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

Title: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
Author: E. Lockhart
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: March 25, 2008

Summary from Goodreads:
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 Laundau-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.

Review

There is so much to like about The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. The first thing that stood out to me was the writing - it's that witty clever kind that keeps you entertained and a little in awe. I don't think I've ever not enjoyed a book with this kind of writing but this was the cream of the crop. The concept of neglected positives - like saying maculate for the opposite of immaculate - and the use of them throughout the story was one of my favorite things ever. Like, I love this so much that I want to start using them but I don't think anyone will get it.

The next thing I loved was the storyline. Frankie gets up to all kinds of no good after she discovers The Loyal Order of the Basset Hound, an all-male secret society at her prep school. She highjacks the 'Alpha' position using a well-timed email and starts ordering around the members to execute numerous harmless pranks. And all of the pranks that she comes up with are hilarious and kind of brilliant, my favorite being the bras on all the pompous self-portraits.  I had a great deal of fun with this.

Meanwhile, Frankie is navigating the trials of High School and teenhood. She finds herself in a precarious position with an older boyfriend and popularity by association - both of which she's afraid to lose. I couldn't settle on how I actually felt about Frankie. Most of the time, I thought she was awesome. She was smart, confident, empowered. She wasn't afraid to take risks and stand up for herself. I totally admire that. But on occasion she would act a little young, overly dependent or overly sensitive (as everyone was accusing her of being) and it would bother me because it felt like an entirely different person. But there were only glimpses of this, so it didn't detract a lot from how much I enjoyed this one.

So all in all, this was a great book and I definitely recommend it to others. The secret society mayhem and amazing writing really make this a standout. A big thanks to Kay at It's a Book Life for the recommendation!

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Pages: 240
Source: ARC, ALA

Summary from Goodreads:
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Review

The writing in We Were Liars is undeniably beautiful. It’s poetic. And it is the greatest thing about this book. I was pulled into the story largely because of the way it was told. I wanted to keep reading because I wanted more of E. Lockhart’s words as much as I wanted to know what happened to Cady. It was mysterious. It was perplexing. It was enthralling.

The ending left me reeling. I was unprepared for it, and my jaw literally dropped. But although the reaction itself was positive, I thought what actually happened was dumb. I am frustrated for the characters in this story. I wish I could explain myself further but it would be a spoiler-y so I’ll leave it at that.

And that is what I think of when it comes to this book - the writing and the ending. I don’t think of the characters. I find them neither exceptionally memorable nor exceptionally likable. I don’t think of the setting, because despite taking place on a private island, it’s not given a lot of attention. And I don’t think of the romance, if you can call it that. It was a little confusing and sporadic. But please do not mistake my lack of love for these parts of the story to mean dislike. These things did not detract from the experience, they just did not enhance it. This was a strong book in every other way.

There are some important themes in this book - mostly associated with a privileged lifestyle, and the deep-seeded closed-mindedness of an old elitist family. If you like books that are thought-provoking, this one has its moments. 

Do I feel this book is a little overhyped? No and yes. No because I do think the story and the writing make for a worthwhile read. I DO recommend this book to you. But yes because it was not ohmygodthisbookistodiefor good (in my opinion). And given all the talk surrounding it, that's kind of what I expected. So my positive, but somewhat average rating, can probably be attributed to the hype machine.