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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
Would recommend: Yes, but not, you know, EMPHATICALLY
I enjoyed the majority of this book. The beginning and the end were limp and clumsy for me, but the larger middle section, like where the plot was, was lovely. So, maybe I liked 70% percent of it. I disliked some of the author's language conventions of breaking the fourth wall, but it's a YA book, so I concede that some aspects might have to be more explicit for the audience, but it wasn't to my taste. Overall, it was a pleasant read, but it's not a top recommendation for me.
I enjoyed the majority of this book. The beginning and the end were limp and clumsy for me, but the larger middle section, like where the plot was, was lovely. So, maybe I liked 70% percent of it. I disliked some of the author's language conventions of breaking the fourth wall, but it's a YA book, so I concede that some aspects might have to be more explicit for the audience, but it wasn't to my taste. Overall, it was a pleasant read, but it's not a top recommendation for me.
I think I should flag myself here and now from reading any more teen books that are rumored to have "feminist" messages, short of sci-fi/fantasy girl survivalist sorts of books. Because the pressures of real life teen girlhood seem too complex to yield a fully realized heterosexual, cisgendered, and feminist heroine who happens to still be in high school. Horomones are raging too strong. Boys matter too much at that age and, in the interest of honesty, even after it too.
Frankie Landau-Banks is not your usual YA main character, which means she's good-looking, fairly well off, undamaged, and not cruel. She's starting her sophomore year at an elite private high school, where, having blossomed into this pretty, smart girl over the summer, she's quickly snatched up by the boy of her dreams, popular senior Matthew Livingston. He's a little condescending and wants more to protect her and show her off than to treat her as a capable, intelligent person of her own. Frankie doesn't like it, but she likes the way she feels being on Matthew's arm. When she finds that he's a member of a secret society of pranksters -- the cream of the crop club at the school, and membership is boys only -- she gets mad. Like all famous spitfires in history, Frankie comes up with a plan to get even.
Let's start with the good: the book is well written. Lockhart writes in a sweeping, textured, whimsical third person omniscient style that sort of emulates all of the kids lit classics (Peter Pan, The Secret Garden immediately came to my mind). When you read a book that's written in this way and is well done too, you can't help but feel that you are reading about An Important Person, even if the story is a little less than satisfying.
That said, the problems I had with this book are as follows:
1.) I like highly intelligent female main characters. Lockhart apparently does too, since she keeps reminding us over and over (and over) again that Frankie is beautiful and basically a teenage prodigy. To me, her demonstrated intelligence actually seems more like savviness -- which is a form of being smart, but "smart" and "savvy" are not synonymous. So the repetition of her ~*~*superior*~*~ intelligence without it actually being demonstrated bothered me in the way that all Mary Sues bother me.
2.) Frankie does what she does to subvert the order of the Good Old Boys. That's what Lockhart tells us. But Lockhart also tells us that Frankie wants the boys to be impressed by her, keeps reminding us that she personally likes the boys even though she wants to teach them a lesson. This is a nice look at the conflicting desires of a teenage girl in her budding feminism, but I don't think Frankie is meant to be as complex a character. I think she's meant to be a heroine. At the end of the book, Lockhart gives us this speech about how a girl like Frankie will change the world. I can't help but think that wanting the approval of the boys along the way as she does, wanting personal recognition and inclusion by the boys (rather than starting a group of her own) will continue to be a hindrance. Frankie's spunky, but she's not the undaunted, righteous Sister Suffragette I sorta hoped she'd be.
3.) Even more problematic than Frankie wanting to win the admiration of the boys she likes as a "feminist character" is her relationship to other girls in the story. She thinks that the girl her ex-boyfriend cheats on her with is plain, a trade in of her "model" for "another model who's not that great". Frankie gets to know another sophomore girl who's dating a senior boy, and this girl is characterized as way too dense to be real, an obvious foil for that intellect of Frankie's. And she actually calls the secret society's "alpha dog" character's girlfriend "the She-Wolf," for how the girl doggedly follows her boyfriend around. Surely we can have a feminist character who doesn't condescendingly disparage other women in the process?
But I don't know. Because again, I think maybe it's unreasonable for me to expect a 15 year old girl in the beginning stages of feminism to be fully realized. She's not as mean about these other girls as she could be at that age. She's not totally subservient to the boys, and at least makes an effort to reject their hold on her in favor of a little empowerment. It's a step up AND IT'S TEEN FICTION, YES, but I kept thinking "you've got a long way, baby."
Frankie Landau-Banks is not your usual YA main character, which means she's good-looking, fairly well off, undamaged, and not cruel. She's starting her sophomore year at an elite private high school, where, having blossomed into this pretty, smart girl over the summer, she's quickly snatched up by the boy of her dreams, popular senior Matthew Livingston. He's a little condescending and wants more to protect her and show her off than to treat her as a capable, intelligent person of her own. Frankie doesn't like it, but she likes the way she feels being on Matthew's arm. When she finds that he's a member of a secret society of pranksters -- the cream of the crop club at the school, and membership is boys only -- she gets mad. Like all famous spitfires in history, Frankie comes up with a plan to get even.
Let's start with the good: the book is well written. Lockhart writes in a sweeping, textured, whimsical third person omniscient style that sort of emulates all of the kids lit classics (Peter Pan, The Secret Garden immediately came to my mind). When you read a book that's written in this way and is well done too, you can't help but feel that you are reading about An Important Person, even if the story is a little less than satisfying.
That said, the problems I had with this book are as follows:
1.) I like highly intelligent female main characters. Lockhart apparently does too, since she keeps reminding us over and over (and over) again that Frankie is beautiful and basically a teenage prodigy. To me, her demonstrated intelligence actually seems more like savviness -- which is a form of being smart, but "smart" and "savvy" are not synonymous. So the repetition of her ~*~*superior*~*~ intelligence without it actually being demonstrated bothered me in the way that all Mary Sues bother me.
2.) Frankie does what she does to subvert the order of the Good Old Boys. That's what Lockhart tells us. But Lockhart also tells us that Frankie wants the boys to be impressed by her, keeps reminding us that she personally likes the boys even though she wants to teach them a lesson. This is a nice look at the conflicting desires of a teenage girl in her budding feminism, but I don't think Frankie is meant to be as complex a character. I think she's meant to be a heroine. At the end of the book, Lockhart gives us this speech about how a girl like Frankie will change the world. I can't help but think that wanting the approval of the boys along the way as she does, wanting personal recognition and inclusion by the boys (rather than starting a group of her own) will continue to be a hindrance. Frankie's spunky, but she's not the undaunted, righteous Sister Suffragette I sorta hoped she'd be.
3.) Even more problematic than Frankie wanting to win the admiration of the boys she likes as a "feminist character" is her relationship to other girls in the story. She thinks that the girl her ex-boyfriend cheats on her with is plain, a trade in of her "model" for "another model who's not that great". Frankie gets to know another sophomore girl who's dating a senior boy, and this girl is characterized as way too dense to be real, an obvious foil for that intellect of Frankie's. And she actually calls the secret society's "alpha dog" character's girlfriend "the She-Wolf," for how the girl doggedly follows her boyfriend around. Surely we can have a feminist character who doesn't condescendingly disparage other women in the process?
But I don't know. Because again, I think maybe it's unreasonable for me to expect a 15 year old girl in the beginning stages of feminism to be fully realized. She's not as mean about these other girls as she could be at that age. She's not totally subservient to the boys, and at least makes an effort to reject their hold on her in favor of a little empowerment. It's a step up AND IT'S TEEN FICTION, YES, but I kept thinking "you've got a long way, baby."
I wish I had read this book sooner. Even though it’s „just“ a contemporary coming-of-age story, it kind of felt empowering to read.
I was rooting for Frankie on every page. And I hated all male characters. But I think it was intentional that they were all unlikable.
But it felt so good to read about a main character that learns how to stand up for themselves and fight against stereotypes.
I was rooting for Frankie on every page. And I hated all male characters. But I think it was intentional that they were all unlikable.
But it felt so good to read about a main character that learns how to stand up for themselves and fight against stereotypes.
Sinister as fuck and scarily good. Full review here: https://youtu.be/GLPbfrAy_So
This hits a lot of points about being young and female; about being invisible or secondary because of being young and female; and finding your own way and your own power. It's well done, but not the exactg thing I've been wanting right now. 3.5 rounding down.
Once a largely invisible geek, Frankie Landau-Banks is back at school with a new knockout figure and a new attitude to boot. When she realises her new boyfriend is part of a male-only secret society, Frankie covertly infiltrates the group and ends up anonymously pulling the strings. A fun read, with a far more intriguing protagonist than most YA novels.
frankie is definitely a nice alternative to bella (as she is strong, intelligent, and very brave) - but man, this book is soooo white and straight and classist. and she's strong and brave but...to prove like she is like the boys....
I fell immediately for this book, from delicious plot to precocious protagonist, and I’d go as far as to say that I think this is a book that all young adults should be reading. It could ostensibly be seen as a book about fitting in and finding your place in the world, but more than that it is a book about power and ambition, and the great lengths that a girl will go to obtain that power.
A lot of reviewers have dissed the narration of this book, with a sort of unnamed narrator telling the story of how Frankie shook things up in her sophomore year of high school, but I really enjoyed it. It felt so very confessional and conversational having a third party tell the story, and I thoroughly enjoyed that broken fourth wall feel of the narration.
As for Frankie, she’s by all means not perfect. She comes across as a bit brash and entitled at times, but her heart is in the right place and her drive and ambition make her really relatable. Who hasn’t wanted to shake things up a bit to fight against the patriarchy and perceived slight? In this book, Frankie does just that, and her eventual fall into obsession with her cause is a fun ride.
This book is a wild ride, featuring secret societies, gender politics, and a lead character that is just plain sick of feeling left out. It is both highly political and wildly funny. With hijinks that could only happen away at boarding school and a delicious sense of revenge, readers will love Frankie Landau-Banks and her endless drive to come out on top.
A lot of reviewers have dissed the narration of this book, with a sort of unnamed narrator telling the story of how Frankie shook things up in her sophomore year of high school, but I really enjoyed it. It felt so very confessional and conversational having a third party tell the story, and I thoroughly enjoyed that broken fourth wall feel of the narration.
As for Frankie, she’s by all means not perfect. She comes across as a bit brash and entitled at times, but her heart is in the right place and her drive and ambition make her really relatable. Who hasn’t wanted to shake things up a bit to fight against the patriarchy and perceived slight? In this book, Frankie does just that, and her eventual fall into obsession with her cause is a fun ride.
This book is a wild ride, featuring secret societies, gender politics, and a lead character that is just plain sick of feeling left out. It is both highly political and wildly funny. With hijinks that could only happen away at boarding school and a delicious sense of revenge, readers will love Frankie Landau-Banks and her endless drive to come out on top.