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librandian's review against another edition
2.0
Raye is new at Fulton School, an elite all-girls school. She becomes instant friends with Tal, a classmate who shares her love of brownies and obscure science fiction TV shows. One night Raye and Tal were a bit bored with their routine of gorging themselves with snacks in front of the TV. They decided to have some harmless fun. Raye and Tal created a Facebook page for an imaginary girl named Elizabeth. Elizabeth was mysterious and foreign and was immediately “friended” by the most popular guys at McArthur School, the all-boys counterpart school to Fulton. Every once in a while Raye and Tal logged on as Elizabeth and chatted with the boys. Soon the Facebook project fell to the side.
Raye’s priorities shift when she starts talking to Ella Parker, the most popular girl at Fulton. At first, Raye is only tutoring Ella for their Mandarin Chinese class. Somehow throughout the night, Raye mentions the phony Facebook profile. Ella jumps at the opportunity to get back at her ex-boyfriend, Julian, who is already a friend of Elizabeth. At first Julian chats up Elizabeth, but soon starts to believe that she is not who he thinks she is. Julian asks for a current picture taken with a specific item to prove that Elizabeth is real. Raye poses for a picture wearing a blue wig and passes Julian’s test. Now Ella wants to take the prank to the next level. Raye is reluctant and gets in Ella’s way. After Raye starts talking to Julian without the Elizabeth façade, she learns what it’s like to be on Ella’s bad side. Pictures surface and rumors fly leaving Raye wishing none of this had ever happened.
Welcome to the world inside the Internet, where you never know who you are going to meet! Griffin uses the timely subject of misrepresentation online as the core of Raye’s story. Griffin’s characters are as real as could be, with the exception of Ella. Ella’s disdain and modes of vengeance seem over-the-top, yet add an important flavor to the story.
When I first picked up this book, I was hoping for a creepy sci-fi adventure or something similar. In reality, the cover is way more exciting than the story itself. The cover is apt, it's even described perfectly in the book, yet it still doesn't seem to fit the story at all. I can understand it's appeal, but I think that the people who are going to pick this up are going to expect a completely different type of story. And what's the deal with Ella's gloves? Talk about distracting!
Raye’s priorities shift when she starts talking to Ella Parker, the most popular girl at Fulton. At first, Raye is only tutoring Ella for their Mandarin Chinese class. Somehow throughout the night, Raye mentions the phony Facebook profile. Ella jumps at the opportunity to get back at her ex-boyfriend, Julian, who is already a friend of Elizabeth. At first Julian chats up Elizabeth, but soon starts to believe that she is not who he thinks she is. Julian asks for a current picture taken with a specific item to prove that Elizabeth is real. Raye poses for a picture wearing a blue wig and passes Julian’s test. Now Ella wants to take the prank to the next level. Raye is reluctant and gets in Ella’s way. After Raye starts talking to Julian without the Elizabeth façade, she learns what it’s like to be on Ella’s bad side. Pictures surface and rumors fly leaving Raye wishing none of this had ever happened.
Welcome to the world inside the Internet, where you never know who you are going to meet! Griffin uses the timely subject of misrepresentation online as the core of Raye’s story. Griffin’s characters are as real as could be, with the exception of Ella. Ella’s disdain and modes of vengeance seem over-the-top, yet add an important flavor to the story.
When I first picked up this book, I was hoping for a creepy sci-fi adventure or something similar. In reality, the cover is way more exciting than the story itself. The cover is apt, it's even described perfectly in the book, yet it still doesn't seem to fit the story at all. I can understand it's appeal, but I think that the people who are going to pick this up are going to expect a completely different type of story. And what's the deal with Ella's gloves? Talk about distracting!
thisgrrlreads's review against another edition
4.0
A bit of an uncomfortable read for the first half, but it gets more complex as the book goes on, which somehow makes everything with the bullying and the online trickery much easier to read about.
grayswagner's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. Coming from a teenager myself, I think it is the perfect example of what peer pressure and social networking can lead to in our society today. The Julian Game is a great read.
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