at school. She wants to wear her favorite color, pink, instead of all black. She wants to wear makeup and have non-dyed hair and even maybe wear a skirt. And since Chloe is the first person she’s ever really kissed or dated or anything, she wants to possibly experiment with a boy. So she begs her parents to send her to a very academically challenging private school, lies to her girlfriend and says she’s being forced to go there, gives herself a makeover, and tries to find herself. She does a pretty horrible job of it and is not a likable character. I won’t get into the details so I don’t spoil anything. What I did like about the book (a fast read I finished in less than a day) was that it is realistic in how people get pigeonholed. People get assigned groups and you are supposed to dress, act, be, a certain way. I can certainly see that as a lesbian/bi/questioning girl, she’s expected to not like girly things. The ending to this book was very cheesy and kind of stupid, but overall it was cute and truthful and entertaining. I think it would make a good movie.
greatolcatsby's review
3.0
With simple but great writing, Pink is able to show all the ups and downs of life and that you shouldn’t worry about how people think of you and you shouldn’t have to change yourself for anyone’s approval.
mesy_mark's review
2.0
Wow. There we aspects of the book that I did like. A chance to explore identity is one thing. But I didn't like how most of the lesbians are portrayed as a tough crowd (ex. Chole being a tough handed goth who smokes and is so obnoxious she thinks everything is below her including her girlfriend-the-main-character-Ava feelings of exploring her identity)
PArts I liked was Ava going from group to group and just figuring out that she is not all of what she thinks as belonging to each group. But the rest I just didn't care for and with that. it is why I must rate this lower than I would like. And why this book won't stay on my shelf.
PArts I liked was Ava going from group to group and just figuring out that she is not all of what she thinks as belonging to each group. But the rest I just didn't care for and with that. it is why I must rate this lower than I would like. And why this book won't stay on my shelf.
lunaseassecondaccount's review against another edition
3.0
When I started reading this, I pleasantly surprised to discover that Chloe was really Ava's girlfriend and not just a friend-that's-a-girl. But the further I got into it, the more I worried that Wilkinson was going to whip around and get Ava onto the straight-and-straight track. And in a way, that's what Wilkinson does. Ava and Chloe break up (and let me note here that Chloe sounds more like a friend I have who is in her early twenties than someone who is sixteen), Ava finds herself in bed with a boy but doesn't get any peen action, and then she finds herself briefly falling for her nerdy friend but nothing much happens.
I wouldn't call Ava bisexual. It's possible that's what Wilkinson was going for, but it just rang false withe me. Honestly, I found Ava's relationship with Chloe to be more along the lines of trying to conform to her parents (oh no, conformity!), and her attraction was more to Chloe's bizarre young-twenties act and her oh so gawth nature.
I found Alexis to be grating. Maybe that was the point early on, but it just ran through the whole book.
I liked the theatre geek stuff, but I kept wondering- where were the teachers the whole time? Dennis is mentioned, but then he dies and there's no mention of a replacement. And I find it hard to believe that the kids were allowed to build everything. I've worked in school theatre, as a student and as a teacher, and it's nothing like that. Honestly, the whole plot reminded me of Fame-meets-High-School-Musical.
Look, it was fun, and a light read, but don't expect anything deep out of it. Seriously.
(And what well-meaning parent drives their child to Flinders Station at 10:30 PM?)
I wouldn't call Ava bisexual. It's possible that's what Wilkinson was going for, but it just rang false withe me. Honestly, I found Ava's relationship with Chloe to be more along the lines of trying to conform to her parents (oh no, conformity!), and her attraction was more to Chloe's bizarre young-twenties act and her oh so gawth nature.
I found Alexis to be grating. Maybe that was the point early on, but it just ran through the whole book.
I liked the theatre geek stuff, but I kept wondering- where were the teachers the whole time? Dennis is mentioned, but then he dies and there's no mention of a replacement. And I find it hard to believe that the kids were allowed to build everything. I've worked in school theatre, as a student and as a teacher, and it's nothing like that. Honestly, the whole plot reminded me of Fame-meets-High-School-Musical.
Look, it was fun, and a light read, but don't expect anything deep out of it. Seriously.
(And what well-meaning parent drives their child to Flinders Station at 10:30 PM?)
kaitrosereads's review
4.0
After reading tons of fabulous reviews I expected to love Pink. Sadly, Lili Wilkinson’s US debut fell a little short of those expectations.
Ava wants to be someone new. She is tired of trying to please her parents and her girlfriend, Chloe. She wants to change who she is but she is terrified to do it with Chloe around. That’s when Ava gets the idea to switch schools to Billy Hughes. She just knows that she will have a better chance of starting over at Billy Hughes but can she really escape her past? And will she ever find out who she really is?
Ava was my biggest problem with Pink. She honestly did not know how to think for herself. All she cared about was what other people thought of her. Chloe was a bitch but Ava was too blind to see it and just made excuses for her. Same with Alexis. I wanted to see a change in Ava but I didn’t, at least not enough of one.
The plot was okay. Nothing too spectacular but it wasn’t boring. It was a little hard to get into at first but once it got going it was better. It just wasn’t all that special and I found myself getting distracted from it very easily.
Overall, Pink may be great for some but it was just not one for me. I won’t give up on Lili’s Wilkinsons future books but I will be a bit more cautious going in. If this sounds like a book for you though, check it out.
Ava wants to be someone new. She is tired of trying to please her parents and her girlfriend, Chloe. She wants to change who she is but she is terrified to do it with Chloe around. That’s when Ava gets the idea to switch schools to Billy Hughes. She just knows that she will have a better chance of starting over at Billy Hughes but can she really escape her past? And will she ever find out who she really is?
Ava was my biggest problem with Pink. She honestly did not know how to think for herself. All she cared about was what other people thought of her. Chloe was a bitch but Ava was too blind to see it and just made excuses for her. Same with Alexis. I wanted to see a change in Ava but I didn’t, at least not enough of one.
The plot was okay. Nothing too spectacular but it wasn’t boring. It was a little hard to get into at first but once it got going it was better. It just wasn’t all that special and I found myself getting distracted from it very easily.
Overall, Pink may be great for some but it was just not one for me. I won’t give up on Lili’s Wilkinsons future books but I will be a bit more cautious going in. If this sounds like a book for you though, check it out.