Sunday, April 08, 2007

Story of a Girl, by Sara Zarr


When she was 13, Deanna's father caught her in the back seat of a car with a Junior named Tommy. Three years later, she is still struggling with the reputation of being the school skank and a father who won't look her in the eye. But three years is a long time for healing and Deanna decides it is time to reinvent herself.


This novel has gotten a lot of hype and comes with an assortment of high-power endorsements (John Green, E Lockhart, etc.) -- all of which both made me look forward to reading it with anticipation and also scepticism that it would be able to live up to the hype. The truth lies somewhere in between. Did I buy the story and think it was something special? Yes! Did I think that Sara Zarr is a pretty cool writer? Yes again! That said, the story itself didn't completely grab me on a personal basis, but it was still good writing (and I'm fair enough to admit that I don't ahve to like something for it to be good). So, it might not make my "best of" list but I'm sure that Zarr's second novel will have my full attention. Recommended.

1 comment:

Earl said...

"Story of a Girl" has Pulitzer written all over it. Sara Zarr is a brilliant writer.