Reviews

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier

embereye's review against another edition

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4.0

This was cute although I think it might've been written at the same time as Scott Westerfeld's Pretties series. There was a lot of unnecessarily complicated slang. I was reasonably entertained and one of the last scenes had me crying with laughter... So I call that a win. Will have to try to figure out what caught me about that scene.

kraley's review against another edition

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3.0

I listened to this audiobook and really enjoyed the Australian reader. The concepts of personalized fairies appealed to me. It was an entertaining read, but nothing super special. It was a little slow in parts, but passed the time.

rowanmoth's review against another edition

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3.0

Wow.

thewallflower00's review against another edition

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1.0

It was a light and short book, but the title is misleading. I was looking forward to seeing the characters interact with little, clingy fairies like pet Tinkerbells. It turns out a "fairy" is more like an RPG ability. Like, you have an empty slot, and it gets filled with some perk, like being able to get out of trouble or find loose change. But you don't get to choose. Some of these abilities are useful, some are not. Some don't have fairies, and some try to get a new one, which is where the story comes from.

Apparently, this book was extended from a short story, and it feels like it. Not to mention, as far as being a YA for women, I did not like the message it sent -- trying to change something you are. I'm not sure what this says to teen girls, but I don't like it. A tiger can't change its stripes. You have to play the hand you're dealt. Attempting to change who you are results in the acceptability of plastic surgery and marrying for money.

Plus there's some disturbing stuff in here. Well, it doesn't seem disturbing until you look closer. The main character has a fairy that lets her get good parking spaces. She doesn't use cars or buses for two month's time to make her fairy get bored and go away. Until she's literally kidnapped by the big, dumb, senior jock character, nullifying all her work.

This is basically rape. Being assaulted and taken against your will because of who you are? It's not literally rape, but the subtext is there. But the main character does nothing about it, doesn't tell anyone. She doesn't even react. I would be crying in my pillow if that was me. And I'm a guy.

But she doesn't even go through feelings of guilt. She does nothing because the jock is supposedly 'untouchable', but shouldn't the story be about that? She tells no one. She does nothing about it. She doesn't even appear to care, she just goes on trying to get rid of her fairy in ridiculous ways. In the end, the jock guy is implied to get come-uppance, but that's hardly important by that point.

And this comes from an author who writes all the time about equality on her blog. I can hardly believe she didn't take this into consideration when she was writing it. This is a pretty scary message to be sending out. I wouldn't want my daughter to read this. Justine Larbaleister, what were you thinking?

bubblybing's review against another edition

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5.0

It’s been a decade since I read this, so I don’t even remember if it was a good book, but I do reference it all the time since I believe I also have a parking fairy. So the fact it’s stuck with me for that long has to say something

mbrandmaier's review against another edition

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3.0

In Charlie's world, everybody has a fairy. Some are awesome, most are mediocre, and some (like Charlie's parking fairy) are just plain awful. If I was charlie, I would have crippled Danders Anders and his car too.

glitterkitter's review against another edition

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3.0

An interesting idea, but it was ruined by an annoying main character. How am I supposed to relate to a character that's incredibly self-centred and so obsessed with sports?

yabetsy's review against another edition

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4.0

Poor Charlie. She's fourteen, doesn't drive and is stuck with a parking fairy. She is sure her life would be much easier if she had the shopping fairy her best friend has, or the all-the-boys-like-you fairy that her nemesis (the odious Fiorenze, also known as Stupid Name), has. Little does she know. Apparently she doesn't know you should be careful what you wish for.
Justine Larbalestier writes another fun, quick read (I'm sure I know people that have both of these fairies -- the closest I've ever come was the loose-change fairy or a meaningless-trivia fairy) that will have a very wide appeal.

readwithpassion's review against another edition

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1.0

I couldn't do it. I tried about 100 pages of this one, and I think I gave it a fair chance. It just wasn't well-written, in my mind. The teenagers are shallow and whiny. I may try to pick it up and finish it one day, but until then, it is going to stay on my "did not finish" shelf.

quillathe_23's review against another edition

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3.0

I found the slang terms unnecessary and annoying. The mysteries in the story were left unsolved and or had terrible explanations. I felt the world building lacked detail regarding the fairies, why they were there and why not everyone had one. I found the story rather predictable, but I also recognize that this story is geared towards a younger audience.