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edgy YA
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From: BudNotBuddy at aol.com <BudNotBuddy>
Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 10:37:18 EDT
In a message dated 5/21/03 6:16:44 AM Pacific Daylight Time, jbuchanan at alltel.net writes:
Gossip Girls would be an example. I suppose I'm never going to be invited to serve on Quick Picks after saying this, but this is exploitive junk that has no more merit than typical commercial TV rubbish. (But I'm sure they are circulating EXTREMELY well.)
If you haven't read them, here's PW's summation of the first book:
"At a New York City jet-set private school populated by hard-drinking, bulimic, love-starved poor little rich kids, a clique of horrible people behave badly to one another. An omniscient narrator sees inside the shallow hearts of popular Blair Waldorf, her stoned hottie of a boyfriend, Nate, and her former best friend Serena van der Woodsen, just expelled from boarding school and
'gifted with the kind of coolness that you can't acquire by buying the right handbag
or the right pair of jeans. She was the girl every boy wants and every girl wants to be.' Everyone wears a lot of designer clothes and drinks a lot of expensive booze. Serena flirts with Nate and can't understand why Blair is upset with her; Blair throws a big party and doesn't invite Serena; Serena meets a cute but unpopular guy; and a few less socially blessed characters wonder about the lives of those who 'have everything anyone could possibly wish for and who take it all completely for granted.' Intercut with these exploits are excerpts from www.gossipgirl.net (the actual site launched in February), where
"gossip girl" dishes the dirt on the various characters without ever revealing her own identity amongst them. Though anyone hoping for character depth or emotional truth should look elsewhere, readers who have always wished Danielle Steel
and Judith Krantz would write about teenagers are in for a superficial, nasty, guilty pleasure. The book has the effect of gossip itself once you enter it's hard to extract yourself; teens will devour this whole. The open-ended conclusion promises a follow-up."
Listen to some Amazon customer comments:
"This book is a light easy read that reminds you to enjoy life as it is served to you from a silver platter. Fun and entertaining, I could not put it down.
From start to finish, I could be found on my porch wide-eyed excited for every page turn. I reccommend this to any and all teenage girls because it truly is life in words."
"Being a teenage girl, I suppose that I couldn't help but enjoy this book. Although it is not the best book I have read, it is a good quick read you can get done in an afternoon, and feel oddly satisfied about reading. Sure, the character's can be shallow, but isn't that how most spoiled rich brats act? Like, all that matters is sex, drugs, clothes, and partying? Yeah, don't deny it.
:) "
"Although the characters in this book- rich, sleezy, boozing, drugging, Upper East NYC teens- are totally unrealistic, it is still fun and interesting to read. Just don't use this book as an inspiration to go do bad things! "
"I originally picked it up after hearing a really great review in YM magazine...This book was extremely well-written."
I'm not going to argue that this isn't great fun or quite popular. But I sure wouldn't want to have to explain why this is any better than some crap on TV.
Richie Partington http://richiespicks.com BudNotBuddy at aol.com
Received on Wed 21 May 2003 09:37:18 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 10:37:18 EDT
In a message dated 5/21/03 6:16:44 AM Pacific Daylight Time, jbuchanan at alltel.net writes:
Gossip Girls would be an example. I suppose I'm never going to be invited to serve on Quick Picks after saying this, but this is exploitive junk that has no more merit than typical commercial TV rubbish. (But I'm sure they are circulating EXTREMELY well.)
If you haven't read them, here's PW's summation of the first book:
"At a New York City jet-set private school populated by hard-drinking, bulimic, love-starved poor little rich kids, a clique of horrible people behave badly to one another. An omniscient narrator sees inside the shallow hearts of popular Blair Waldorf, her stoned hottie of a boyfriend, Nate, and her former best friend Serena van der Woodsen, just expelled from boarding school and
'gifted with the kind of coolness that you can't acquire by buying the right handbag
or the right pair of jeans. She was the girl every boy wants and every girl wants to be.' Everyone wears a lot of designer clothes and drinks a lot of expensive booze. Serena flirts with Nate and can't understand why Blair is upset with her; Blair throws a big party and doesn't invite Serena; Serena meets a cute but unpopular guy; and a few less socially blessed characters wonder about the lives of those who 'have everything anyone could possibly wish for and who take it all completely for granted.' Intercut with these exploits are excerpts from www.gossipgirl.net (the actual site launched in February), where
"gossip girl" dishes the dirt on the various characters without ever revealing her own identity amongst them. Though anyone hoping for character depth or emotional truth should look elsewhere, readers who have always wished Danielle Steel
and Judith Krantz would write about teenagers are in for a superficial, nasty, guilty pleasure. The book has the effect of gossip itself once you enter it's hard to extract yourself; teens will devour this whole. The open-ended conclusion promises a follow-up."
Listen to some Amazon customer comments:
"This book is a light easy read that reminds you to enjoy life as it is served to you from a silver platter. Fun and entertaining, I could not put it down.
From start to finish, I could be found on my porch wide-eyed excited for every page turn. I reccommend this to any and all teenage girls because it truly is life in words."
"Being a teenage girl, I suppose that I couldn't help but enjoy this book. Although it is not the best book I have read, it is a good quick read you can get done in an afternoon, and feel oddly satisfied about reading. Sure, the character's can be shallow, but isn't that how most spoiled rich brats act? Like, all that matters is sex, drugs, clothes, and partying? Yeah, don't deny it.
:) "
"Although the characters in this book- rich, sleezy, boozing, drugging, Upper East NYC teens- are totally unrealistic, it is still fun and interesting to read. Just don't use this book as an inspiration to go do bad things! "
"I originally picked it up after hearing a really great review in YM magazine...This book was extremely well-written."
I'm not going to argue that this isn't great fun or quite popular. But I sure wouldn't want to have to explain why this is any better than some crap on TV.
Richie Partington http://richiespicks.com BudNotBuddy at aol.com
Received on Wed 21 May 2003 09:37:18 AM CDT
