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ckausch's review against another edition
5.0
High school girl suffers a downward spiral and no one can help her. Loved it. A lot.
sjball17's review against another edition
5.0
Courtney Summers has such a haunting and beautiful writing style. It amazes me how she dives into such heavy and dark topics while still keeping you wanting more. The mystery of this story is slowly pieced together throughout and gives insight into the mental struggles Parker is facing. Being a perfectionist, myself, there were elements that truly spoke to me and also frightened me. I’m obsessed with this book. It only took me about 4 hours to read.
annvalentine's review against another edition
5.0
Courtney Summers is one of those authors who can write dark, messy teenage characters and stories without seeming overdone or didactic, even in 2009. I don't typically enjoy YA focused around privileged, popular characters, but Parker's disdain and anxiety drove through the heart of this book, giving the fallen HBIC dimension so often missing from tropes ascribed to teen girls. Cracked Up to Be has joined for me the ranks of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak in difficult but necessary young adult reads.
gothdess's review against another edition
5.0
Hi thanks for making me cry and making Parker’s character so relatable
missgrangerr's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I read this book because I read [b:Sadie|34810320|Sadie|Courtney Summers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1534431396s/34810320.jpg|56026767] and loved it. I figured I would catch up on [a:Courtney Summers|1487748|Courtney Summers|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1519531831p2/1487748.jpg] books. This book was difficult. The main character, Parker is extremely hard to like. Usually there is something redeeming about the protagonist in a story even if they are supposed to be 'unlikable' yet she was unnecessarily mean to everyone and extremely selfish. I honestly believed the bad thing she did would turn to to be not that bad, it was. Then there is the reason this book is extraordinarily bad to me Spoilerthe dog she rescues in the book dies. The scene is unnecessarily graphic and lengthy.. Up until that point I was holding out hope that Parker would redeem herself and she never does.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
zu_reviews's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a great glimpse into the teenage psyche and just very authentic in general into the head of someone struggling with perfectionism.
13iscute's review against another edition
3.0
How I selected this book
Because Grace's review said she liked it better than Sadie.
Plot summary
Parker was the most perfect popular girl in school, but she's not anymore. She's one bad move from failing out of her senior year. She keeps hinting at something that happened that sent her spiraling, and we see flashbacks to a party, and it takes all book to find out that her friend Jessie, who is "missing", Parker saw her at the party being assaulted by some guy after Parker told Jessie that Jessie's boyfriend was cheating on her. Parker was super drunk, and she never spoke up about it, so the police thought she ran away. But she's eventually found dead.
Likes
• Parker's internal struggles were well written
Dislikes
• I didn't like Parker's style of unreliable narrator, and I felt there was a lot of build up to a fairly anti-climatic ending.
Final thoughts
I liked Sadie better.
Because Grace's review said she liked it better than Sadie.
Plot summary
Parker was the most perfect popular girl in school, but she's not anymore. She's one bad move from failing out of her senior year. She keeps hinting at something that happened that sent her spiraling, and we see flashbacks to a party, and it takes all book to find out that her friend Jessie, who is "missing", Parker saw her at the party being assaulted by some guy after Parker told Jessie that Jessie's boyfriend was cheating on her. Parker was super drunk, and she never spoke up about it, so the police thought she ran away. But she's eventually found dead.
Likes
• Parker's internal struggles were well written
Dislikes
• I didn't like Parker's style of unreliable narrator, and I felt there was a lot of build up to a fairly anti-climatic ending.
Final thoughts
I liked Sadie better.
merkyr's review against another edition
3.0
I really disliked this book at first but wound up liking it because the main character was just so darn damaged that you had to sympathize. If I had read this in high school though, I don’t know if it would have been good or not though, just because then you are so much more receptive to characters. I could have seen myself saying, “oh, she is so damaged, and JUST LIKE ME,” even if I was totally fine. And then I would have wandered around being mopey for a few weeks.
Ah, high school.
Ah, high school.
dorisede's review against another edition
5.0
I am huge fan of Courtney Summers and I have read all her books except the last two. I was looking for a good YA book, so I decided to reread this book from Courtney Summers, and it still holds up.
Parker is a bitch, they is no other way to say it. She is a mean girl, the type of girl you are supposed to hate in every YA book. She pushed everyone around and toyed with everyone who loved her and genuinely wanted to help her. Many people would be put off by her behavior because they can't relate to her. I know that I definitely can't relate to her but I really enjoyed reading from her point of view. She was funny and witty.
One of the best things about Courtney Summers is how well she writes her characters. She makes them feel so real like they are real people that exist outside the pages of this book. Each character in this book is incredibly well written and that's more than enough reason to love this book. So, Parker was anything but a caricature mean girl, we get so see what makes her act the way she does. So, yeah, this is the book where we root for the mean girl, at least I know I was rooting for her to finally get her shit together. It was an amazing reading experience and I did not expect anything less from Courtney Summers.
Parker is a bitch, they is no other way to say it. She is a mean girl, the type of girl you are supposed to hate in every YA book. She pushed everyone around and toyed with everyone who loved her and genuinely wanted to help her. Many people would be put off by her behavior because they can't relate to her. I know that I definitely can't relate to her but I really enjoyed reading from her point of view. She was funny and witty.
One of the best things about Courtney Summers is how well she writes her characters. She makes them feel so real like they are real people that exist outside the pages of this book. Each character in this book is incredibly well written and that's more than enough reason to love this book. So, Parker was anything but a caricature mean girl, we get so see what makes her act the way she does. So, yeah, this is the book where we root for the mean girl, at least I know I was rooting for her to finally get her shit together. It was an amazing reading experience and I did not expect anything less from Courtney Summers.