Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E Lockhart



I can't wait to tell you about this book. I've just finished it and absolutely loved it. Frankie is a sophomore at a private east coast boarding school. She’s blossomed over the summer and catches the eye of the most popular boy in the school. She’s thrilled — of course she’s thrilled — but it seems this is not enough. She wants to be seen as pretty and desirable, the girl Matthew wants her to be, but also as a force to be reckoned with, an equal. She’s always been “bunny rabbit” to her family -- sweet, adorable, harmless -- and she is tired of this.

Frankie knows about the school’s secret society because her father was a member. She knows it is for males only, she knows her boyfriend is in the society, she knows he’s lying to her about it, and this just drives her crazy. Just because it’s always been done a certain way does not make it right. The question is, what is she willing to do about it?

She takes on a secret email address and leads the society to pranks far beyond their imaginations. They are wonderful, hilarious, devious, unpredictable, and thought-provoking. And along the way we learn about the panopticon, P.G. Wodehouse, neglected positives, and girl power.

Why did I wait so long to read this book? I read it in a gulp, cheered for Frankie, and want to thank E Lockhart for giving us such a strong, gutsy, endearing feminist as a heroine. Oh, this has my vote for the National Book Award. It is wonderful.

4 comments:

Nancy said...

This was recommended to me and I am looking forward to it. Normally I enjoy YA paranormal, but after reading Paper Towns I realized how much I can enjoy an intelligent, normal (unparanormal) book. I am going to purchase this today at your store.

Thank you+

Janssen said...

Fantastic review. This book has my vote too!

Bookgeek said...

Thank you -- I enjoyed your review too, janssen!

Nancy said...

Angela, I just finsihed reading this book a few days ago and have to say it is one of my favorite reads for this past year.

I admired Frankie's guts and how her "pranks" had meaning and were well thought out, steming from her feelings of being the negleted postive on campus i.e. an underestimated girl.

The story was well writen and it set up the story for FLB and her master minding criminal thought process.

Simply Brilliant.
YEAH GIRL POWER