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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The World of Teens Today..., May 13, 2010
This review is from: Exposed (Paperback)
This was my first time reading Susan Vaught's work. It is also my first review on Amazon. I'm writing under my husband's account. I was pretty impressed with this book. As one reviewer stated, it is a thriller. Be prepared to experience intense emotions because the subject matter is very serious. A 16-year-old girl, vulnerable and lonely, decides to escape her mundane life through an online chatroom. The Internet is a place where anyone can be who they want to be. She hopes to find love and acceptance. She comes from a loving but dysfunctional family. Her best friend is self-centered. She deals with the pressures of school and hostility from her peers, who call her a "slut". Chan is simply a girl trying to discover what life is all about. She wants to be loved and to express herself freely. She is insecure, despite being smart and talented. I won't spoil the book for those who haven't read it, but I will say this...you're in for a treat.
Since it is Young Adult Fiction, it is very easy reading. The writing is clear and concise. It flows pretty well. The author writes from the perspective of a lost, confused girl in contemporary language without attempting to sound overly "hip". I was a bit annoyed by a few of the characters because they were unrealistic and somewhat one-dimensional. Her coach is caring and protective, but in real life it wouldn't be that deep. Her mother is a "helicopter mom" who cares, but is blind to the emotional needs of her children. Her best friend, Devin, is portrayed as this wealthy black girl with a perfect life and a constant bevy of boyfriends. Devin doesn't seem to have any problems at all. She's intelligent and funny, but a bit selfish. She is blind to Chan's pain. She comes from a Baptist Republican family and has very little in common with Chan in general. I'm glad she wasn't stereotyped, but most young African-American girls don't live privileged lives without any problems whatsoever. And Chan's little sister? Annoying. I wanted to slap that kid.
The conclusion was a bit too pat. In real life, stories like this often don't have happy endings. The whole family needed counseling. "Exposed" will make you take a closer look at what your children do online and who they talk to. It reveals the dark side of technology and the illusion of power through sexuality. It exposes the horrors of sexual abuse. It forces us to strip away masks and wonder who we're really letting into our lives. It is a cautionary tale about self-respect, dignity, and Internet safety. People aren't always who they seem to be. I recommend this book to kids and their parents...it could make all the difference in the world.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Scary and good, April 5, 2009
I am extremely happy that I am not a parent. I cannot even imagine how challenging and scary it must be to be someone's parent in this day and age.
Reading Exposed has simply confirmed this for me. Author, Susan Vaught has written an absolutely scary and unfortunately all too realistic book about a young girl who is confused, living in a dysfunctional family and is desperate for some love and attention - desperate to be "understood" and desperate for total and unconditional acceptance - I have basically described almost every teenager out there. The difference is that Chan decides that she is going to go out into cyberspace to do this.
As the storyline develops, the author clearly shows us the denial Chan, our main character, is going through when it comes to her "online idea". Somehow, by the time she does decide to go ahead and post her profile on a dating site, she has convinced herself that this will be the solution to all her problems and getting reinforcing confirmation from her best friend simply adds to the attraction of the whole idea.
Early on, we discover that Chan's family life is a mess, with an obese father who suffered a heart attack but refused to stop eating, to a controlling mother and an absolutely neurotic younger sister, who herself, seems primed for disaster. Chan has also suffered at the hands of a former boyfriend and is now being excluded from most of her school friends.
In other words, Chan was a perfect victim - and what makes Exposed so realistic is that you can actually see Chan's progression from "maybe wanting to do this" to the point where she actually starts feeling very scared about her exchanges with the "not so perfect" Paul.
I gritted my teeth through so many of their exchanges - it was so spooky how easily this predator had it all figured out - as if he knew exactly what Chan needed and when she needed it.
The storyline was extremely engrossing and I found myself going through a variety of emotions while reading this book. This to me, is the sign of a good book.
The only thing I found was that the storyline was a tad slow in starting up. I am glad I persisted as the plot gets very, very interesting, but the first few chapters (setting up the introduction and the set up of Chan's life) were a little long.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, March 24, 2009
Chan has PIRs (parental Internet rules) when it comes to being on the computer and the Internet at home. The key rules are:
1. Never put any identifying information on the Internet without parental approval.
2. No public profiles.
3. Everything that is done on the computer gets supervised or reviewed.
Chan is about to break every one of these rules in the next few weeks.
After a horrible breakup at school the previous spring with the school quarterback, Chan avoids dating and boys. But she wants to find the perfect companion somehow. And the best and safest way, Chan decides, is to find one on the Internet. But this goes against all three of the cardinal rules.
So with begrudging help from her best friend, Devin, the two girls set up a secret Blahfest profile. The two also add streaming video of the two twirling batons in Chan's room. Before they know it, Chan has a message on her profile. It's from Knighthawk859. The two start secret harmless chat sessions that go long into the night. Knighthawk (aka Paul) tells Chan how to download a screen saver that will also help purge and hide any talks and keystrokes. Paul seems perfect and can even recite Emily Dickinson back to Chan. (Chan adores Emily's poetry.)
Chan's schoolwork starts to suffer, and she's getting less and less sleep. It doesn't help that her 8-year-old sister, Lauren, wakes up with nightmares each night and comes into Chan's room for comfort. With lack of sleep, and bruises from Lauren's restless sleeping, all Chan can concentrate on is her next chat session with Paul. The only bright spot outside of the chatting is her twirling. With Paul's assistance (financial and educational), Chan has gotten onto a training routine and her twirling has never been better.
But soon, the chatting turns darker. And when Chan encounters a similar screen saver on the family's computer downstairs, she starts to panic that her younger sister has gotten in above her head as well. Can Chan come clean with her secret boyfriend to save her sister, or will everything come crashing down because of her?
EXPOSED is one of those books that are ideal to be shared between parents and their teenagers. It explores the hazards of seemingly harmless chatting on the Internet. It shares how anyone determined enough can piece the puzzle pieces together with relatively limited information. Chan's PIRs may seem silly to the average teenager, but in reality, and in light of today's identity thefts and predators, they may even be too simple.
Reviewed by: Jaglvr
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