Book Whore

An intense look at the rules of high school attraction -- and the price that's paid for them.

It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn't matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.

This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, "pretty" and "ugly." And it's also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two.

The author follows all 8 girls that are victim to this list. However most of the girls unfortunately end up being simple, vain, shallow, or predictable. The story touches on taboo subjects such as eating disorders and many issues teenage girls face such as peer pressure, fitting in, and how fake and malicious teenage girls can be (we've all met at least one "mean girl").

I found near the end, the only reason I kept reading was to find out who wrote the list. I started to lose interest in the story lines because they started to fall apart. However I did like the very ending and with the comment of the tiara the author is able to sum up Margo's realization that sometimes things aren't as great as we perceived them to be.

One of my favorite quotes: " Maybe you haven't noticed, but everyone shares the same brain around here. It's like a mass cult. They've all drunk the Kool-Aid."