Gossip Girl: #1: A Novel by Cecily von Ziegesar [Kindle Edition]

Cecily von Ziegesar (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At a New York City jet-set private school populated by hard-drinking, bulimic, love-starved poor little rich kids, a clique of horrible people behave badly to one another. An omniscient narrator sees inside the shallow hearts of popular Blair Waldorf, her stoned hottie of a boyfriend, Nate, and her former best friend Serena van der Woodsen, just expelled from boarding school and "gifted with the kind of coolness that you can't acquire by buying the right handbag or the right pair of jeans. She was the girl every boy wants and every girl wants to be." Everyone wears a lot of designer clothes and drinks a lot of expensive booze. Serena flirts with Nate and can't understand why Blair is upset with her; Blair throws a big party and doesn't invite Serena; Serena meets a cute but unpopular guy; and a few less socially blessed characters wonder about the lives of those who "have everything anyone could possibly wish for and who take it all completely for granted." Intercut with these exploits are excerpts from www.gossipgirl.net (the actual site launches in February), where "gossip girl" dishes the dirt on the various characters without ever revealing her own identity amongst them. Though anyone hoping for character depth or emotional truth should look elsewhere, readers who have always wished Danielle Steel and Judith Krantz would write about teenagers are in for a superficial, nasty, guilty pleasure. The book has the effect of gossip itself once you enter it's hard to extract yourself; teens will devour this whole. The open-ended conclusion promises a follow-up. Ages 15-up.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-Is Gossip Girl one of New York City's privileged teens with easy access to endless money, alcohol, and drugs? The answer remains a well-kept secret, but her Web page that opens each chapter (and that readers can visit) tells all about the in-crowd. Catty, backbiting, and exaggerated, GG's observations are also candid. The term begins at Manhattan's elite Spenford School for girls and St. Albans for boys. Girls talk about boys, sex, clothes, and friends while boys talk about girls, sex, and parties. Serena is the center of controversy, surrounded by rumors that range from her being a sex fiend to a drug addict. Bulimic Blair, her former best friend, loves Nate, but discovers that he's hooked up with Serena. Ninth-grade Jenny idolizes Serena while her brother Dan has a consuming crush on her. Vignettes of school, social events, shopping, and Web-page entries make this fast, easy reading that's both funny and sad. Truth takes a backseat to rumor, and curiosity is satisfied by gossip, not questions and answers. Von Ziegesar's approach is fresh, although mean and petty comments dominate these teens' world. Characters are somewhat stereotypical: teen sex goddess; handsome, fickle boyfriend; unaffected young teen; and goody-goody brother. Sex seems easy, no one worries about protection or consequences, the alcohol flows like water, and the language is raw. Everything is at one's fingertips in Gossip Girl's world, and even cheap talk and the growing pains of high school don't change that. Fluffy reading, this is likely to have high appeal for older teens.
Gail Richmond, San Diego Unified Schools, CA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 410 KB
• Publisher: Poppy; 1 edition (October 1, 2003)
• Sold by: Hachette Book Group
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000Q67H4U
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (340 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,821 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #11 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction > People & Places > Where We Live
  • #11 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > People & Places > Where We Live > City Life

More About the Author

A writer who is definitely of the world about which she writes--she attended a fancy Manhattan prep school and lived to tell all about it. She walks the walk and talks the talk, so her characters and their conversations and antics ring completely true.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

130 of 164 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not really recommended, July 15, 2002

By 

Nancy E. "Nancy" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gossip Girl #1: A Novel (Gossip Girl Series) (Paperback)

When I picked up this book I was eager for another Cruel Intentions. What I got was much different. Gossip Girl tells the story of teenagers living a privileged life in NYC. Blair Thinks she has a perfect life, she's rich, her boyfriend Nate is wonderful, and she's looking foreword to going to Yale next year. Unfortunatly for Blair, everything changes when Serena comes back to town. Serena is Blair's "best friend" and biggest rival. She's seemingly prefect in every way and out shadows all of her friends. But now that she's back, rumors are flying. She's gotten kicked out of boarding school and according to NYC's rumor mill she's done some pretty dirty things to get expelled.

Sound interesting? Well, it's not. Unlike other people I was not "shocked" or "appalled" at the dirty nature of this book. Personally I've read far worse and have not been offended. The thing that really got me about this book was the sheer bad writing. The characters, which should be the backbone of any novel, are shallow and far too two-dimensional. They're popular, dress in fabulous clothes (which the author can't help but describe, the only real detail you'll get in this book), get drunk, have sex, get high, and spread rumors. Each one of them are the stereotypes of every character you'll find in any trashy teen novels. We have the "popular girls" the "deep poet" the "former popular girl with the bad reputation" the "theater geek" and the infamous "shy naieve girl who wants to be popular."

Recent great YA novels like Speak, and Love and Four Letter words have shown the world that teen books don't have to be shallow. In fact they can have some heart. Gossip girl falls back on the stereotypes that all teens are shallow and have nothing better to do in life than to worry about popularity. I gave it 2 stars instead of one because I'm not naieve, I know that there are people that like books like this, but I'm not that kind of person. If you want a good YA novel read Sloppy Firsts or Feeling sorry for Celia, they focus on the lives of real teens of all different shapes and sizes and are much better written.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I don't want to be a stupid girl!, April 17, 2006

By 

Alexandra McMeekin "Alex" (Victoria, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gossip Girl #1: A Novel (Gossip Girl Series) (Paperback)

This series is a terrible, terrible thing. Girls should never pick up a book from this series. Teens have a hard enough time getting through school without being pressured by YA LITERATURE for goodness sakes! These books promote all the things that we should fight against in this world, and should try to overcome. The title of the series itself promotes a terrible thing, and something that ruins relationships--Gossip. Gossip is not a fun, innocent thing; it hurts people. I think people should be able to choose what they read, but sometimes teens will read what is popular, so it scares me, as a teacher and writer, that this is what they might pick up in their local bookstore. If parents only knew what their kids were reading, they'd be as concerned about literature today, as they are about tv programs. We should all be encouraging girls to be uniquely themselves, and not to deprive the world of their unique presence. Why be a "gossip girl" when you can be a unique, creative, ambitious, strong, intelligent YOU?

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Awful!, July 25, 2005

By 

Adelaide Johnston (High School Teacher) (Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gossip Girl #1: A Novel (Gossip Girl Series) (Paperback)

A friend of mine told me this book would be great so I dashed out to Borders and bought a copy. I read it in a few days and was absolutely disgusted by the end.
The characters in this book are horrible role models and examples for our youth. These kids seem to believe the law is beneath them (underage drinking, sex and drug use) and their parents don't seem to mind either.
This series may be a bestseller, but it has terribly graphic language that is just too inappropriate for teens. Books should encourage positives and teach morals, not shed light on the ups of being bad.
The Gossip Girl books are nothing but trash; it's worthless to invest any time or money into the stupid series.