Thursday, August 6, 2009

"Everything Sucks" Review

Everything Sucks: Losing My Mind and Finding Myself in a High School Quest for Cool by Hannah Friedman
Publisher: HCI Teens (August 3, 2009)
Reading Level: Young Adult
256 pages (paperback)
Summary: When everything sucks, change everything . . .

And that's exactly what Hannah Friedman set out to do in an ambitious attempt to bust out of a life of obscurity and absurdity and into an alternate world of glamour, wealth, and popularity.

Being dubbed 'That Monkey Girl' by middle school bullies and being pulled out of sixth grade to live on a tour bus with her agoraphobic mother, her smelly little brother, and her father's hippie band mates convinces Hannah that she is destined for a life of freakdom.

But when she enters one of the country's most prestigious boarding schools on scholarship, Hannah transforms herself into everything she is not: cool. By senior year, she has a perfect millionaire boyfriend, a perfect GPA, a perfect designer wardrobe, and is part of the most popular clique in school, but somehow everything begins to suck far worse than when she first started. Her newfound costly drug habit, eating disorder, identity crisis, and Queen-Bee attitude lead to the unraveling of Hannah's very unusual life.

Putting her life back together will take more than a few clicks of her heels, or the perfect fit of a glass slipper, in this not-so-fairy tale of going from rock bottom to head of the class and back again.

Review: After watching Hannah Friedman's YouTube videos, I knew I had to read her memoir! I thought Everything Sucks was fantastic! Hannah Friedman writes about her life with a monkey as an older sister and being teased about it in elementary, and how she missed the first year of middle school to go on a band tour with her family. When she finally gets back to the States, Hannah is determine to not be the "monkey girl" in middle school. Only, things don't exactly go her way and she is taunted even more so. Finally, after a while, her parents decide to get her into a private school. Hannah decides that she will fit into this new school. She soon becomes popular and struggles to keep fitting in.
My favorite part was when Hannah got accepted into CitySemester. CitySemester is a program for high school students and they got to experience life in New York City. Hannah goes during her second semester of her Junior year. I just loved that Hannah was happy and got along with the people there, and the freedom she was given.
Towards the end of the book, it started to getting really depressing for me. Hannah starts struggling with drugs and eating disorders and grades...as well as a death. Then, there was the epilogue. I loved the ending to that, it was such a nice closure!
Writing: 10/10
Voice: 10/10
Cover: D+. I didn't like the cover picture but I thought the guitar was nice.
Who I liked: I loved Hannah and I also thought her mom was amazing in. She reminds me of my mother of how she's so overprotective, but she was also sarcastic and hilarious.
Wicked quote: I absolutely loved the dedication "For everyone who is sure they will never fit in. And for my parents, who taught me that it's just more fun not to."
Overall: If you are looking for a realistic young adult book, this is it!
The song that is used in the trailer, Glamourous by Fergie is the *perfect* song about the boarding school!

5 comments:

A Passion For Books said...

sounds good! i'll have to add this to my tbr list. great review

Kristen said...

I've seen the cover of this somewhere.. but I never knew what it was about! I'll have to give it a go.

I have an award for you over at my blog:
http://www.bookworminginthe21stcentury.com/2009/08/more-awards.html

Anonymous said...

Ah I'm so excited you loved this book too!! I really hope more people pick it up- I thought the writing was superb, I also thought Hannah's mom was hysterical, and the CitySemester chapter totally got me thinking about traditional education. Awesomeness!!

-Deb

Anonymous said...

Everything Sucks is one of my favorite YA books of all time- I know that sounds a little crazy, but I just loved her voice so much and the stories were really great. I agree though, that cover his horrific. Who picked that? In any case, make sure not to judge a book by its cover though, because even though this one has a sucky cover it's a fantastic read. Definitely check it out- I already got two copies for my friends!

Faye( Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm) said...

i'm getting this book 4 review. it looks awesome.

Search & Win