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1.0 out of 5 stars
I was a better person before I read this book, Aug 7 2008
The first page has a quote from Hemingway, saying "It makes one feel rather good deciding not to be a bitch..." I have two thoughts about this. One: Hemingway would be appalled to hear his name was used anywhere near this series. Two: It's too bad not a single one of the characters seem to agree with the thought the book opens with.
There are about half a dozen mini-plots going on, none of which have much relevance to each other beyond the kids all going to the same school. Since this is the fourth book in the series, I presume by this point we're supposed to have some working knowledge of the major characters, but the personalities are all so clichéd and their plots so trite it really doesn't matter where you jump in. There are no explanations required in a book like this.
One of the quotes on the back cover refers to this series as "Sex and the City for the younger set," which is misleading. Because I'm Worth It was written with none of the wit or intelligence which made that tv show so popular. The characters all lead ridiculously glamourized lives, full of parties and four hundred dollar shoes, but they lack any pretense at substance. Some of the characters might have been more interesting if we'd seen them for more than a few pages. The perspective shifts every few paragraphs if there's more than one character in the scene, and each chapter is only a couple of pages long, giving no time for plot twists or resolutions before moving on to the next thing. The whole book reads like a serious case of ADD.
Also, I have to wonder: how is it that every single one of these vapid, shopping-obsessed kids expects to get into an Ivy League school? Why are these characters even looking at school at all? They're rich, they're spoiled, and they think the world owes them just for having been born. In my experience, these are not the sort of kids who bother with post-secondary education, especially considering the dialogue rarely strays from discussing parties, shopping, sex, or drugs.
Worthy role models, indeed.
I'm not of the opinion that we should try to keep all references to things like sex and drugs out of YA novels. They're relevant issues for teens and pre-teens, and removing the references from books won't keep kids from having to deal with the issues in real life. That being said, this book is a far cry from helping to foster healthy attitudes towards... well, anything. Bulimia is treated as a convenient way to keep slim, sleeping around has no consequences (unless you're cheating, in which case it makes people cry but you can still get away with it), and romance is an excellent motivation to go to rehab. This tripe is not horrible for just kids to read; nobody should be exposed to anything these books have to say.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Love it!!, Aug 10 2004
I waited FOREVER for my local bookstore to finally get this book and it didn't disappoint. Well, it kind of did it its not being as good as the others, but overall it was still really good. A fun read.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book!, Jun 13 2004
I really love this book. Being 17, being their age, really makes it a lot more enjoyable to read. I even suggested this book to my 14 year old cousin! It truly is a pretty accurate representation of teens today, even though these teens are uber-rich, super cool, trendy, and did I mention rich? I love the interesting, dynamic people (even though Serena is pretty shallow, I still think she'd make a pretty awesome best friend), and I like the way the author balanced the super rich kids (Blair, Serena, Nate, etc.) with the kids that live in their world, but live in it rather on the outskirts (Dan, Vanessa, etc.) I loved this book so much, I couldn't resist buying the newest Gossip Girl (number 5!) a few days after it was released. Super read, pure fun, great beach/teen fiction!
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