You can hardly open Google Reader these days without seeing someone loving The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and this will be no exception. Frankie is brilliant. Tired of being overlooked and underestimated, Frankie makes it her goal to infiltrate and undermine a secret, all-male society at her boarding school. She is often torn between being the girl people want her to be and being the girl she wants to be, but she does it all with flair. I really enjoyed the book a lot. I loved the wordplay and the smartness of it (I think Lockhart might do it better than John Green!) I enjoyed Frankie and was a wee bit in love with Alpha (the nemesis, if there were one.) I'm always a big fan of the boarding school setting and invariably end up comparing it to my boarding school experience. (My school had a lot more rules than Frankie's or Alaska's!)
The last chapter takes a turn towards introspection and trying to add something meaningful to the book and was totally unnecesary, but it didn't ruin the book for me. The book is quite a lot of fun with the planning and execution of the pranks, and the overall smartness of it all. I would have loved to read more about Frankie and think it would have made a great little series.
Here's the summary from the flap, if you're on the fence:
Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:
Debate Club.
Her father's "bunny rabbit."
A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.
Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:
A knockout figure.
A sharp tongue.
A chip on her shoulder.
And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy,
word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.Frankie Landau-Banks.
No longer the kind of girl to take "no" for an answer.
Especially when "no" means she's excluded from her boyfriend's all-male
secret society.
Not when her ex-boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.
Not when she knows she's smarter than any of them.
When she knows Matthew's lying to her.
And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.
Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16:
Possibly a criminal mastermind.
This is the story of how she got that way.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Hyperion Books
2008
352 pages
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I just love this book so very very much. Just reading your summary made me desperate to read it again.
ReplyDeleteI really want to read this book! All the ASMS grads I know rock!
ReplyDeletethis sounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteI want to read this, but I had to bring it back unread! Library overload. :( I have it rerequested!
ReplyDeleteWent to Borders and saw this on the buy one get one FREE table--so, I paid like 1.50 for it. Can't wait!!
ReplyDeleteI really want to read this book, there's been too many good reviews of it..
ReplyDelete