5/19/2008

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Frankie Landau-Banks is a sophomore at Alabaster, a prestigious prep school where one might make acquaintances that will open doors all throughout life. Previously a small and awkward-looking freshman who dominated at debate, Frankie has since, shall we say...developed. And, perhaps as a result of this development, gorgeous senior Matthew Livingston notices her, invites her to a late-night golf-course shindig, and becomes her boyfriend. Frankie is positively thrilled, and loves spending time with Matthew and his friends. But when Matthew starts acting strangely--blowing her off to hang with the guys, freaking out when she touches the ridiculous china dog ornament on his desk, and quite obviously lying to her--she follows him. He ends up leading her to an old theater where she discovers that he is the Basset King, leader of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, which is a secret society that has been active at Alabaster for who-knows-how-long. But Matthew hasn't told her about it, and from the looks of it, he doesn't plan to. Frankie is furious. She knows that she's just as smart than Matthew and his friends, if not smarter. But she's a girl, and the Order is an all-male society.
Does she confront him?
No.
She gets even by becoming the mastermind behind a series of the most epic pranks Alabaster Preparatory has ever seen.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is quite simply excellent. It is the story of a girl who will not stand for being the "simple and sweet" girlfriend and nothing more, who refuses to give in to the panopticon (look it up) of our society, and who has decided that she won't take "no" from anybody. E. Lockhart writes with intelligence and humor, interspersing facts on secret societies that I found to be absolutely fascinating. At one point (or maybe a couple) a bit of first-person was thrown into the mix, which was slightly confusing, but it didn't take away from my like for the book as a whole. I especially appreciated Frankie's transformation over the course of the book, as well as the message conveyed.

Five out of five daggers




Wanting very badly to do something epic...

Only once in a while there comes a book that really and truly means something to me-- and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks was one of those books. Not only was it amazingly well written, not only was I incapable of putting it down, but it made me think. Frankie Landau-Banks is a girl who has always been underestimated, and this book is the story of how she goes from being her family's small, helpless Bunny Rabbit to being, truly, a force of nature. If you read anything at all this year, read this book.

Five out of five.


Amazed, happy, and yours,

13 comments:

Steph said...

Only heard good things about this book. I cannot wait to get it. Lovely review -- I trust you guys' tastes wholeheartedly.

Steph

Anonymous said...

that book is sitting on my coffee table this very moment.

Anonymous said...

i just finished that book and it was freaking incredible.
fawesome. completely fawesome.

...also, Alpha was a much more interesting person than Matthew. if only for that off roading conversation.

ari :o) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ari :o) said...

I LOVED THIS BOOK WITH A BURNING PASSION IN MY SOUL!!!! I loved how Frankie used words like gruntled (as opposed to disgruntled). From this book I discovered my new favorite word--SCHADENFREUDE! Does it not roll off your tung so nicely? Plus, its thirteen letters *coughs the midnighters coughs*.

Anonymous said...

tridecalogism!

Em said...

Great review! I've heard lots of great things about this book. :-)

Little Willow said...

Not only did I love this book, but I am loving this blog! Great set up and execution throughout, ladies - and what gorgeous illustrations/headers at all of the blogs. Wow. I'm sending the readergirlz ( http://www.readergirlz.com ) over, as I think you'll enjoy the readergirlz book discussions as well.

A said...

On your recommendation I bought this book and it is great! Exciting, suspenseful, and hilarious!

Stasia D said...

It's my book of the year so far. This and "Madapple" are my favs.

Melissa Walker said...

I can't wait to read this book--it's high in my pile and your review makes it even more tempting!

Anonymous said...

Excited? I think I am.

Rachel said...

I've heard that everyone has really enjoyed this book, but I still havent picked up and actually read it...
hmmm...
after reading this its tempting though...very tempting.