Review by New York Times Review
IT'S no secret that female friendships are born through the sharing of personal information and feelings. Intimacy is our currency. But as Erin Saldin's first novel, "The Girls of No Return," and "The List," by Siobhan Vivian, show, this also makes us frightfully adept at hurting one another. At the heart of "The Girls of No Return" is the Alice Marshall School for Girls, set in a secluded stretch of Idaho wilderness, a school for reforming young delinquents. The students are mostly upper-middle-class or rich white "I-bankers" (daughters of New York investment bankers) whose crimes include arson, vandalism, robbery and generally running wild. In the case of Lida, an acerbic, antisocial and terminally unwashed "townie," those "crimes" also involve a bad attitude and an inability to get past her abandonment by her mother. The girls there, in addition to the drugs and cigarettes and "sharps" they smuggle in, also bring to school their considerable baggage. Unpacking that baggage, sharing the "thing" that has come to define them and the reason they're at Alice Marshall - more so than learning to survive in the wild, paddle a canoe and fend off a bear - is the key to their, rehabilitation and freedom. Lida, however, isn't a talker. She won't speak to her bunkmates or participate during "Circle Share" or open up to her favorite teacher, Margaret, the New Age-y outdoor-education instructor. But as the instructor makes clear to Lida, confession is a nonnegotiable condition of being at Alice Marshall. Lida will never find her way until she can map a path out of her suffering. "Tell it straight,' Margaret commands from the back of my mind in that chain-smoking yogi voice of hers. 'Leave nothing out'" Eventually Lida does tell it straight. But it would have been nice to see Saldin heed this advice herself rather than employ a device that continually breaks Lida's strong narration and the tension of what is otherwise a gripping story. What this reader wanted was to watch uninterrupted as the relationships among the girls developed. I would like to have known more, for example, about why one of Lida's bunkmates, the hardscrabble Boone, a lifer who allegedly stabbed a girl and rules the school by fear, reaches out to her. Saldin does adroitly capture Lida's exhilaration at being chosen by Gia, the school's haughty siren, coupled with the awkwardness and confusion of not only wanting desperately to be Gia's best friend but also desiring her physically. I admired the subtle way Saldin addresses the sexual element that, at one time or another, can exist in many female friendships, particularly in the absence of boys. While it's never explicit, we see couples sharing cigarettes on the smokers' beach and others heading for the showers. These girls may be only LUGs (lesbians until graduation), but reading about their complicated, contradictory feelings might be a comfort to girls everywhere who have experienced similar emotions. That said, all this gets away from what the book really is - a smart, absorbing story about damaged girls realizing how hard it is to connect with other people when you don't trust anyone. Of course, sometimes, there's good reason not to trust other people - especially high school girls. The school in Siobhan Vivian's novel, "The List" will be instantly recognizable to young adult readers: the social hierarchies, shifting alliances, girl-on-girl hate, prizing of beauty above all else, the law of the high school jungle. At Mount Washington High, a brutal account of this peer judgment comes in the form of "the list," a pre-homecoming tradition in which two girls are singled out as either the prettiest or the ugliest in each grade. The identity of these arbiters of beauty is a mystery. Vivian ("Not That Kind of Girl," "Same Difference") moves between smart, snappy writing and preachy sections that seem more like the work of a women's studies major who switched to communications sophomore year. She has, I believe, all good intentions - exposing the danger inherent in our culture's objectification of young women, a subject not often taken seriously in young adult literature. Whether the girls' inclusion on the list is cause for celebration or tears, the ramifications (resentment, low self-esteem, egotism, eating disorders, self-loathing, acting out) are clearly visible in each of the eight characters. The cast includes many of the high school familiars: Danielle the sporty girl, Abby the cute but not so bright girl, Candace the alpha queen, Lauren the smart and earnest former home-schooler, Sarah the rebel, Bridget the anorexic, Jennifer the outcast and Margo the popular girl. Here again, however, the book's structure, which explores, chapter by chapter, each character without weaving their stories into a cohesive narrative, ironically tested my ability to remember the girls by anything but their labels. But the point remains, and the revelation of the perpetrator's identity and the explanations for why each girl was chosen reflect not only how random these labels are, and how cruel girls can be, but also the longtime psychological scarring they inflict on one another. Of course, we already knew that: girls are dangerous creatures, and we dismiss them at our peril. Elissa Sckappell is the author of "Blueprints for Building Better Girls," a collection of linked stories.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [April 8, 2012]
Review by Booklist Review
Every year at Mount Washington High, there's a list published. It categorizes eight girls into two groups: the prettiest and the ugliest in her grade. Only girls could be this cruel to each other, but no one knows the true originator of the list. And only the girls on the list know what it's like to be singled out. Vivian casts her net wide, finding the most broad female high-school archetypes to play in this saga, but she manages to create depth for each one. For the rebel who, according to the list, is trying to make herself ugly, this is the height of her achievement. She comes across as tough, defiant, but so utterly deluded and insecure that one can't help but feel sorry for her. Part of the fun is the whodunit, and when the creator of the list is revealed, the surprise will make readers think twice about their own prejudices and opinions of self.--Jones, Courtney Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The eponymous list, which mysteriously appears on the walls of Mount Washington High each year before homecoming, has the power to lift or break the spirits of eight female students: on it are the names of the "prettiest" and the "ugliest" girl in each grade. In this insightful and provocative novel, Vivian (Not That Kind of Girl) explores the effects the list has on the most recently chosen girls. While some results-self-doubt, shame, pressure-are to be expected, some of the girls respond in surprising and unconventional ways. Rebellious sophomore Sarah takes her "ugliness" to a new level by refusing to bathe or change clothes. Senior Jennifer, deemed ugliest four years running, works her way into a circle of popular girls, a group led by "prettiest girl" Margo, who used to be her best friend. Offering a well-differentiated cast of complex characters and a thoughtful focus on femininity, sisterhood, relationships, eating disorders, and what it means to be singled out, Vivian proves that beauty and ugliness aren't always a matter of appearance. Ages 13-18. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-All hail the List: the annual unveiling of the names of eight girls, one deemed prettiest and one ugliest, from each grade at Mount Washington High School. The last week of every September-for as long as anyone can remember-brings the plastering of the anonymous list all over campus, and with it the scrutiny of the named girls' humiliation and triumph. While the principal wants to get to the bottom of its creation and put an end to the cruel, shallow judgment it represents, the teens themselves react in both expected and unexpected ways. Vivian attempts to introduce her characters and some of the important people in their lives, but that asks for perhaps more differentiation in readers' minds than comes quickly or easily. Eventually, the cast is clarified but rarely emerges from basic sketch to live action. Instead readers are given caricatures: a mean sophomore called "ugly" on the inside gets her comeuppance from an unstudied homeschooled girl named prettiest; freshman swimmer Danielle, called "Dan the Man" for her jockette looks, is shaken by the disloyalty of her embarrassed boyfriend, while a pretty ninth grader faces grounding on Homecoming due to failing grades. The best-looking junior is pressured back into anorexia, no less miserable than ugly Sarah who refuses to bathe or change clothes for nearly a week after she's named; and four-time loser Jennifer, enjoying infamy over anonymity, is counterbalanced by her childhood friend but now unapproachable homecoming queen. Worthwhile social commentary for readers to consider still emerges in this too-bland narrative.-Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Every September, a mysterious list of the four "ugliest" and four "prettiest" girls appears at Mount Washington High. Alternating chapters feature the eight girls, detailing the complex and painful consequences of this public judgment. Although the issues of popularity, anorexia, and mean girls are familiar, the diversity of perspectives and experiences create an unexpectedly raw portrait of contemporary teen girls. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
(Fiction. 12 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
