A review by corncobwebs
Beige by Cecil Castellucci

4.0

My first book of 2009! I liked all the punk rock references in this book (each chapter begins with a song title and the band that performed it). I also liked how Castelucci didn't seem to soften things up for her audience - she doesn't dance around topics like drugs or addiction, and she doesn't clean up or censor her language. This is a great quality in teen novels, because if it's too squeaky clean teens are going to hate it. I don't know about the ending to this book, though - Katy's turnaround from hating the Rat and the idea of moving to Madrid was too abrupt. It was like Castelucci was rushing to wrap everything up in the allotted number of pages. I also didn't like how the chapters were so short - it made it feel like the different scenarios and interactions didn't have a chance to really go anywhere. Overall, I would recommend this one - good for kids who like the Weetzie Bat books.