A review by nerfherder86
The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher

3.0

Fun fluffy "beach read" novel about four girls forced to meet during the summer with their moms for a mother-daughter book club, so that the girls will read their required summer reading novels. They also have to write an essay about the books, using literary terms that are also used as the book's chapter headings. Adrienne, 15, is the main character telling the story of their summer, how it ends in a drowning (revealed in beginning of book). They're all reluctant to be in this club, for various reasons, but by the end of the summer they've become if not true friends at least better acquainted. There was also drama with the mothers. I liked the literary references (the girls and moms read classics as well as recent book A House on Mango Street), the funny scenes where the girls escape their mothers by congregating in the bathroom, and the snarky new names for the club that Adrienne concocts ("Excruciating Reader's Group for Abominable Girls, etc). There's some drama and relationshippy stuff, it's interesting, although sometimes the book sounded a little 'Preachy' to me about the value of reading or mother-daughter bonding, like it was narrated by an adult, not a teenage girl. And one of the mysteries concerning one of the girls and her mother was not resolved to my satisfaction. But overall a fun read.