Scan barcode
toesinthesand's review against another edition
2.0
This was... weird. I expected something more in-depth, I expected more of an exposé on how unqualified some of these troubled teen centers and schools are... What I got was self-therapy on the part of the author who seemed to want to absolve herself of guilt over her best friend dying by blaming society as a whole and these institutions for lack of support. Which isn't incorrect but... She didn't know two of the girls, and she wasn't really in touch with her best friend for a stretch of time, so everything is hearsay/secondhand info. It was also really confusing trying to keep all of them straight, not only because of their similar names, but because it jumped around. She maybe would have been better off following each one of them individually first? Drug addiction in this country is a huge problem, mental health access is scarce but it's even sadder when it happens to teenagers who should have parents and teachers looking out for them.
florapants84's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.5
"Rich junkies might have more resources, but they end up dead too." —Cathy, Director of SoCo Rehabilitation Clinic
I remember an older cousin pressuring me to watch "Cruel Intentions" with her at a sleepover, and then just drifting off to sleep after it was over. She was a fan and had seen the film countless times. I, on the other hand, didn't get a wink of sleep that night. I was traumatized. Rich kids had issues too, and they seemed way more complicated than the ones I was juggling at the age of 14. I wouldn't have traded places with them for all the money in the world then or now. This book had a similar effect on me. It's dark, gritty and an utterly unknown area of expertise for me. However, although the author and others mentioned in the book were a good 5 years or so younger than me, I could totally relate to the painful adolescent emotions coursing through their veins in the early 2000s and beyond. I was there; I lived it. I wouldn't go back to those teenage years for all the tea in China. While this is by no means a perfect book, I did appreciate Leach's journalism experience in creating a narrative non-fiction tribute to her childhood best friend.
I remember an older cousin pressuring me to watch "Cruel Intentions" with her at a sleepover, and then just drifting off to sleep after it was over. She was a fan and had seen the film countless times. I, on the other hand, didn't get a wink of sleep that night. I was traumatized. Rich kids had issues too, and they seemed way more complicated than the ones I was juggling at the age of 14. I wouldn't have traded places with them for all the money in the world then or now. This book had a similar effect on me. It's dark, gritty and an utterly unknown area of expertise for me. However, although the author and others mentioned in the book were a good 5 years or so younger than me, I could totally relate to the painful adolescent emotions coursing through their veins in the early 2000s and beyond. I was there; I lived it. I wouldn't go back to those teenage years for all the tea in China. While this is by no means a perfect book, I did appreciate Leach's journalism experience in creating a narrative non-fiction tribute to her childhood best friend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Confinement, Death, and Death of parent
danibeliveau's review against another edition
Even in the first chapter, something about this book wasn’t sitting right with me. Other reviews confirmed my suspicions. DNF.
mgnraisin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
4.0
coralinejones's review against another edition
3.0
I'm conflicted with my rating. On one hand, there was much I could relate to. Not in personal events, but with the pop culture references. The discussions on girlhood in this time period were nice to read about. I wasn't a rich, suburban girl, but I knew of some, and I certainly was around and on the Internet to see this lifestyle unfold. Being the "ugly duckling" to your "pretty developing friends" in particular was something I could relate to while reading the beginning of this novel. Much of topics brought up by the author I could see in my mind because I've either watched the show she was talking about (Skins UK, for one), or saw the magazines she was referring to (Tabloids, mentions of Perez Hilton), or simply was alive to understand the connections (Paris Hilton, early 2000s "it" girls, diet culture, Tumblr, fashion trends, and more). Since I existed while all this was occurring, I felt connected to the story in a way I think I wouldn't if this happened in, let's say, the early 1990s. For that, I give it 3 stars.
However, as we got deeper and deeper into the narrative, I acknowledged how weird and inappropriate this book felt. There's a review on Goodreads by Paige Hettinger that explains it better than me. I will copy and paste what it says below:
However, as we got deeper and deeper into the narrative, I acknowledged how weird and inappropriate this book felt. There's a review on Goodreads by Paige Hettinger that explains it better than me. I will copy and paste what it says below:
"The ultimate problem is that Leach doesn’t know shit about these women. She hardly knows shit about Elissa. She is spinning myths in this book. Your childhood best friend will be unrecognizable to you by college if you have not stayed in touch, and even then still unrecognizable from their former self. Piecing Elissa’s life back together by picking apart the lives of two other women does every single girl involved a disservice.
My major, massive problem hit from the beginning: creating literal dialogue for these women’s conversations that she cannot even begin to guess at. It is nothing but fiction. What makes it unbelievably stranger is what she chose to put into dialogue: their sex lives? She had them all talking about boys, boobs, asses, grinding, music, and using what can literally only be called AAVE for it. I know the early 2000s were rife with white women appropriating that vernacular (and white women still do it en masse) but lord, if you’re going to, just acknowledge it."
Like at this point the book might as well be a fiction novel to the likes of "The Virgin Suicides". The author doesn't know any of the girls she's writing about, not really. She hadn't seen the main "character" Elissa for YEARS. Everything she's writing about is written as if she was right next to her, holding her hand while these drugs were taken, and kisses were placed, and shots were drunk, but she wasn't. It's all fictional bullshit. I can't take it seriously.
flufficorn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
This book definitely gave me feelings. As an addict in recovery, I recognized some of my own story here, and did my best to confront it as the book went along. It feels strange to listen to a story that I can relate with on such a personal level, and finish it thinking I am one of the lucky ones that avoided the troubled teen industry.
This is very human story about 4 girls facing the trials of adolescence while internalizing their own trauma and also acting out their trauma on their own bodies through body shaming, eating disorders, drug abuse and addiction, and toxic interpersonal relationships. Its heavy stuff, so tread carefully if this content is triggering for you. Regardless of the content warning, I firmly believe that stories like this need to be told more often. If we spoke more openly about these topics as a society, we would be more prepared to meet the challenge of them in a way that does not shove those suffering further down the dark path of self-medicating and self-hate.
This is very human story about 4 girls facing the trials of adolescence while internalizing their own trauma and also acting out their trauma on their own bodies through body shaming, eating disorders, drug abuse and addiction, and toxic interpersonal relationships. Its heavy stuff, so tread carefully if this content is triggering for you. Regardless of the content warning, I firmly believe that stories like this need to be told more often. If we spoke more openly about these topics as a society, we would be more prepared to meet the challenge of them in a way that does not shove those suffering further down the dark path of self-medicating and self-hate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Drug use, and Forced institutionalization