Customer Reviews

Confessions of a Teen Sleuth

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Chelsea Cain's lighthearted, witty parody of the Nancy Drew series will appeal to all who spent blissful childhood hours curled up with the "slim, attractive, titian-haired" detective. Cain serves up the REAL Nancy Drew, as appealing in her own way as she was in the pages of Carolyn Keene "who got a lot of things wrong."

All the familiar characters are here---Ned Nickerson (whom Nancy does marry); Bess (not really plump at all--indeed, slightly anorexic due to her anxiety over the way she is depicted by Keene); George (with a "life partner"); Hannah Gruen (with a surprising secret); Carson Drew (with a svelte young wife). Many other figures from the pages of childhood mystery series appear--foremost among them, Nancy's love, Frank Hardy.

Readers will find themselves chuckling over every page and experiencing delightful nostalgia mixed with wry, clear-eyed adult humor. You'll love this book!

Now the truth can be known. Carolyn Keene was a real person. In fact, she was Nancy Drew's college roommate who decided to use Nancy's exploits to make herself famous. Turns out that Carolyn didn't get all the facts right, however, so Nancy has decided to set the record straight.

This book is the story of the real Nancy Drew. Taking 10 cases, it explores her life from the 1920's to 1992. As the times change, so does Nancy's life. But she still finds herself caught up in mysteries that often involve other famous teen sleuths like Frank and Joe Hardy, Judy Bolton, and Encyclopedia Brown. And they are quite eye opening for all concerned.

Make no mistake about it, this book is intended for adults and not kids. There are lots of adult themes, and no halos are left intact. Honestly, as a result, I found it oddly depressing at times. Of course, part of that may be because I was watching characters I like struggle and change. The author nailed that part when she has Nancy talk about how we the readers never want to seem these characters grow up or change. On the other hand, I found the cameos by other teen sleuths (and there seems to be at least one every chapter) fun. Obviously, the more you know about them, the more you'll enjoy the references. A couple went over my head for the most part. Of course, some come out looking better then others. The storylines of each chapter are quite fun as they find Nancy in various points of history. She gets involved in World War II, the red scare of the 50's, and Haight-Ashbury during the 60's as just a couple examples.

This book's target audience is adults with fond memories of hours spent with teen sleuths as a kid. They will most likely enjoy this take on the genre if they can allow their childhood heroes to become tarnished by real life.

I'm not sure the reader above does understand "parody." This is a clever, affectionate book that will bring a smile to the face of anyone who fondly remembers the adventures of Nancy Drew. It's not in poor taste by any stretch, unless you're a real prude (nothing worse than a PG rating equivalent). Incorporating the other teen sleuths we all remember was an great idea--I love imagining a whole universe populated by plucky young detectives! The trash is no place for this one! I picked it up after reading the New York Times Book Review, and I'm glad I did!

A look-back at her life (her real life) by the elderly titian-haired heroine, Confessions of a Teen Sleuth follows Nancy Drew through the decades as she races from crime scene to crime scene in her roadster to solve mysteries. Along the way and over the years, she marries/divorces Ned, has an ongoing thing for Frank Hardy, is tormented by the seemingly constant presence of nemesis Cherry Ames, interacts with the whole pack of teen (and not so teen) sleuths, finds sleuthing and a stable life don't necessarily mix, and faces her most persistent villain--aging.
Let's get the obvious negative out of the way--the book, slim as it is, is too long, a problem that bedevils a lot of parody. Yes, the titian-hair jokes, the slim-and-attractive cliche, etc. wear a bit on the reader after a while. In some ways it might have worked better as a novella or a long short story, or maybe a book with somewhat fewer "cases". But shrinking it down would have cost it somewhat its bittersweetness, its sense of accumulated weight and weariness. And in the end, while some of the jokes go on too long or are too often repeated, it's sort of like how we all forget those seemingly endless unfunny Saturday Night Live skits and remember only the funny highlights. Long after you'll forget your annoyance at some of the smaller foibles of the book, you'll fondly remember the way it made you laugh out loud throughout.
And if you've read and remember Nancy Drew, or the Hardy Boys, or Tom Swift, or Cherry Ames, or Donna Parker (and a handful of others, including once up-and-coming Encyclopedia Brown reduced to a live-at-home middle-aged sad sack), laugh out loud you will. A lot. At the focus on everyone's dress. At the many titian-hair references. At the way "slim and attractive" keeps getting used despite the fact that few are slim and attractive by the end. At the way people are constantly found "tied and gagged" or "bound and gagged". And on and on. The book is truly funny.
Sometimes the humor misses a bit. But there's so much there you forgive her the occasional dropped attempt. And the parody is never vicious. It's done with fondness and true delight throughout. Which adds a whole other level. For the book isn't simply a Mad magazine surface parody. Anyone who remembers their youth spent reading Nancy Drew and the others will feel a strong sense of nostalgia and sorrow at the passing of their own youth as paralleled by Nancy's own passing years. She does what we never want our youthful heroes to do--she ages. A point made humorously but also sadly by poor 30-yr-old Donna Parker, who still dresses in her camp shorts and refers to herself as a teenager. And it's this level of fond sadness that would have been lost had Cain gone the easier route of making it a funny story instead of a funny novel (or akin to a novel). It would have been easy to savage Nancy Drew and all the other teen books many of us grew up on. Instead, Cain allows us to laugh at them but in the same manner in which we laugh at the hapless actions of our closest friends. Strongly recommended.

Ok, I'll confess too. I don't like Nancy Drew. I tried to read her growing up, and just could not connect with the beautiful, titian-haired, rich, perfect teen. No, I was a Trixie Belden girl. I could identify with her. I too was short, "sturdy," opened my mouth before thinking, and was definitely not rich nor perfect. I picked up Confessions of a Teen Sleuth not because it was about Nancy Drew, but because of the opening paragraph of the introduction.

"If you are reading this, then I am gone and this manuscript, per my instruction, has been delivered to the writer Chelsea Cain for publication as she sees fit. I chose Ms. Cain as my editor based on the merits of her four-volume Trixie Belden biography, which won the National Book Award last year."

That got my attention. Alas, there is no such biography (I looked-maybe she'll write it someday), but I decided to read the book anyway-perhaps Trixie would show up somewhere (she doesn't, but her daughter does.).

That being said, Confessions is a witty little book (it's only 160 pages-a nice easy evening's read), based on the idea that Nancy Drew was a real person (and Carolyn Keene merely a jealous college roommate who made a living off of Nancy's experiences). It's written in the style of the old mysteries, complete with over-blown details of who wore what and words like "Jeepers." I probably missed a lot of the inside jokes, but those I did catch were amusing. Quite a few of the classic teen sleuths show up: the Hardy boys, Cherry Ames (who does not get along with Nancy at all), Tom Swift, Vicki Barr, and many others.

A note of caution. This is not a book I'd recommend for preteens/teens (especially ones who already love Nancy Drew). Like much fanfic, one of the main plots is definitely adult (and adulterous) in nature (and that's all I can reveal). Despite the slight tarnishing of the characters' squeaky-clean images, Confessions is still an enjoyable little parody.

I'm a librarian who learned about this book in a book review. I prepared by reading a few very old Nancy Drew books to refresh my memory, while waiting for the library's copy to come in. On a day off, I opened the book and actually laughed aloud a number of times through the first few chapters, and it's very rare that I literally laugh aloud, which I've heard is great for your health!
I feel there's some merit to the reviewers who felt the parody could have been contained in a shorter format; however, the book length did hold my attention, and I didn't put it down until I was finished.
I loved the fact that Nancy had had a thing for Frank Hardy and had hooked up with him a few times throughout her career (I have three brothers and actually read more Hardy Boy books than Nancy Drew).
It's the writing style that's funny, and it's hard to explain without giving a few examples. Such as when Frank first sees Nancy with Ned Nickerson and asks "Who's he anyway?" and Nancy says something like "Just some guy I constantly have to rescue from jams." Or when Frank asks Nancy to help find Joe, who's disappeared after being stood up by Nancy's old pal, Helen Corning, to whom "he had been penning mesh notes." "Is he a drinker?" Nancy asks. Frank answers reluctantly, "Well, he's been known to bend an elbow."
I recognized some of the other childhood characters who cropped up; if you ever read the Bobbsey twins, you'll laugh when you learn that Flossie Bobbsey later became a "birth control advocate" for Planned Parenthood (or something like that).
By all means, the book isn't to be taken seriously; it is a parady, but if you've had a rough day, and just feel like you want an easy read and a good laugh, this is great stuff!
And it just might inspire you to dig into your attic and dust off a few of those old Nancy Drew or Hardy Boy books for a nostalgic afternoon.

I had heard nothing about this book until this weekend when I saw it in a bookstore while on vacation. Once I started I could not put it down! I read all of the Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, and Vicki Barr books I could get my hands on when I was in elementary and middle school, and this book was like visiting old friends - but we were all older, wiser, and changed in different ways by the changing world.

I didn't find this book to be depressing. I loved the central theme - it is dangerous to hang on to your "glory days" and to never grow beyond them. I suppose I found my own life's affirmation while reading of Nancy's struggles to be relevant in a world that had lost its need for Teen Sleuths.

I read Nancy Drew avidly when I was about 7 years old and I've always had a soft spot for her in my literary heart. When I picked up this book at the library I thought, "If this is done well, it'll be great; if not, it'll be a big disappointment" -- and happily, it's done very, very well. The author obviously knows and loves the entire Nancy canon, as well as the related series about other teen sleuths, and her love and knowledge shine out on every page: her parody is also a wonderful homage. I especially love the illustrations: the style is _exactly_ like the pictures in my old Nancy books, though the subject matter is often very different -- they really made me smile. The cameos by teen sleuths from other series are wonderful too: it's so much fun seeing Nancy interact with Frank and Joe Hardy, Cherry Ames, and others. Delightful book -- my hat is off to Chelsea Cain, she really did this right.

This is a very quick read and is amusing sometimes and not so amusing in others. Sometimes the paroday is more a dose of reality than what I would consider for good parody. If you are a fan of Nancy Drew, I would say it is worth a read as it will amuse you more at the beginning than at the end. However, is it worth owning? No. It is more of a "check it out of the library" book.

This book is geared more towards adults. I think that children would be disappointed to learn that their Nancy Drew is not all that she seems to be. The good parts about this book where showing the reader the different eras as Nancy grew up. The author wanted us to see a love triangle that was made up by the author of this book. Also, it was nice to see that in the long run Nancy marries/divorces Ned. I think that married life was not to be for her since her true love was solving mysteries. The bad parts about this book was that the author failed to mention that Nancy wanted a career. Anyone who has read her books would see that she was going to become a lawyer when she grew up. It would of been nice to have seen somewhere in the eras of time that Nancy and Ned had steady jobs and supported each other. This would of made a better storyline so she would not of been bored as being only a housewife. Mancy was a feminist, independent, loyal to her friends and fmaily, but this was never brought up in this book. The usage of other characters from other crime solving books were confusing, unless you had read Trixi Belton. THe Bobbysey Twins, etc. It was overall a funny parody to read about the life of Nancy Drew. I think this book should of been a biography of Nancy Drew and not a novel which would of had time ot explore other issues that had occurred with Nancy Drew. I hope that some writer will write a concise and accurate account of the life of Nancy Drew written by someone who has the best knowledge and resources available on this subject.