Customer Reviews

Inside the Mind of (Lib)(CD)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

reading this book is like being on a joy ride - hijaking the psyche of the boy you were crushed out on at school. or should have been crushed out on. gideon is hilarious, and sarah miller is a genius. i've already loaned this book to my best friend.

The premise of this novel grabbed me: the narrator is a girl who knows everything that the title character Gideon is thinking. It's a creative and funny way to explore the simple fact that, really, most of the time girls are ahead of boys in knowing what the really want! It's kindof like "Being John Malkovitch" - except here Malkovitch is a teenage boy who finds himself at a prep school surrounded by boys and girls way cooler (and richer) than he is. And the girl inside his head is a mystery - someone in his world, but who? Miller pulls no punches, she gets right up in there, taking on the awful years of sorting out how and where we fit in the world. Not only do I recommend this book to teens, I recommend it to grown-ups looking for a smart and funny read. It'll take you back (and make you glad you don't have to GO back!).

I really loved this book. The characters are well developed and very realistic. Gideon isn't perfect but that is what makes him so lovable. Sarah Miller truly captures the spirit of being a teenager in this day and age. Her narrator has a funny, refreshingly sarcastic sense of humor but still maintains a carefully hopeful attitude throughout the book. It is a light, fun read that will have you looking forward to the next book the talented Ms. Miller puts out.

You'll feel trapped in a 10 x10 dorm room with hysterically frightening roomates, desperately following them to parties. I know it's the cliche of cliches but I honestly didn't put it down. The characters are so specific and fun. It's a smart, witty, anti-coming of age story....Jesus, I sound like a f***ing book jacket-but I swear it's all true...

I borrowed this book from a friend and I absolutely loved it. Gideon is so funny and I think anyone who reads this book will be easily entertained for an afternoon!

This book is about a boy name Gideon Rayburn, and about how he moves to a new school, the Connecticut Prep School, and his room mates are two very popular boys called Cullen and Nicholas, and they find out that Gid is a virgin, and so to make him cool, they point out hot girls he could lose his virginity to. They make a bet: if he loses his virginity to Molly McGarry, Cullen and Nicholas have to do what Gid says, but if not, then he has to do what they say. So then Gideon then meets Pilar, one of the best-looking girls in school who hints that she wants to take him on any time, so he wants to forget about the bet, but he realizes that he likes Molly, too.
I really enjoyed reading this book, Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn, because it shows how the male mind works when they are fifteen. However, there were some parts in this novel that I did not like, for example, when Gideon was alienated because basically everyone else was a druggie. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to get into a teenage boy's mind at work.

What would happen if you could see inside the mind of a boyfriend? A mystery girl who sees in Gideon's mind can - and she tells of a clueless boy who flunks his way into a fancy prep school in New England, only to face cute, feisty girls who vie for his attention. The focus on his thoughts throughout provides an unusual, compelling story.

Being inside the mind of a boy is every teen girl's dream. It's the perfect solution to finally understand what they are thinking and why they do what they do. In INSIDE THE MIND OF GIDEON RAYBURN, a female narrator (whose identity remains a mystery until the end of the novel) wakes up one morning and hears the thoughts of Gideon Rayburn echoing around her head. And there's nothing she can do but listen and learn.

INSIDE THE MIND OF GIDEON RAYBURN takes place at a fancy New England prep school, and Gideon is a new kid from Virginia who feels like a fish out of water. The other students are all rich and good looking and from exotic places. Gideon is only there because his father got him in on "a favor." In an attempt to bond with his two roommates, Nick and Cullen, Gideon tells them a story about his girlfriend, a yellow thong, and nearly losing his virginity.

Hearing the story, Nick and Cullen come up with "the bet" involving the sassy Molly McGarry and a Halloween deadline. Gideon gets to know Molly especially when they share a Spanish class project and starts to like the feisty girl who hails from "the McGarry's of Buffalo, New York," a not-so-exotic place either.

Gideon finds himself distracted from "the bet" and pleasing his roommates when the sexy Pilar Benitz-Jones begins paying attention to him. Molly might be cute and sassy, but if Gideon could snag Pilar, it would be "legendary."

INSIDE THE MIND OF GIDEON RAYBURN puts a twist on the typical prep school novel with the mysterious narrator hearing Gideon's thoughts and telling the story through these thoughts. This device leads to many elements of humor, especially when the narrator makes fun of Gideon for his thoughts about girls. When Gideon stares at Madison Sprague's "short hair in pigtails," the narrator says, "Gid thinks they look cute, because he's a guy and doesn't know to be annoyed by the whole 'I'm so pretty I don't care what I look like' aesthetic."

Readers will grow to like this narrator --- especially when she starts falling for Gideon and the book becomes a page-turner to find out the identity of the mysterious narrator. Unfortunately, it almost overshadows the story about Gideon and the end felt a bit unsatisfying to this reader.

--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson

I was intrigued by the premise of "Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn" and thought that Sarah Miller had many insights about prep school, teenagers, and people in general. My biggest issue with the book is that the reader is not supposed to know who is reading Gideon's mind. This makes it difficult because when the mind reader is revealed, the plot doesn't hold together. At least twice Gideon goes to a classmate and is questioned about information that he and the mind reader should already know and once the mind reader is revealed, it seems like Miller is intentionally trying to throw off the reader to sustain the premise. Also, Molly McGarry's patience, wisdom, and understanding require almost as much suspension of disbelief as the premise of the mind-reading. A fun, light read, though. Less drama and social commentary than "Prep" by Curtis Sittenfeld or "The Fundamentals of Play" by Caitlin Macy. I would recommend "Prep" and "The Fundamentals of Play" over this book in most cases, but at most of the characters seem content at the end of this book, whereas the same could not be said for the other two.

As I was reading this book I had to wonder if this is really what goes on in the mind of a teenage boy. I know the stereotype is that they constantly think about sex but I seriously thought I was going to go crazy reading his thoughts about getting laid, where a good place to have sex is, how beautiful the girls all around him were. Geez, it's amazing guys are able to function if that is what their minds are like. I did like the concept of this book though. It was sort of What a Girl Wants but with a girl being in a guys mind. You do not actually find out who the girl is until the very last page. It was a little confusing at times to figure out what were Gideon's thoughts and what were the mystery girls thoughts about what Gideon was seeing going on around him. The main reason I did not give this a higher rating is I was starting to get bored with the repetition of Gideon's thoughts. It picked up enough at the end that I am curious about the next book, The Other Girl, which has the mystery girl gets stuck in the mind of a beautiful girl that Gideon has been lusting over.

As a warning there is quite a bit of underage drinking, drugs and sex talk going on in this book.