The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks(2008)
by E. Lockhart
Frankie is a sophomore at an elite boarding school. While she spent her first year there in some of the outsider groups rarely being noticed, her body has done a transformation over the summer and people, especially popular, senior guys, are taking notice. Frankie quickly lands a Senior boyfriend. But when she starts learning about some of his secrets, Frankie begins some pretty brilliantly planned secrets of her own.
Some people praise this book as a feminist story, while others are disappointed in Frankie’s priorities. Some people wonder why it was so important to Frankie to impress the guys, while others appreciate her cleverness over them and her commentaries.
I had to read some reviews before writing this, because, honestly, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. I spent the first part of the book wondering why I was still reading it. The information covered is all very necessary for the story, but it all felt so “high school”—this person is dating this person, but used to date this person, and here’s a Friday night party… I kept reading though, because there was enough spunk to Frankie to keep my attention. And once her pranks began, I seriously zipped through the whole rest of the book without setting it down. Some of Frankie’s desires don’t seem to match up with her character. But I think it’s because her actions are so clever, because she is such an activist and is full of such feistiness that it’s easy to forget she’s still fifteen. Not that this book implies all 15-year old girls act a certain way about boys, but I like to think of Frankie two years down the road wondering why on Earth she was pining over Matthew and his crew in the first place.
All in all though, an engaging and fun book.
