sc104906's review against another edition
3.0
Girl turns to an anonymous website and people to help her resolve her problems. Tabs posts a secret on the website, then is given an assignment. The Life By Committee website preaches that the committee can help a person live their life better than just one person making decisions on their own. Will this new risk taking Tabs really be able to land the boy she likes and deal with her new baby sister?
This book was okay. It was an interesting concept, but I don't think that the moral and ethical implications were really grappled with. While this idea was touched on, I would have liked more discussion about it. I do think that it clearly presents how people are more apt to turn to online strangers for advice, than making real connections. The characters irritated me. I would not want to know these people in real life. The drama that set the plot in motion really didn't seem to fit the ripples of action. It was just many different were instances performed by annoying/quirky characters.
This book was okay. It was an interesting concept, but I don't think that the moral and ethical implications were really grappled with. While this idea was touched on, I would have liked more discussion about it. I do think that it clearly presents how people are more apt to turn to online strangers for advice, than making real connections. The characters irritated me. I would not want to know these people in real life. The drama that set the plot in motion really didn't seem to fit the ripples of action. It was just many different were instances performed by annoying/quirky characters.
reviewsfromabookworm's review against another edition
3.0
For more reviews and giveaways, go to http://reviewsfromabookworm.blogspot.co.uk
I thought the whole premise of this book sounded so intriguing. You reveal a secret and get an assignment that you have to complete in order to keep that secret safe. It doesn't give too much detail about what the Committee is but I was instantly intrigued. I was surprised to find that LBC was actually a website and I wondered how they would let everyone know her secret when they had no information on her. I'm sure anyone who is good with computers could track her IP address and everything else, but still.
When I got to the end of this book it had a scene that was so reminiscent of Mean Girls that I had to laugh. But then, quite suddenly, all these other comparisons to Mean Girls became even more clear to me. The story sounds so far removed from Mean Girl but, trust me, there are so many ways that this is similar. So, excuse all of the Mean Girls gifs but once I made the connection between the two that was really all I could see.
Why it's like Mean Girls:
Tabitha has some great friends who she loves. But one day they tell her they don't want to be friends with her any more because she' started dressing different, acting different and become more obsessed with getting a guy than with being their friend. So it's essentially:
And her friends go all:
Tabs becomes obsessed with Joe, a guy from her school who she feels she has some deep connection with. She's not at all bothered by the fact that he has a girlfriend. In fact, she'd be willing to bring down the girlfriend in order to be with him. Essentially what Cady tries to do with Aaron Samuels in Mean Girls.
Tabs gets up in front of her whole school and admits some of the bad things she's done. Let's be honest, that's basically this scene:
And this then prompts her whole school to get up and give their own embarrassing confessions. It's a nice idea but it's unrealistic and it's also just the sharing assembly from Mean Girls.
By the time I got to the end, I just wanted to go grab my DVD of Mean Girls and watch it, because at least that would make me happy and make me laugh. Something that LBC failed to do.
I had quite a few problems with Life by Committee, my main one being how it portrays drug use and the main characters attitude towards it. I have never done drugs, don't ever plan to do them and don't really see why so many people find them appealing. I was lucky with the fact that when I was very young my mum's godson was a drug addict, and the things he did to get drugs and everything he went through put me off EVER trying them. I still remember being at their house on New Years Day when he came home, his best friend had overdosed and died and he was devastated, swore he'd never touch drugs again - that lasted all of five minutes. I am lucky I had such a great example of how drugs can take over a persons life, not everyone gets that. That's why I think it's so important for books and movies to put that message across. Not the message we get from LBC. Her dad does weed, the guy she's in love with does weed and because LBC tells her too, even she smokes up with her own dad. I just didn't like it being portrayed as this thing that is okay to do and that everyone does. Nope! I'm sure a ton of teenagers do drugs, but do we really need to be portraying it as normal and okay in our literature that is aimed at younger readers, some who could still be quite impressionable. NO, we don't! Sorry, drugs rant over.
Tabitha was a character that I really didn't like, I didn't feel sorry for her at all. She feels like her friends cut her out of their life for no reason. I mean, she just wanted to dress different and wear a little make-up and there's nothing wrong with that. But, she has the most horrible attitude and the way she talks about her friends and herself made me think her friends had the right idea when they stopped talking to her. She's constantly referring to how plain, simple and ugly her friends are and how it's not her fault she got pretty. Seriously, no wonder you don't have friends any more! She's just so up her own arse that it infuriated me, she also has the high and mighty attitude about how she was a brilliant, amazing friend they were in the wrong. Yes, for the most part, they were but Tabs annoyed me so much I could understand why they wouldn't want to be friends with her.
Joe was such an infuriating love interest. He has a girlfriend and this bothers Tabitha, but not enough to really end things with him. She's so utterly convinced that he's going to breakup with the girlfriend and get with her. Wake up, he's been with her for years and he has shown no indication of breaking up with her. Why would you even want to be with the kind of guy who goes behind his girlfriends back? If he cheats on her then it's a good indication that he would do the same to you. Please, find that half a brain cell I am certain you possess somewhere inside your head and just end things with him! I hated Joe, I didn't judge Tabs too harshly because she actually felt like she loved the guy, but I had full on hatred for Joe. Most people in the book blamed and judged Tabitha, but the blame should actually go to the guy, the one who's attached and has a girlfriend. She's free to pursue whoever she wants, they'd be nothing going on between them if he said no and was faithful to his girlfriend. I hated Joe, and I judged Tabitha for wanting to be with him because of how much of an arse he was.
The Life by Committee aspect was entertaining enough but not what I was hoping for. The assignments were pretty stupid and useless to me. Like one person has 24 hours to book a plane ticket and go to LA, which she buys instantly and just goes. Is that really realistic? What about the money? The time off work? Also, Tabs gets an assignment to get high with her dad. That should be some indication that this sites not really going to help you all that much. Get off and find your own solution for your problems.
2/5 Butterflies
It was an okay read but once I got to the end I couldn't stop comparing it to Mean Girls. I didn't like how drug use was portrayed in this. Tabs was a rather unlikeable character, if you're constantly talking about how plain and ugly your friends are how are you surprised when they don't want to hang out with you? Don't chase after a guy who has a girlfriend and then act surprised that people judge you for it, that was bound to happen. The Life by Committee aspect of the book was really disappointing, I'm not sure what I was expecting but that wasn't it. It was an okay read, but I'd rather watch Mean Girls.
*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Edelweiss in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.
I thought the whole premise of this book sounded so intriguing. You reveal a secret and get an assignment that you have to complete in order to keep that secret safe. It doesn't give too much detail about what the Committee is but I was instantly intrigued. I was surprised to find that LBC was actually a website and I wondered how they would let everyone know her secret when they had no information on her. I'm sure anyone who is good with computers could track her IP address and everything else, but still.
When I got to the end of this book it had a scene that was so reminiscent of Mean Girls that I had to laugh. But then, quite suddenly, all these other comparisons to Mean Girls became even more clear to me. The story sounds so far removed from Mean Girl but, trust me, there are so many ways that this is similar. So, excuse all of the Mean Girls gifs but once I made the connection between the two that was really all I could see.
Why it's like Mean Girls:
Tabitha has some great friends who she loves. But one day they tell her they don't want to be friends with her any more because she' started dressing different, acting different and become more obsessed with getting a guy than with being their friend. So it's essentially:
 |
| From this. |
 |
| To this. |
And her friends go all:
Tabs becomes obsessed with Joe, a guy from her school who she feels she has some deep connection with. She's not at all bothered by the fact that he has a girlfriend. In fact, she'd be willing to bring down the girlfriend in order to be with him. Essentially what Cady tries to do with Aaron Samuels in Mean Girls.
 |
| So deep & meaningful. Why aren't they married yet? |
Tabs gets up in front of her whole school and admits some of the bad things she's done. Let's be honest, that's basically this scene:
And this then prompts her whole school to get up and give their own embarrassing confessions. It's a nice idea but it's unrealistic and it's also just the sharing assembly from Mean Girls.
By the time I got to the end, I just wanted to go grab my DVD of Mean Girls and watch it, because at least that would make me happy and make me laugh. Something that LBC failed to do.
I had quite a few problems with Life by Committee, my main one being how it portrays drug use and the main characters attitude towards it. I have never done drugs, don't ever plan to do them and don't really see why so many people find them appealing. I was lucky with the fact that when I was very young my mum's godson was a drug addict, and the things he did to get drugs and everything he went through put me off EVER trying them. I still remember being at their house on New Years Day when he came home, his best friend had overdosed and died and he was devastated, swore he'd never touch drugs again - that lasted all of five minutes. I am lucky I had such a great example of how drugs can take over a persons life, not everyone gets that. That's why I think it's so important for books and movies to put that message across. Not the message we get from LBC. Her dad does weed, the guy she's in love with does weed and because LBC tells her too, even she smokes up with her own dad. I just didn't like it being portrayed as this thing that is okay to do and that everyone does. Nope! I'm sure a ton of teenagers do drugs, but do we really need to be portraying it as normal and okay in our literature that is aimed at younger readers, some who could still be quite impressionable. NO, we don't! Sorry, drugs rant over.
Tabitha was a character that I really didn't like, I didn't feel sorry for her at all. She feels like her friends cut her out of their life for no reason. I mean, she just wanted to dress different and wear a little make-up and there's nothing wrong with that. But, she has the most horrible attitude and the way she talks about her friends and herself made me think her friends had the right idea when they stopped talking to her. She's constantly referring to how plain, simple and ugly her friends are and how it's not her fault she got pretty. Seriously, no wonder you don't have friends any more! She's just so up her own arse that it infuriated me, she also has the high and mighty attitude about how she was a brilliant, amazing friend they were in the wrong. Yes, for the most part, they were but Tabs annoyed me so much I could understand why they wouldn't want to be friends with her.  |
| How Tab views herself. |
Joe was such an infuriating love interest. He has a girlfriend and this bothers Tabitha, but not enough to really end things with him. She's so utterly convinced that he's going to breakup with the girlfriend and get with her. Wake up, he's been with her for years and he has shown no indication of breaking up with her. Why would you even want to be with the kind of guy who goes behind his girlfriends back? If he cheats on her then it's a good indication that he would do the same to you. Please, find that half a brain cell I am certain you possess somewhere inside your head and just end things with him! I hated Joe, I didn't judge Tabs too harshly because she actually felt like she loved the guy, but I had full on hatred for Joe. Most people in the book blamed and judged Tabitha, but the blame should actually go to the guy, the one who's attached and has a girlfriend. She's free to pursue whoever she wants, they'd be nothing going on between them if he said no and was faithful to his girlfriend. I hated Joe, and I judged Tabitha for wanting to be with him because of how much of an arse he was.
The Life by Committee aspect was entertaining enough but not what I was hoping for. The assignments were pretty stupid and useless to me. Like one person has 24 hours to book a plane ticket and go to LA, which she buys instantly and just goes. Is that really realistic? What about the money? The time off work? Also, Tabs gets an assignment to get high with her dad. That should be some indication that this sites not really going to help you all that much. Get off and find your own solution for your problems.
2/5 Butterflies
It was an okay read but once I got to the end I couldn't stop comparing it to Mean Girls. I didn't like how drug use was portrayed in this. Tabs was a rather unlikeable character, if you're constantly talking about how plain and ugly your friends are how are you surprised when they don't want to hang out with you? Don't chase after a guy who has a girlfriend and then act surprised that people judge you for it, that was bound to happen. The Life by Committee aspect of the book was really disappointing, I'm not sure what I was expecting but that wasn't it. It was an okay read, but I'd rather watch Mean Girls.
*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Edelweiss in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.
dtrumps's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars
Originally posted on Gone Pecan
Secret: I kind of wish Life By Committee was real.
Tabby, sixteen years old, only has one friend since her other friends dumped her after Tabby became cuter than they are and they decided that she was turning into one of “those girls.” But that’s okay, because she also has Joe, who, yes, has a girlfriend who isn’t Tabby, but she’s in love and one day Joe will get up the nerve to dump fragile, moody Sasha Cotton. (I love how, pretty much throughout the book, she is referred to by her whole name.)
Then Tabby stumbles upon an interesting website, Life By Committee, that helps people to make big changes in their lives. The way it works is that you create an anonymous identity then you offer a secret. The other people on the site discuss what is going on with you and eventually you are given an assignment to complete related to the secret and you have 24 hours to complete it in order to keep your secret safe. It turns out that Tabby has more secrets than just her illicit love for Joe. Life By Committee takes the decisions out of her hands and lets her be a bystander in her own life, but it also offers Tabby an outlet because she cannot really discuss her issues with those around her because she is terrified of being judged.
Tabby becomes obsessed with LBC and the people who frequent it, like Star, who was given an assignment to fly across country to see the guy she might be in love with. LBC becomes a way for her to escape the reality of her life. The author makes you like this girl despite the fact that she might be stealing someone’s boyfriend because of the way her old friends treat her, her cringe-worthy love and relationship with Joe, and her crazy, wonderful (immature) parents. This book was beautifully written and, as a sometimes writer, made me jealous.
Tabby may be a little hard for people to like, but I see her as someone who is surviving despite the way people are judging her and trying to live her life without compromising who she really is. Yes, she’s made mistakes, but that’s to be expected of teenagers and people in general. People kept judging her and her actions, but it’s really more their perception of her that she’s fighting because do people really know other people or do they assume and make judgments without proof? Well, we all know the answer to that, especially teenagers who can be jealous and petty. I cannot say enough about this well-written, beautiful story and I’m so glad I picked it up. Do yourself a favor and read this book. If anything, it might cause you to reserve judgment of others by reminding you that we all have a difficult road to travel.
Some notes I wrote while reading:
“The way this author phrases things makes me giddy.”
“Letting someone decide what you should do in your life without any context of what those decisions could affect is not advisable.” –to which I’d like to add, “duh.”
“I wish I had time to active read.”
“I would love to do LBC.” –to which I’d add “for a little while, but not as a lifestyle.”
“Everyone is constantly labeling her.”
“She is looking for a way to crawl out of her loneliness that losing her uber judgmental friends has made her feel, LBC seems to see her and not judge and respond to her in a way that the other people in her real life do not.”
“Lyrical writing.”
Originally posted on Gone Pecan
Secret: I kind of wish Life By Committee was real.
Tabby, sixteen years old, only has one friend since her other friends dumped her after Tabby became cuter than they are and they decided that she was turning into one of “those girls.” But that’s okay, because she also has Joe, who, yes, has a girlfriend who isn’t Tabby, but she’s in love and one day Joe will get up the nerve to dump fragile, moody Sasha Cotton. (I love how, pretty much throughout the book, she is referred to by her whole name.)
Then Tabby stumbles upon an interesting website, Life By Committee, that helps people to make big changes in their lives. The way it works is that you create an anonymous identity then you offer a secret. The other people on the site discuss what is going on with you and eventually you are given an assignment to complete related to the secret and you have 24 hours to complete it in order to keep your secret safe. It turns out that Tabby has more secrets than just her illicit love for Joe. Life By Committee takes the decisions out of her hands and lets her be a bystander in her own life, but it also offers Tabby an outlet because she cannot really discuss her issues with those around her because she is terrified of being judged.
Tabby becomes obsessed with LBC and the people who frequent it, like Star, who was given an assignment to fly across country to see the guy she might be in love with. LBC becomes a way for her to escape the reality of her life. The author makes you like this girl despite the fact that she might be stealing someone’s boyfriend because of the way her old friends treat her, her cringe-worthy love and relationship with Joe, and her crazy, wonderful (immature) parents. This book was beautifully written and, as a sometimes writer, made me jealous.
Tabby may be a little hard for people to like, but I see her as someone who is surviving despite the way people are judging her and trying to live her life without compromising who she really is. Yes, she’s made mistakes, but that’s to be expected of teenagers and people in general. People kept judging her and her actions, but it’s really more their perception of her that she’s fighting because do people really know other people or do they assume and make judgments without proof? Well, we all know the answer to that, especially teenagers who can be jealous and petty. I cannot say enough about this well-written, beautiful story and I’m so glad I picked it up. Do yourself a favor and read this book. If anything, it might cause you to reserve judgment of others by reminding you that we all have a difficult road to travel.
Some notes I wrote while reading:
“The way this author phrases things makes me giddy.”
“Letting someone decide what you should do in your life without any context of what those decisions could affect is not advisable.” –to which I’d like to add, “duh.”
“I wish I had time to active read.”
“I would love to do LBC.” –to which I’d add “for a little while, but not as a lifestyle.”
“Everyone is constantly labeling her.”
“She is looking for a way to crawl out of her loneliness that losing her uber judgmental friends has made her feel, LBC seems to see her and not judge and respond to her in a way that the other people in her real life do not.”
“Lyrical writing.”
hekate24's review against another edition
2.0
Bad pedagogy, worse parenting, bizarre protagonist, very "hello my fellow kids" depiction of social media.
Justice for Sasha tbh.
Justice for Sasha tbh.
pikasqueaks's review against another edition
3.0
A lot of things for this book really worked for me. I really liked how the snotty smart kids were the "bad guys" so-to-speak, ditching their friend for realizing she's a hottie and acting accordingly.
But I don't think the secret club this actually worked for me. It felt really unrealistic, as in, I couldn't actually imagine this happening. Which is typically not something I stress about when it comes to books, but with this sort of one, with the real raw emotions and all of that, I feel like it should be real. And true.
Haydu shines the most at understanding and expressing her narrators. I think this is always going to be her strength, and I envy her for that ability greatly.
But I don't think the secret club this actually worked for me. It felt really unrealistic, as in, I couldn't actually imagine this happening. Which is typically not something I stress about when it comes to books, but with this sort of one, with the real raw emotions and all of that, I feel like it should be real. And true.
Haydu shines the most at understanding and expressing her narrators. I think this is always going to be her strength, and I envy her for that ability greatly.
missprint_'s review against another edition
5.0
It isn't Tabitha's fault that her breasts are bigger now. It isn't her fault that she likes wearing makeup as much as she likes reading margin notes in used books. It isn't her fault that Joe seems to like talking to her more than he likes talking to his crazy-eccentric-special-snowflake girlfriend Sasha Cotton.
But it might be Tabitha's fault when she kisses Joe. And when she does it again.
Normally, Tabitha would so not be that girl. But with the help of a website called Life by Committee, Tabitha starts doing a lot of things she wouldn't normally do in the spirit of being more. At first sharing secrets and completing assignments to keep those secrets safe is easy. The assignments are empowering and push her limits.
When Tabby becomes more involved in the site, and the stakes get much higher, she has to decide how far she is willing to go, and who she is willing to hurt, to be more in Life by Committee (2014) by Corey Ann Haydu.
Life by Committee is Haydu's sophomore novel.
Tabitha is a great heroine. She struggles with a lot of things throughout Life by Committee. Obviously, there is the morality issue with cheating. But Tabitha is also trying to understand her place in a world where the rules are constantly changing not because of anything she has done but simply because of how she looks. (And sometimes not even that in the case of her changing home life.) The way Tabby, through Haydu's prose, grapples with feminism and slut shaming and loneliness--problems she can't always articulate, or even give a proper name--is shattering.
Tabitha is incredibly lonely at the start of the novel. She tries to reshape her life without the friends she had assumed were a given but it's hard. Then Tabitha stumbles upon Life by Committee. LBC is an anonymous online community where users share secrets and complete assignments (more like dares) in the name of being more and leading their best lives. The wisdom in joining such a site is, of course, debatable. But Haydu does such an excellent job of bringing Tabitha and her hurt to life that it makes sense. Readers begin to understand how Tabitha might become this person who is completely consumed by people she has never met.
The great thing about Tabitha is that she knows exactly who she is and who she would like to be. When Tabitha gets involved with LBC, she starts to question a lot of the ideas she has about herself. Sometimes that leads to empowering moments. Unfortunately it also leads to some heart wrenching decisions that are so obviously Bad Ideas they become painful to read.
Those choices, the power and allure of LBC, are hard to understand at times. Unless you remember being that lonely high school (or college) student trying to find your way. Unless you remember the thrill that can come with telling everything that matters to someone who will never meet you, never be able to really judge you. Life by Committee captures that heady mix of connection and anonymity found on the Internet so very well.
Life by Committee also subtly highlights the pitfalls that can come from such a scenario. It's wonderful to have friends online saying "yes!" to every risk you want to take. But without the context that comes from knowing a person in real life, it's also difficult to ever adequately understand the consequences and the aftermath of those risks.
At the end of Life by Committee it's safe to say that Tabitha comes out a little wiser and a lot stronger. Because this book is on the short side (304 pages hardcover) readers don't get to see all of the payoff after Tabitha realizes she can find her own way, all by herself, but the development is there. The growth and the hint at something more--LBC-inspired or not--is there in the final pages.
Although she has her stumbling blocks, Tabitha remains a smart and capable heroine throughout. While she doesn't always make the best decisions, she always learns. And that, really, is all anyone can hope for. Life by Committee is a shrewd, clever read that raises all of the right questions for its characters and readers. Highly recommended.
Possible Pairings: Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo, Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg, To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han, The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero, The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott, Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker
*A review copy of this book was acquired from the publisher at BEA 2014*
But it might be Tabitha's fault when she kisses Joe. And when she does it again.
Normally, Tabitha would so not be that girl. But with the help of a website called Life by Committee, Tabitha starts doing a lot of things she wouldn't normally do in the spirit of being more. At first sharing secrets and completing assignments to keep those secrets safe is easy. The assignments are empowering and push her limits.
When Tabby becomes more involved in the site, and the stakes get much higher, she has to decide how far she is willing to go, and who she is willing to hurt, to be more in Life by Committee (2014) by Corey Ann Haydu.
Life by Committee is Haydu's sophomore novel.
Tabitha is a great heroine. She struggles with a lot of things throughout Life by Committee. Obviously, there is the morality issue with cheating. But Tabitha is also trying to understand her place in a world where the rules are constantly changing not because of anything she has done but simply because of how she looks. (And sometimes not even that in the case of her changing home life.) The way Tabby, through Haydu's prose, grapples with feminism and slut shaming and loneliness--problems she can't always articulate, or even give a proper name--is shattering.
Tabitha is incredibly lonely at the start of the novel. She tries to reshape her life without the friends she had assumed were a given but it's hard. Then Tabitha stumbles upon Life by Committee. LBC is an anonymous online community where users share secrets and complete assignments (more like dares) in the name of being more and leading their best lives. The wisdom in joining such a site is, of course, debatable. But Haydu does such an excellent job of bringing Tabitha and her hurt to life that it makes sense. Readers begin to understand how Tabitha might become this person who is completely consumed by people she has never met.
The great thing about Tabitha is that she knows exactly who she is and who she would like to be. When Tabitha gets involved with LBC, she starts to question a lot of the ideas she has about herself. Sometimes that leads to empowering moments. Unfortunately it also leads to some heart wrenching decisions that are so obviously Bad Ideas they become painful to read.
Those choices, the power and allure of LBC, are hard to understand at times. Unless you remember being that lonely high school (or college) student trying to find your way. Unless you remember the thrill that can come with telling everything that matters to someone who will never meet you, never be able to really judge you. Life by Committee captures that heady mix of connection and anonymity found on the Internet so very well.
Life by Committee also subtly highlights the pitfalls that can come from such a scenario. It's wonderful to have friends online saying "yes!" to every risk you want to take. But without the context that comes from knowing a person in real life, it's also difficult to ever adequately understand the consequences and the aftermath of those risks.
At the end of Life by Committee it's safe to say that Tabitha comes out a little wiser and a lot stronger. Because this book is on the short side (304 pages hardcover) readers don't get to see all of the payoff after Tabitha realizes she can find her own way, all by herself, but the development is there. The growth and the hint at something more--LBC-inspired or not--is there in the final pages.
Although she has her stumbling blocks, Tabitha remains a smart and capable heroine throughout. While she doesn't always make the best decisions, she always learns. And that, really, is all anyone can hope for. Life by Committee is a shrewd, clever read that raises all of the right questions for its characters and readers. Highly recommended.
Possible Pairings: Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo, Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg, To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han, The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero, The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott, Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker
*A review copy of this book was acquired from the publisher at BEA 2014*
sarahonthecoast's review against another edition
3.0
In Tabitha's mind, her problems are huge and overwhelming. I think it will be hard for most teens to empathize with someone whose life has fallen apart because she has been deemed "too pretty" for her old friends. Especially when that same someone spends all of her time reading fantastic books given to her by her cool, hippy dad, in a coffee shop run by her young, hip mom, waiting for texts from the super hot guy she's fooling around with behind his girlfriend's back. Tabitha's problems grown tenfold with her decision to join the online, anonymous, truth or dare community that pushes her to her boundaries and further alienates her from everyone around her. Haydu wants us to believe the stakes are high (there's a lot of mystery around what happens to committee members who don't complete their tasks) but just like this book, there's a whole lot of build-up with not a lot of pay-off (unless being blocked from the website is your worst fear.)
Despite the one-dimensional main character and predictability, Life by Committee did not make for an unpleasant reading experience. Tabitha's actions online, where people weren't as anonymous as she thought, may have teens thinking twice about how much of themselves they're willing to divulge to strangers. Tabitha ends up learning the error of her ways and does her best to correct her mistakes (and is rewarded with a bright and sunny happy ending hand delivered by a much more appropriate love interest). It's an interesting concept that just wasn't as well-developed or executed as I would have hoped.
Despite the one-dimensional main character and predictability, Life by Committee did not make for an unpleasant reading experience. Tabitha's actions online, where people weren't as anonymous as she thought, may have teens thinking twice about how much of themselves they're willing to divulge to strangers. Tabitha ends up learning the error of her ways and does her best to correct her mistakes (and is rewarded with a bright and sunny happy ending hand delivered by a much more appropriate love interest). It's an interesting concept that just wasn't as well-developed or executed as I would have hoped.
a_lovesbooks's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
3.0
I read this in a day so I'm thinking that I liked it, but honestly, I'm not sure what to make of it. The main character Tabitha is so damn annoying. But I can't decide if that's just cause she's a teenager. So three stars.
charmaineac's review against another edition
5.0
I ADORE COREY ANN HAYDU. After being absolutely enthralled by OCD Love Story, I was so worried that it would be a fluke. But I got the same feelings with Life by Committee. This book struck a chord with me.
Haydu knows how to universalize the particular. There are problems in this book—really freaking huge problems, in fact—yet I felt invested in Tabitha's story. It brings a whole new perspective to the table. There are people who I have JUDGED the way Tabitha gets judged, and this was such a wake-up call. I don't know other people's scenarios. I don't know their family circumstances. I don't want to be "Jemma" in this situation. And yet I can pinpoint exact people who I have treated that way. ...Here I go again. There's something about Haydu's books that make me want to talk about MY life and MY experiences.
I thought this book would be all about the destructive nature of groupthink. And that happened, to an extent. But there was also a strong revelation about the LBCers and what they were really doing (THANK YOU). I think by the end, Tabitha learned to use her assignments the way people actually use their coin tosses. They don't blindly follow the decision handed to them, but instead realize what they REALLY want to do based on what they're told to do. Some of the committee advice actually made a difference. They were important to Tabitha's development, temperament, and choices. But she realized that she ALWAYS had choices available to her. I even think Agnes started to realize that eventually.
Haydu has the impeccable skill of taking you down the rabbit hole. Like, down to the bottom of frightening downward spirals. I felt Tabitha losing control of her life. But her books are so, so good because she knows how to bring it all back up. There comes a point where Tabitha grabs the reigns, and nothing could be more fulfilling.
There was one part near the very end that fell flat to me. Are we going all Mean Girls here? I can't imagine a school assembly turning out that way. But since this is supposedly some earthy-crunchy granola-type school, I'll let it go. Also, I was totally rooting on that "non-secret" at the end.
Haydu knows how to universalize the particular. There are problems in this book—really freaking huge problems, in fact—yet I felt invested in Tabitha's story. It brings a whole new perspective to the table. There are people who I have JUDGED the way Tabitha gets judged, and this was such a wake-up call. I don't know other people's scenarios. I don't know their family circumstances. I don't want to be "Jemma" in this situation. And yet I can pinpoint exact people who I have treated that way. ...Here I go again. There's something about Haydu's books that make me want to talk about MY life and MY experiences.
I thought this book would be all about the destructive nature of groupthink. And that happened, to an extent. But there was also a strong revelation about the LBCers and what they were really doing (THANK YOU). I think by the end, Tabitha learned to use her assignments the way people actually use their coin tosses. They don't blindly follow the decision handed to them, but instead realize what they REALLY want to do based on what they're told to do. Some of the committee advice actually made a difference. They were important to Tabitha's development, temperament, and choices. But she realized that she ALWAYS had choices available to her. I even think Agnes started to realize that eventually.
Haydu has the impeccable skill of taking you down the rabbit hole. Like, down to the bottom of frightening downward spirals. I felt Tabitha losing control of her life. But her books are so, so good because she knows how to bring it all back up. There comes a point where Tabitha grabs the reigns, and nothing could be more fulfilling.
There was one part near the very end that fell flat to me. Are we going all Mean Girls here? I can't imagine a school assembly turning out that way. But since this is supposedly some earthy-crunchy granola-type school, I'll let it go. Also, I was totally rooting on that "non-secret" at the end.