Review: Gripping tale about the life of an American teenager
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 30, 2013
This is a book with a message - with a few of them, in fact - and some of the topics are uncomfortable. This is not a feel-good story, but it does tell a story that needs to be told, and that happens every day in high schools across America.Natalie is a sweet girl just looking for a friend. She's probably a little too trusting and naive, but the same could be said of many adults as well. She meets a girl named Melanie, a newly-arrived transfer student to her middle school. She decides that 'Mel' will be her best friend, and that was her first mistake. Mel seemed nice at first, but as the years passed she became conniving, vindictive and controlling, and went out of her way to make 'Nat' feel as if she was the most unimportant person in the world. Before long, Nat lacked any self confidence and was looking to Mel to make every decision for her...including what to wear, how to wear her hair and makeup, how to act, and even how to think.But Mel is a bad influence in the truest sense of the word -- and she does NOT have Nat's best interest at heart. She pushes Nat to do things she knows are wrong, and as the years go on, those bad deeds begin to get bigger and harsher, until Nat sinks into a blistering depression. She pushes away all of Nat's other friends, including boyfriends, until Mel is the only friend Nat knows.What's it going to take for Nat to wake up and realize that Mel is not really her friend? Will she pull out of her tailspin before it's too late and she does something that can't be taken back?After reading this book, my first thought was how powerful the message was. I would recommend that parents (primarily of young girls) read this book, and then have their daughters read it. It contains drug use, underage drinking, and sexual situations....basically all the things that high school kids are facing on a daily basis. But all that aside this is a really well-written book,told from the perspective of Natalie. The reader journeys with her as she goes from middle school to high school, and the voice of the American teenager is authentic and gripping. Well done, author N.L.Greene!