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A review by colorpencil4918
Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.0
The first time I read this book must've been when I was in 6th or 7th grade. Since I was an edgy preteen, it's no wonder I gravitated to this book, especially with its deceivingly gorgeous cover. It didn't take long after I started reading to get hugely disappointed at how little I was enjoying the story and characters. The more I read the more I wanted to stop reading. The thing was, I had chosen this book to do a book report on, and the thought of having to finish the rest of the book made me shudder so I begged my teacher to only do the book report on half of it and luckily he let me.
Almost 10 years passed, and I still hadn't stopped thinking about how much I hated this book. A few months back I decided to borrow it from the library and read the whole thing so I could make a proper judgement on what it was about the book that I disliked so much. And folks?? It was torture.
Now I know a woman in her early 20s is not the target audience for this book, but as you've read, I didn't even like the book when I WAS the target audience. I don't even know where to start. I guess I could mention that despite targeting middle-schoolers/young high-schoolers, I think it's not quite appropriate for the younger half of that age group. There's a good amount of R-rated language and humor, and even a part where one of the teenage characters fantasizes about taking advantage of teachers who she knows have a thing for high-schoolers. It was presented as a "cool" and normal thing and I just found that nasty. Other things that pop up are mild ableism (there's one character who felt like he was there just so the author could make ableist jokes, I couldn't find a single other reason for him to exist) and racism for seemingly no reason other than to have a moment where the narrator can be like "oops that wasn't politically correct!!!!" Don't forget slut shaming and "I'm-not-like-other-girls" spiels every 5 minutes.
I guess I should talk about the characters and plot. Charlotte was annoying the whole way through and learned nothing by the end. Everyone else is a stereotype. You can predict every plot event if you even have just approximate knowledge of cheesy teen drama tropes. The whole reason the plot even happened was because, according to the book, all teens are too selfish and must learn to not be selfish before they can cross to the afterlife. What was the point if Charlotte didn't grow at all and was selfish to the very end?? Man...
I don't know if this book was trying to go for a campy sort of style with the way it cranked up the drama, pop culture references, and character archetypes, but if camp is what it was going for, it fell flat on its face. A few hundred pages of pain and suffering. It was like that when I was 12, and it's still like that today. If I could say one thing to the author, I'd say that I appreciate the hard work she did writing this series, but the magnitude of my dislike for it has haunted me for the past decade. I literally would not recommend it to anyone of any age. Thank you and goodnight
Almost 10 years passed, and I still hadn't stopped thinking about how much I hated this book. A few months back I decided to borrow it from the library and read the whole thing so I could make a proper judgement on what it was about the book that I disliked so much. And folks?? It was torture.
Now I know a woman in her early 20s is not the target audience for this book, but as you've read, I didn't even like the book when I WAS the target audience. I don't even know where to start. I guess I could mention that despite targeting middle-schoolers/young high-schoolers, I think it's not quite appropriate for the younger half of that age group. There's a good amount of R-rated language and humor, and even a part where one of the teenage characters fantasizes about taking advantage of teachers who she knows have a thing for high-schoolers. It was presented as a "cool" and normal thing and I just found that nasty. Other things that pop up are mild ableism (there's one character who felt like he was there just so the author could make ableist jokes, I couldn't find a single other reason for him to exist) and racism for seemingly no reason other than to have a moment where the narrator can be like "oops that wasn't politically correct!!!!" Don't forget slut shaming and "I'm-not-like-other-girls" spiels every 5 minutes.
I guess I should talk about the characters and plot. Charlotte was annoying the whole way through and learned nothing by the end. Everyone else is a stereotype. You can predict every plot event if you even have just approximate knowledge of cheesy teen drama tropes. The whole reason the plot even happened was because, according to the book, all teens are too selfish and must learn to not be selfish before they can cross to the afterlife. What was the point if Charlotte didn't grow at all and was selfish to the very end?? Man...
I don't know if this book was trying to go for a campy sort of style with the way it cranked up the drama, pop culture references, and character archetypes, but if camp is what it was going for, it fell flat on its face. A few hundred pages of pain and suffering. It was like that when I was 12, and it's still like that today. If I could say one thing to the author, I'd say that I appreciate the hard work she did writing this series, but the magnitude of my dislike for it has haunted me for the past decade. I literally would not recommend it to anyone of any age. Thank you and goodnight
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism and Self harm
Minor: Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Racism