Review: American Politics 101
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 20, 2013
This was a tough book to rate! One the one hand, the writing is great, the characters are completely believable, and there is no shortage of drama. On the other hand, I felt like I was missing out on a lot of the inside jokes (which may or may not have been clever) and minute details which probably made this book magical for some readers. So how am I different from other readers? Well, for one, I'm Canadian! This means that I haven't had American politics taught to me in school, and I haven't had to worry about who to vote for in the presidential elections. Lines like "He had written her off like a bottom ninety-nine percenter at a Republican fundraiser" made me go HUH? And then they went and said hockey was "unpatriotically Canadian". Yeah. And what's your point? ;)I don't doubt for a second that schools like this exist. Where children are getting swept up in their parents public personae. I was struck by how the girls repeatedly put their own wants and needs aside for the benefit of their parents. It's actually quite sad, when you think about it. Everyone deserves a childhood, and it feels like they're getting cheated out of theirs. But this just makes the whole thing more dramatic. Teens being forced into very mature, adult situations, and each one of them takes a different approach in how they deal with it.My favorite part of this book is that the female characters are great role models. Yes, they make mistakes left, right and center, BUT they also show that women can be powerful. Every little girl who dreams big, should read this book. Women can do more than just look pretty; although maybe I should point out that fashion does play a huge part in the book. I know designers like I know American politics: not at all. It's a good thing I have a good imagination.While each book could feasibly be read on its own, I would definitely recommend the whole package. The beginning of each book does rehash a little of what's going on with the overall plot, so that readers can pick up any of the books and follow along. But then you miss out on the great character development and chemistry.What's that? You're too busy to read four books?! Well, then it's a good thing that you can pick the length of the books! This may sound confusing, and maybe a little cheezy, but I really loved the 80s throwback! Did anyone else read Choose Your Own Adventure books? While you can't change the outcome of the plot, you can choose which character to follow through the important scenes.Or you can do what I did, and read ALL of them!A copy of this book was provided by Coliloquy in exchange for an honest review.