Story of a Girl (National Book Award Finalist)

Nominally, this is an issue novel, about a 15 year-old girl dealing with the fallout of having slept with a guy when she was thirteen. But really it's just a well written and well characterized slice of teen life story -- reminiscent even of something like Judy Blume's Tiger Eyes. The prose is first rate. Told in first person past, the narrator's voice is pitch perfect. Funny, poignant, honest, all without being forced. And the characters are all great. The don't feel like they exist to serve the plot. They exist as people exist. This was just a great little read -- a kind of quick escape into someone else's head. It felt effortless, but I know it wasn't. The basic three act structure is there. Girl has a problem -- and not really the external one she thinks she has -- but instead a need for internal change. She messes up, comes to crisis, and grows. A simple formula. But everything is in the execution. --Andy Gavin, author of The Darkening Dream

I had high expectations for Story of a Girl because it was a National Book Award finalist, but I was a little disappointed. Its strengths are in the narrator's sincere, authentic voice and in the relevance and importance of its themes (teen sex, parental relationships, and forgiveness). The plot, however, is disappointing because it seems under-developed. This book is good but had potential to be so much better. The abrupt ending feels like maybe an editor cut it off for fear young readers wouldn't read anything longer and that's a shame because the author could have done more with Deanna's coming-of-age story. Overall I think it is a book worth reading because Deanna is a sincere, unique teen narrator--something rare in current young adult fiction.

Deanna Lambert lost her virginity at the age of thirteen. Her first was seventeen year old Tommy Webber. She was in eighth grade, he was a high school senior. Their relationship was nothing special; no real feelings for each other; no caring, no love. The sex meant so little to Deanna that while it was going on she escaped to a place in her head and wrote the story of a surfer girl. Things ended between Deanna and Tommy the day her dad dragged them out of the back seat of Tommy's car. Their sexual relationship was over and Deanna's relationship with her father was destroyed. Years later Deanna is still being ridiculed and harrassed by her peers. It seems Tommy told a completely different story from what actually happened all those times he and Deanna were together. As his story spread it changed into many different versions, making Deanna look like a pathetic slut. Deanna - I really felt for this girl. Her choice to have sex was something she regretted and she thought about her mistake all of the time, so she really didn't need others to keep reminding her of it. She lived in the small town of Pacifica and she didn't feel good at all about that. She wasn't happy at home; couldn't wait to find a way out, in fact. This young girl was so dissatisfied with her life. I was glad she had her friend, Jason. God's name is taken in vain a lot in this book (I did not like reading that) and there is quite a bit of profanity to overlook. It was a good story, otherwise, and there is an important message of forgiveness.

Deanna's the girl everyone loves to talk about. Unfortunately they aren't saying good things about her, and those nasty rumors that everyone has heard aren't entirely true. Sure she was caught (by her father) having sex with her brother's friend. Sure she was only 13 and he was 17 at the time, but no one has ever bothered to ask her what happened. While she has yet to do anything even remotely "bad" since the incident, no one can seem to forget her past. Unfortunately we see this situation far too often in our society, where girls are punished for having sex while the guys go off and brag about it. I downloaded this one for a quick read after scanning over some of the reviews. I wasn't sure if I would get to into it, but oh man, I was wrong. Sara Zarr has a great way of telling you the story from Deanna's point of view, but also letting you into the glimpses of what others are saying/thinking too. My heart just broke for Deanna the entire book. I cried (several times) from feeling her pain, confusion, and loneliness. At one part she even writes in her journal "I, Deanna Lambert, belong to no one, and no one belongs to me. I don't know what to do." I just wanted to wrap her in my arms and tell her it would be ok. I also wanted to smack her parents up side the head for the way they have dealt with the situation. She's such a real and relatable character (from the things she says to the way she thinks) that you can't help but love her. While Deanna struggles to rebuild her life, sure she makes some more mistakes in the process (just like we all do in life), but you just can't help rooting for her to find some closure and be able to move on. I think many girls could benefit from reading this book.

Okay so i thought that this would be an interesting book and have a bit of deapth however it was exactly like somehing you read at school when they are trying to get you to read and warn off all things "bad"