Customer Reviews

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks begins with a written confession addressed to the administrative powers-that-be at the Alabaster Preparatory Academy. In the letter, Frances Rose Landau-Banks claims "full responsibility for the disruptions caused by the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds . . . [t]hat is, [she] wrote the directives telling everyone what to do."

But just who are these Hounds and what did they do? Who is Frances and why would she send her fellow students on these random acts of disruption?

Alabaster was once an all-male prep school. Even after it became co-educational, its secret society remained a boys-only club. The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds was famous - infamous, really - for its pranks, which were more kooky than cruel, more sophomoric than serious.

Frankie was once a quiet girl. Even after she became a curvy sophomore, she remained true to herself, not really aware of her new looks. Then she got her first serious boyfriend, and she was content with their relationship - for a time.

Before she was (in)famous, Frankie was the harmless little sister, the underclassman, the girl who knew but didn't really know. She was the younger sister of outspoken senior Zada. She was the youngest child of divorced parents, getting her name from her father, Alabaster alum Frank Banks and her conservative nature from her mother, Ruth. She enjoyed her freshman year at boarding school. She enjoyed the summer after her freshman year, when she read Dorothy Parker stories on vacation and had a chance encounter that would later prove interesting.

The book follows her through the age of fifteen, then sixteen, as her sophomore year and her curiosity lead her down an interesting path. After learning about the Order, she quickly assumes power over the group - without any of the boys knowing it. What happens next is a quiet riot, a series of misadventures involving (though not simultaneously) a statue of a fish, a Superman T-shirt, a lot of dog masks, a burned arm, and a small notebook.

Both snarky and serious, this History is written by the victors: the memorable narrator and the author. Frankie is smart, grounded, and direct, but she also has a quirky side. She has a thing for "impeas," imagined neglected positives, like ept as opposed to inept or gruntled as opposed to disgruntled. Author E. Lockhart (The Boyfriend List, Dramarama) writes with heart and authentic feeling. In this novel, she uses third-person present-tense, yet is able to capture her protagonist's thoughts and actions so well that readers will feel as though they are Frankie's roommates.

This book is, dare I say, a coming-of-age story. It's not about breaking the rules, nor it is about controlling others. It's about daring: daring to be yourself, daring to stand up for yourself, daring to step outside of your comfort zone, daring to change the world. This novel possesses all of the elements necessary for a good bildungsroman, following the protagonist's journey through her formative years. History has an incredible conclusion, and Frankie becomes a remarkable young woman.

Frankie Landau-Banks has gone from geeky to gorgeous over the course of the summer, and she can hardly believe it when Matthew Livingston, the senior she worshipped from afar the year before, seems interested. But being Matthew's girlfriend comes with a lot of things Frankie didn't expect. She feels uncertain navigating the complicated politics of his social circle, and uneasy with the antics of his friends, which often seem to exclude her. Worst of all, she senses that he's not letting her all the way into his life--that, because she is a girl, he will never see her as an equal.

Then Frankie discovers that Matthew is a member of the school's exclusive--and male-only--secret society. At first she only spies on them out of curiosity. But as her desire to prove herself every bit as capable as Matthew's male conspirators grows, she finds herself getting wrapped up in the society's business of sneaking and pranking, without any of the boys suspecting a thing.

With Frankie pulling the strings, anything is possible.

THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS is one of those rare books that is equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking. Frankie's exploits are full of humor, suspense, and drama, but she's not afraid to stop every now and then and consider the consequences of her actions. Her insecurities make her as believable as her smarts and her guts make her admirable. Readers will be cheering her on from beginning to end--and wondering how the things she learns along the way might apply to their own school adventures long after they've put the book down.

Reviewed by: Lynn Crow

This is definitely one of those clever YA books that is a must-read for any teenage girl.

Frankie might not have made all the smartest decisions in this book but she figured out the main thing right: it is important to be your own person (not just a man's arm-candy), to be appreciated for your personal qualities and talents and not only for your pretty face and nice figure.

Writing style is flawless, dialog superb. I had to take away one star because the ending felt a little too open for me, I thought it called for something more. Maybe E. Lockhart is planning a sequel, I am not sure. But if she does, I will definitely read it and give her other books a try.

I liked Frankie Landau-Banks. I really did. Sort of. She is privileged, but still manages to be sympathetic, especially to anyone who was ever a smart, driven girl told that she couldn't (fill in the blank) because she wasn't a boy. Frankie's revenge on the system, such as it is, was a good story....

BUT--the author kept putting in these long, dry, I-guess-explicatory passages about pranks and prep schools. It was like reading a college essay dropped into the middle of the story. Odd, boring, unnecessary.

AND--Frankie was unhappy with the user mentality of these over-privileged people she had thought were her friends, but she herself has the same mentality toward several of her classmates, and she never really gets that. I wasn't sure, at the end of the book, whether she really had learned much that changed her from the beginning of the book. I wasn't sure she was really going to turn out to be a person I would like. She seemed to be okay with doing anything that would get her what she wanted, the book is all about her figuring out what she wants, not whether it is worth having. I guess I rooted for her as the underdog in a sexist system, but when all was said and done, I'm not sure the book was really about the right lessons. I'm not sure Frankie Landau-Banks was a "criminal mastermind" and not just a spoiled little brat.

As a fourteen year old girl, (using her father's account!) this book has been one of my favorites that I've read recently! Frankie Landau Banks transforms over one summer from a geeky, frizzy haired girl who found pleasure in debate club to a gorgeous, sleek haired girl with a knockout figure! When the new semester begins at her fancy private school, (She is a sophomore) the totally-hot-and-popular-senior Matthew, starts taking an interest in her! From then on her life is a whirlwind of discovering how to play and what it's like to be played by her boys, discovering & secretly infiltrating a secret all male society and generally causing mayhem!

This book is a perfect read for any girl who is tired of being "part" of a guys' group, but never really included in "guy stuff"! This book was a fun and interesting read, because when reading about her life at the boarding school (because many of them smoke, drink and have wild and yet utterly cool parties) I felt inspired (in the utterly cool party and secret society sense) to go out and start something that would be remembered years later!

As well as being intriguing, this book was also hilarious! Frankie's mind works in such a cool way, from deciphering the real motives behind people's behavior to planning devious pranks that work perfectly; it is just awesome to be able to delve into it! It is also easy to relate to, because many of the things Frankie thinks about are what you begin to notice after reading this book! Things involving boys, cliques, and other school drama!

The only bad part about this book (and the reason it is only 4 stars) is because of the ending! You are furious because of the way Matthew and his friends act and saddened by what follows. I couldn't believe what happened, and then I thought about what happens in the book and realized that they are somewhat justified. (In the sense that I think they over reacted but they have a right to feel hurt and angry.) (Am I giving too much away there?) Anyway I came away from this feeling that it was too abrupt of an ending and that the author left several strings hanging! I'm hoping she writes a sequel because I always felt that Frankie and... should have ended up together!

Overall this book was awesome and I couldn't put it down after I got it!!

I read The Boyfriend List (Readers Circle)t awhile back and enjoyed it but somehow didn't make it on to its sequel, The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them (Readers Circle), or any of E. Lockhart's other titles. Then THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS came out and there was just so much buzz. And then it was named a finalist for the National Book Award. So I figured I'd better pick it up. Fortunately, Santa brought it to my home this year so I was able to jump right in.

Frankie is a sophomore at Alabaster Prep, super exclusive boarding school for the children of the elite. Ever since she was a kid, Frankie had heard her father and his cronies go on about a mysterious secret society known as the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. Once she starts at Alabaster it becomes clear that the Order is alive and thriving and open only to males. When she suddenly gains a few curves in the right places and a snazzy new boyfriend to go with them, Frankie becomes aware in a way she hadn't been up to this point in her life. And when the darling boyfriend starts evading her all the time, haring off to locales unspecified with other guys she just knows are in the Order, she decides to follow him. What she discovers from following Matthew (and the subsequent actions she puts into motion) change Frankie (and the Order) permanently. For the better? That's up to the reader. I say yes, but the whole thing is still painful to watch.

I am a bit conflicted over this book. For a variety of reasons. I felt like it really wanted to be Secret Society Girl: An Ivy League Novel meets Looking for Alaska. Not the best combination, IMO. This wasn't helped by the fact that I kept picturing Alpha (my favorite character) as The Colonel in my head. I usually quite like third person present narration, but in this case it felt slightly contrived, particularly since Frankie never gelled into a tangible character for me. I laughed several times while reading and I liked Frankie but I didn't love her. I liked her for her dogged attempt to wade through the ever shifting waters of a rather assaultive adolescence and an unsympathetically exclusionary pack of boys who told her they liked her but clearly didn't know her at all, nor did they seem to care to. Despite these obstacles, or perhaps because of them, she managed to carve out a place where she could be herself, free from manipulation. I liked her combative and compelling relationship with Alpha. In fact, I wanted more of that and less mooning over lackluster Matthew. But the book ended just when things were getting interesting. I suspect I would really enjoy a sequel.

I picked this book up at the library and wasn't 100% sure if it would be my type of book. I got it anyway and after reading the books I was really interested in, I picked up this one. I'm glad I read it because it really is a good book.

The story centers around Frankie Landau-Banks, a newly blossomed sophomore who is attending Alabaster Preparatory Academy, the same boarding school attended by her father and sister. During her freshman year, Frankie's sister was still in school to guide her around and watch out for her. Therefore Frankie was able to hang out with a more popular crowd but was not actually part of the group. Now that her sister has graduated, Frankie will have to navigate through school on her own. Although she's an underclassman member of the debate team (and the Geek Club Conglomerate, by pure accident Frankie manages to intrigue and become the girlfriend of Matthew, one of the most popular seniors. While in most YA books this would cause the main character to be overjoyed, Frankie is unsettled by Matthew and his group of friends (including Alpha, someone she had met before yet he pretends not to have remembered the meeting). Frankie is unsettled by Matthew's devotion to his friends and how no matter how much Matthew involves her in his life, he is never a part of hers. Frankie soon discovers that Matthew and his friends are members of the school's secret society, The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, the same secret society her father was a member of when he was at Alabaster. Upon discovery of this, Frankie decides that she wants in and she embarks on her mission to infiltrate the Loyal Order.

I believe this book offers a fresh twist on prep school life and a teen girl's interactions and relationships with guys. Unlike Gossip Girl, there are no immature cat fights, purposely teasing and belittling one specific person, desperate and mindless swooning over boys, and obsessive tendencies towards gossip and fashion. Also, the book is much much much more intellectual then it's other teen prep school counterparts. It's also pretty mild when it comes to relationships. While it is suggested that two characters have had sex, the main character and her boyfriend don't do much besides kissing. I don't recall any particular use of profanity or questionable language. However, the boys in the story were keen on drinking beer and pot is referenced to by Frankie's fathers recollection of his time at Alabaster. The only other content problem was the blatant disregard for rules. The story is pretty much based on pranks and the breaking of both written and unspoken rules. While the pranks pose no harm to people, it shows disrespect for the institution.

I personally found this to be a really interesting story. I was eager to learn the secrets of the Bassets as much as Frankie was. The plot was a great one and a welcome new perspective on the prep school trend. The plot was engaging and fresh and seems like a very new concept to me. Based on the plot alone I would give this book 5 stars.

My problem with the story is mainly Frankie and the writing.

From a technical point of view, some parts of the book flew way over my head. Although the chapters are not long, the author did take up about half a chapter discussing a grammatical concept of "neglected positives" that I am still unsure of whether this concept exists or does not exist. The author seemed to be hinting that Frankie invented this concept. Neglected positives are described as words that are apart of a traditionally negative word but that have had the negative prefix removed. Examples of this would be "gruntled" stemming from "disgruntled" or "maculate" as opposed to "immaculate." Now although this is an obscure and very possibly made up form of vocabulary, I did not need more then one page to fully understand the concept. It's pretty self explanatory for something that may not even exist. I thought multiple pages on a fake grammar lesson was totally unnecessary.

Another thing that readers might find obscure is that for the rest of the book, Frankie proceeds to use words like "gruntled" and "turbed" (the neglected positive of disturbed). Not only is it slightly annoying to have these maybe fictional words thrown at you, but her use of them results in the other character questioning her vocabulary and Frankie having to explain it to them. While staying on the same subject, I also would like to note that Frankie's boyfriend Matthew is the son of a newspaper tycoon who got his start as a copy-editor. This means that Matthew also donates some grammar lessons to the dialogue. Not only do I not want to hear grammar lessons as I read a book for fun, the plot can totally make do without them. These grammar corrections just slow down the plot. I understand that they help explain why Frankie tries to infiltrate the boys club, but the rest of the plot can do that without discussions of grammar.

Another thing that broke up the plot was Frankie's essays for one of her classes. Although the essays on (real) groups of people who intentionally go out and break the unspoken rules of society are related to the pranks the Basset's play on the school, I could have really gone without 4 pages about the Suicide Club of San Francisco and another 4 on the Cocophony Society. I feel that the story just had too much unnecessary lessons on the most random things and it really hurt the plot.

I also wasn't pleased with how at the end *SPOILER* although the regular punishment for her pranks would be expulsion, Frankie got away with probation because the school didn't want to lose her fathers donations. While the book wasn't cliche, the ending obviously played upon the cliche that money can buy your way out of trouble.

My last problem is with Frankie herself. Although the plot is about a girl trying to fit in with boys who were their own secret society, I find her infiltration of the boys group more then just curiosity and low self esteem. In my eyes the distance she feels from the boys while being a part of her group is natural of boys of that age. Frankie tells of how when one of the boys broke up with his girlfriend (who would always sit with the boys at lunch and be included in the group), the next day no one said hello to her or acknowledged her. Frankie perceives this to be because she is no longer in their world so she no longer exists. Because she was just a girlfriend, she wasn't a real group member and is easily expendable.

Frankie also makes a point at sitting at the boys' senior table although the boys have not arrived to the dining hall yet. Frankie sees this as an act of rebellion against the group structure yet when everyone comes to the table, no one really cares that Frankie sat there prior to the senior boys arriving. While most people would be relieved that they could get away with doing that, Frankie seems annoyed that no one was offended by her action. I gathered the sense that she wanted them to be shocked and that she was offended that they didn't notice her being there first. It felt that because they didn't make a big deal about her sitting there, she had to retaliate.

Frankie's reasoning can be so immature and juvenile at times all while being overly deep. She thinks she is outwitting the boys but in reality she is just being jealous and manipulative because in her mind the boys are practically discriminating against her and she is trying to defeat them over something that has never happened yet. While the boys have a more sophisticated method of being high school boys, in reality they are just that and they are acting no different then other boys their ages except they have a club name to call themselves. I admire Frankie's roommate though because she didn't care whether or not boys had a secret club. She was just content in the life she was living. Overall I just thought Frankie was too obsessed with "the man" being out to get her and she went beyond curiosity. I felt like she wasn't trying to figure out why her boyfriend was sometimes distant as much as she was trying to make sense of the conspiracy theory in her head. I actually felt bad for Matthew because sometimes it seemed as if Frankie was more invested in making a point and fighting "the man" then in having a boyfriend.

While this was very interesting and I really loved it (I even shed a couple of tears at the end) not matter how much I criticize Frankie's motives, it got very intellectual a times. Not only was there grammar lessons, but Frankie's motives can be seen as very sophisticated and cerebral all while being juvenile. But, I do recommend this book. As long as you can deal with some grammatical references, this is a really great book with a fresh new perspective. The plot is a good one and I really appreciated the fact that this wasn't a normal cliche prep school book. While I thought Frankie did over analyze the situation sometimes, I would rather take that over the shallow clothes, boys, and money topics of prep school books such as Gossip Girl. It's better to think about the story and have a reaction then it is to just read about the superficial. So if you're ok with thinking about what happened, I recommend this book.

Frankie Landau-Banks just wants to be let in. As a sophomore at a prestigious East Coast boarding school, she is very happy that a really popular senior thinks she is adorable. But he and his buddies have the camaraderie, the intellectual repartee, and the bonding that appears to be creating a potential springboard for their future lives. That's where Frankie wants to be, but her boyfriend cannot imagine including her. Smart, philosophical, and highly creative, Frankie wants to be both arm candy and also to be, not only included, but the leader of the pack. She will have to choose, and though the going gets rough, she will choose and she will eventually be happy with her choice.

Author E. Lockhart writes books for teenage girls that helpfully explain boys to them and that also encourage girls to not become dependent on boys for their own identity. She does this in a very entertaining and light-hearted fashion-her books are page-turners, well-written, entertaining, and helpful. The Disreputable History of Franki-Landau-Banks won the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature and was a finalist for the National Book Award. It is a pleasure to recommend it for teenage girls-the content is even appropriate for middle school girls, though high school girls will probably find it more interesting.

Teaching young adult literature to college students can be overwhelming, especially when trying to find a story with a female protagonist that won't make most of the guys in the class groan, "Not another mushy, girl story!" Here's a fantastic story for all. What stands here is a strong young lady, coming into her own, by her own wits and will. Frankie out-thinks the guys, a modern-day woman (not womyn) who gives the reader someone to cheer. Way to go E.!

Loved the book! Clean, fun, very creative. Would recommend this light read to all ages. G rated.