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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Dessen's realistic portrayal of contemporary teens and their moral challenges breathes fresh life into well-worn themes of rebellion and first love. Halley has always been close to her mother, a therapist who publishes books about adolescent behavior. But the summer before her junior year of high school, Halley begins cutting the umbilical cord. She and her best friend, Scarlett, start hanging out with Ginny Tabor ("a cheerleader with a wild streak a mile wide and a reputation among the football team for more than her cheers and famous midair splits"); Halley dumps her nerdy boyfriend (the son of her mother's best friend) and becomes involved with reckless Macon, a boy her parents have forbidden her to see. Then Scarlett discovers she is pregnant two months after her boyfriend Michael is killed in a motorcycle accident. Walking a line between childhood and adulthood, the two girls turn to each other instead of their families for support. Together they explore the meaning of love, sex and responsibility. This romance/coming-of-age story is not as tightly written as Dessen's debut, That Summer; it suffers from some scenes reminiscent of soap opera and from flat presentations of almost all the adult characters. But Dessen's fully developed characterizations of charismatic teens, particularly the rebel-without-a-cause-type Macon, are sure to attract readersAespecially those who, like Halley, have felt the urge to take a walk on the wild side. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 UpAQuiet, predictable Halley and Scarlett, her feisty defender, have been best friends since grade school. Growing up like sisters, they've shared everything except a bedroomAdreams, clothes, classes, and Friday nights. Then boys step into their teen lives. Scarlett's romance the summer before junior year has serious consequences when Michael dies in a motorcycle accident and she's left carrying his child. Halley's close relationship with her psychologist mother is fractured as the girl's friendship with secretive, irresponsible Macon Faulkner deepens into romance. To top things off, Grandma Halley is dying. Halley and her classmates experiment with drugs, alcohol, and sex, and experience family problems. Asking questions and making choices, Halley confronts her fears and learns to make her own decisions on her way to adulthood. Dessen deals accurately, sensitively, and smoothly with growing up in suburbia. Halley and Scarlett's friendship resonates with affection and honesty, and the predictable but necessary separation of mothers and daughters is portrayed with tender acuity. Experiences and conversations avoid falling into clich?; all of the characters are fully developed and worth getting to know. Without preaching or posturing, Dessen has written a powerful, polished story.AGail Richmond, San Diego Unified Schools, CA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Scarlett Thomas has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Scarlett Thomas has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
a real story,
By
This review is from: Someone Like You (reissue) (Paperback)
I think i may be in the minority here, but i enjoyed Someone Like You much more then That Summer, even though i'm a fan of all of Sarah Dessen's books.i read Someone Like You a few years ago, and it always stuck with me. Hally's character was so real, the "good" girl who was just trying to experience her own life, and Scarlett, her strong willed pregnant best friend. It showed growing up in a light that wasn't scornful or biased or glossy - but as something that was confusing, flawed, and still altogther beautiful. Anybody who's going through it knows exactly what Hally is talking about when she talks about doing anything for Macon, being under her mother's thumb, and trying to fill in that outline of herself. I also saw the movie How To Deal, which i thought was enjoyable enough, but the ending completely changed the important conclusion with her and Macon in the book. I thought this book was touching, funny, and beautifully written. I've read many 'high school books' and this is one of the very few who manage to pull it off.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
someone like Jerry Falwell or Dr. Laura,
By
This review is from: Someone Like You (Paperback)
Someone Like You is an easy read, but the book promotes so many negative ideas about women that I found it hard to enjoy it. The book attempts to portray female friendship, and does a fairly good job of capturing the importance of friendship between young women. But Dessen severely punishes any character who has sex (fatal motorcycle accident, pregnancy) or even wants to have sex (car accident). Her blatantly regressive views on sex make this book more of a blanket treatise on why sex is bad and should not happen outside of traditional marriage. Dessen also incorporates extremely negative messages about body image into this novel, which are particularly damaging for young women. She is a talented storyteller, but her ultra-conservative, reactionary views render this novel more than repulsive; it is simply bad.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Someone Like You,
By A Customer
This review is from: Someone Like You (Paperback)
This is a really truly great book from my favorite author, Sarah Dessen. Her stories may not be picturesque, but they are so real you momentarilary belive you are part of the story and that it is actually happening to you. Most young adult book authors write stories that are so annoyingly fake- you do not believe their stories for a minute, their books belong in the fantasy catagory. but Sarah's books such as, Someone Like You, are so believable that you can relate to the characters and their lives in many ways.
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