Customer Reviews

Amandine

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After reading the other reviews, I have to wonder if I
read the same book. People are calling this simplistic
and contrived, unoriginal and boring. Someone else
(whose emotional state I'm worried about) says lonely,
awkward Delia is "the nut case" and claims Amandine,
who is pure sociopath all the way, "doesn't do anything
wrong." Sorry, but I think intentional lies used as
"punishment", damaging libel and playing two people off
each other is "doing plenty wrong."

Maybe this story struck home with me because I had an
Amandine in my high school past. She was also a master of
playing her few friends off of each other, dramatizing horrors
that never existed for the benefit of teachers and parents,
and telling outrageous lies about herself in order to be the
center of attention. And, like Amandine, she had lots of
talent that went wasted because it was more fun to destroy
other people's lives.

No, the story is not loud and melodramatic. It is quiet and
subtle as Delia tries to sort out what her friend expects of her
tries to please parents who expect too little of her (and who
are clearly disappointed in her) and who has only one really
sympathetic adult to whom she can turn.

If you haven't read it, please don't go by the other customer reviews. If you are trapped in a friendship like the one Delia has with Amandine, it might help to know that you aren't alone.
And if you DON'T know an Amandine, consider yourself lucky and read this as a true horror story of what can happen in such a
friendship.

*Amandine* is a well-crafted look at adolescent female friendship between two outcasts, one needy (Delia), the other manipulative (Amandine). For a while the friendship works: the flamboyant, unconventional, artistic Amandine enthralling the school newcomer, Delia. Then, slowly at first, complications arise that test the friendship, complications brought about by Amandine's unpredictable, attention-seeking behavior, her mysterious and dark nature, and the girls' tense relationship with their parents. Competition, envy, lying, and deceit all start to eat away at the friendship. A third girl, Mary, is pulled into the increasingly complex web Delia and Amandine have constructed and is used as a pawn. The situation turns ugly as bad behavior, revenge and self-protection stretch what was once a positive relationship to the breaking point. Adele Griffin realistically portrays the inner feelings and vicissitudes of teenage friendship within the pressure cooker that is modern-day high school. The writing is elegant and understated, the narrative illuminative of the toll dishonesty in all its forms can take on a relationship. Griffin has a real feel for what makes each main character tick, which makes them come alive for the reader. I should know: I taught high school English for 15+ years and am now a middle school librarian. I see elements of all these characters in many of the students I work with, and will recommend this book to both kids and adults as an honest look at a very important slice of teenage life.

In the very first chapter of this book, a girl is asked by another if she wants to take a peek at "some of the ugliest things she's ever seen." Thus begins Amandine, a dark tale about how friendship can go wrong in the early teen-age years. Griffin writes skillfully about how people are sometimes attracted to ugliness, especially if they are lonely and looking for fun and excitement, like the protaganist, Delia. In her longing for friendship and acceptance, Delia ignores her better judgement and befriends Amandine, overlooking the warning signs until it's too late.

Based on the editorial reviews, I was expecting some kind of horrifying psycological drama. But the book is actually more tame than I'd expected. Amandine only does one really alarming thing, telling a serious lie in a childish attempt to break up Delia's family. Other than that her behaviour is never very alarming nor unusual - she skips school, draws cruel drawings of her classmates and does other things you'd expect from a slightly maladjusted highschool freshmen. But this familarity only brings the novel closer to home, especially for freshmen girls. The book seems to be written especially for them, and it's well worth their time to read it and analyse their friendships while in the process. It's quite likely there's at least one Amandine at their own high school.

Amandine who is a creative yet crazy girl, has opened up a whole new life for her new best friend Delea. With art and acting as their interests no other best friends could compare. Everything was adventerous and smooth until Amandine met Deleas parents. Amandine starts to become very close with Delea's father. When things at school get out of hand with Delea and Amandine, a new best friend steps in and Amandine creates horrible lies; one that may even effect Delea's family. Delea's almost perfect life immediatley gets flip-flopped and she now becomes scared of the truth and friends who she thought would never turn on her. We meet characters with totally different personalities and learn how one lie can ruin one family.
Amandine was an awesome story of friendship and lies. The story was grabbing and it really came to life. I cold relate the realisitc friendship of Amandine and Delea. Their relationshp became a part of me and taught me to solve conflicts to be honest with my friends.
Amandine is a great book to read if you have had lies told to you about your friends or about love lifes. It also teaches us a bit about highschool and the 'social ladder.'

I think that Amandine by adele Griffin is an exellent book. It tells how tough it is to move from one school to the next and having to worry about making new friends and fitting in.Sometimes in the process we don't always make the right choices. thats what happens to Delia in Amandine. when Delia,an only child, moves from the city to James DeWolf High School her parents constantly badger her on making new friend.And as soon as Delia meets Amandine her parents encourage her to invite her over.When Amandine does finaly come over things take a turn for the worst. Delia is sucked into amandines world of lies.and when Delia tries to get out Amandine makes a move that could hurt Delias entire family and expose the real truth about Delia.

This book is an amazing story about the dark side of human nature that we typically keep hidden from that world. All of us have a little Amandine and a little delia in us somewhere its alittle like the two oppisite sides of the spectrum. You have Amandine, the little devil on your sholder and then you have Delia who is more like the angel only she is being pulled every which way and must learn to be stronger. This is a great analogy to the way things are in real life, the bad always seems to prevail until the good can find its voice. I really suggest this book to anyone.

Pure Entertainment
I read this book in a couple of hours, it moves fast, I really liked it. The writing is tense and magnetic. I'm kind of doubtful the gist of it meant to concentrate as a "friendship genre" book --whatever that means-- since Amandine is the center of her story, and it's really how she manipulates and seduces the friend's dad. But it's not about a real girl-girl friendship at all, or about the other girl, Delia's "issues." Actually, its themes kind of reminded me of "American Beauty."

I seem to be the only person who hated this book. I got it because i thought it was more about theater then Amandine just being a good actress and being good at impressions.I thought it was stupid and both of the main characters needed to be sent to a nuthouse. I think everything in this book was overdone. Its basically about a girl who moves from place to place and can't make many friends untill she meets Amandine. When you have a friendship based on nothing except that you want to have a friend...then this is what happens. The friendship in this book (which is what the whole book is based on) is unrealistic because these girls are basically considering themselves best friends when they know each other about as well as i would know someone who wasn't even my friend. I honestly could have stopped reading this book in the middle and not ever thought about it again, but i always give all the books i read a fair chance incase they turn into something worth reading. It wasn't. If your reading other reviews and are expecting some kind of thiller...try an actual horror book, cause this was about as scary as saturday morning cartoons to me.

While this novel is thin, it is anything but light. The subject matter is disturbing and I truly grew to dislike Amadine by the end of the book.

However, the book needs something more. I was able to sympathise with the Delia, but I never really got to understand her attraction to Amadine as a friend. It was as if Delia was being pulled along by some invisible wave with no ability to put a stop to it. Even after Amadine's skits turn ugly, Delia continues to hang around with her.

I felt that the character of Amadine was one-dimensional. And I think that the character is supposed to be that way. The reader can see through Amadine, even if Delia can't. As a character Delia needed more development...her compulsive stealing and her eventual return of those stolen items seemed as if it were a subplot, that wasn't fully explained. As a reader, I needed to see Delia at the beginning, the girl who is so lonely, even within her family, that she must steal from others to feel complete or good. There were hints, such as her parents eating dinner without her, her mother's insitance that she diet constantly. But the thing that probably blindsided me as a reader was the miscarriage Delia's mother had and the way her parents seemed to believe that her creation of an older brother was done deliberately to hurt them. Delia can't even seem to bring herself to explain this to her parents. And that speaks volumes about the lack of understanding and parental love in Delia's family.

I felt like there should have been more to this book. More character development especially with Delia. I wanted to know her, know more about her. As it was, I felt like I was missing something that made hard to sympathise with Delia.

That being said, I couldn't put this book down. It is a quick read and the stripped down plot might intrigue middle school readers, but a more sophiticated reader will walk away feeling somewhat cheated.

The dust jacket grabbed my attention: a gray-tone photo with the title, AMANDINE, in a pink textbox, the author's name in teal. The story also grabbed me. Delia, a new girl in the freshman class, shy, awkward, meets Amandine, balletic, dramatic, and "different." I wondered how these "opposites" would get along, and Griffin showed me. Good.

Delia's experiences changed her. She learned people aren't always what they do or say, and that she had to admit to the wrong things she'd done if she expected to be free of Amandine's power. Again, good.

My problem with the novel started when Amandine revenges Delia's slight against her by accusing Delia's father of trying to kiss her. This is believable. People lie about stuff like this, but the response from both sets of parents was unbelievable. All parents were upset but do nothing ... except for leave town... The End. This is a simplistic solution to a complicated problem. I wanted to see exploration of Amandine's accusation and why her improvisational skits often veered towards adults making advances toward her. This wouldn't have guaranteed that Amandine change, but it would have helped readers better understand her problems.