Customer Reviews

Please Don't Kill the Freshman: A Memoir

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

There's something maddening about people who embrace their flaws and cryptically dismiss their would-be detractors as a way of immunizing themselves against criticism. Zoe Trope could very well earn her next book deal for writing the textbook on those devices. Both her memoir and its promotion (part of it, paid, by HarperTempest; the rest supplied free by her fans), play up the fragmentedness of the author's writing, as well as its many inconsistencies, and its "rawness" - qualities that most writers strive to avoid - all while suggesting that anyone who prefers their writing more refined just doesn't get it. I'm not exaggerating: in a Salon.com interview, Trope praises her mentor, Kevin Sampsell, for introducing her to "experimental writing - writing that doesn't have to be coherent or make sense". Sure enough, _Please Don't Kill The Freshman_ is incoherent and doesn't make sense, but that's part of its charm, see? Sampsell even said so himself.

The book is a cacophonous mess of images and contextless remarks which, we're told, are brilliant precisely _because_ of how contextless and cacophonous they are. Despite the author's constant insistence that she's _different_ from everyone else her age (no other fourteen year old, she ridiculously postulates, reads political magazines), on the back cover of this book she melodramatically proclaims that the writings inside are actually about you - yes, YOU. But that contradiction isn't a flaw - it's a glimpse into the headiness of being fourteen. It's also a subtle suggestion: if you're special, like her, then this book is about you, too. If you don't see yourself in it, or if you take any issue whatsoever with the writing style (which isn't wholly without value - there are some nice images here), you're a typical high school student. Or a boring adult. Indeed, review after review (some of which can be found on this site) promise that _intelligent_ people will recognize Trope's genius.

The book itself contains reams of self-referential blather on the subject of "OmigodIgotaBOOKDEAL", including some invective directed at an editor whose stylistic suggestions Trope takes personally: this book is about HER LIFE, she writes; to impose upon it such mundane considerations as proper sentence structure is to coopt her life story. Honesty and complete sentences are apparently mutually exclusive, so if you value the former, don't remark on the dearth of the latter. And so on, and so forth.

Still, every now and again Trope gets into a rhythm that's altogether enjoyable to read. Unfortunately, this happens rarely, and when it does it's almost entirely in the first hundred or so pages; and the best parts can be found in excerpts here and there online. (One of the better ones is on Salon.com, and it's far from brilliant.) Nevertheless, this "memoir" is fragmented, more or less devoid of reflection, and riddled with incoherent images ensconsed in flowery prose. And that's not a good thing, despite the author's, and her fans', subtle suggestions that these characteristics are actually the book's strengths.

Pretentious, self-absorbed, and very, very poor writing. Trying to be avante-gard? of course, but like so many others, it's almost embaressing. Not to mention she forgot to include the super-decoder-ring to understand her inane dialogue.

I'm sorry, I just had to include that in the title of my review. Anyway. This book is...odd. That is the best one word to describe it. It is random, and the sentences, if you can call them that, seem to be strung together by a kindergartener. I like to compare this book to one throwing a bucket of paint against a wall and watching the droplets of liquid trickle down in odd patterns. It is not a BAD novel, per say. I can totally imagine this book being read in a dark room at a poetry slam, with a small crowd of twenty-somethings drinking and reminiscing about high school, a time which seems so far away to them. But if you are a teen reading this on a lazy day with nothing but a book to entertain, you could certainly do better. I wish i could explain the plot to you. I really do. But, alas, I can't. I can only grasp that it is centered around a high school writer named Zoe, with a penchant for homosexuals. It also includes a LOT of curse words, and strong subject matter. I would not read this if you are under 15 or are sensitive to these things. The plot makes no sense, and it is written in a very odd form. The writing is clearly written by a teenager, and an extremely angsty, very probably self-centered one at that. This is a last-minute read, if you are desperate, or if for some odd reason you want to remember the days you cursed at your mother and questioned your sexuality.

When I first started to read this book I didn't like it. By the middle of it I was remotely apathetic to it. By the end it consumed me.

If you are looking for great literature this isn't your book. If you are looking at a raw, poinant look into the life of a 14 year old, this is your book. Zoe tells it how it is, and most importantly it's all real. Every bit of it. Every emotion is that of the 14 year old who is authoring the book.

Zoe will strike a nerve and it will rattle down to the core. This is a great piece of work that needs to be read by young adults who need to know they aren't alone in the world, and by adults who need to be reminded how non-linear youth really is.

It is necessary to remember that this book is a memoir -- not a novel, not an autobiography. That being said, however, it is written much more as a personal journal than a memoir. (I'm not arguing that the two are mutually-exclusive, but I expected more of a story format than was presented.) In reading this book, you won't receive a play-by-play of Zoe Trope's high school experience -- which is appropriate for a memoir. However, as previously stated, there is too little focus on the story-telling aspect, and instead are pages of overly-done metaphors, similies, descriptions, associations, fragments.

The point of reading "Please Don't Kill the Freshman" is not to relive high school or become intimately aware of all of the author's daily activities. Nevertheless, what is presented to the reader is often so vague and esoteric that it becomes difficult to follow. This kind of esotericism has its place, but this isn't it -- at least not to the degree which it is used. I understand that the author is young and desires a certain level of privacy and anonymity, but I think this book would have proved more successful had her descriptions of events and happenings not been so vague.

Overall, this book deals with fairly typical teenage material. To the author's credit, however, she is evidently more mature than your average teenager. She is honest and open-minded and intelligent. Furthermore, she does have interesting and more informed insights and opinions than most college graduates.

And while her writing is not absolutely amazing (I had plenty of high school classmates who wrote simliarly/at a similar level), she does show talent. Though it is sometimes difficult to tell because the book is so filled with flowery wording, short phrases, and tangential thoughts and statements, that it seems like a layer of fluff over her real writing; I think her "showy" writing often detracts from her story-telling or descriptions. And it is easy to confuse a writing style that is different with one that is good. (Again, they're not mutually-exclusive, but it almost seems as though the author tried too hard to phrase things exactly so -- and became more concerned with word-pairing than her overall writing ability.)

I would call this book a "fun" read -- I enjoyed reading it. It's not horribly fascinating, though I doubt most people have that interesting of lives. Plus: the format in which it is writen (back to that vague and esoteric thing) is not conducive to having an "edge of your seat" page-turner. The key is to not expect more from this book than it actually is.

Overall, the book did not leave me wondering how long I would have to wait for Zoe Trope to write again, but more so it left me with the desire for a chance at conversation with her.

I'd heard mixed things about this book, and after reading it, I see why. It's not great but it's not terrible. It's a teenage girl's journal, nothing more. (Actually, it's about 100 pages "more" than it needs to be, so maybe it was better as a chapbook.) I read a lot of young adult books, and this just doesn't stand out. It's not clear whether or not this girl is talented enough to become a writer, but this bland book is not a terribly auspicious debut.

I have a lot of hatred directed towards this book. I know everyone is saying they might recommend this to a 16 year old, but I am 16 and I hated it. It was lazily written with no clear plot or character development; half the time I had to look on the front page to find out which person was which. Reading through this I kept thinking "what the heck is going on!?". This book is crap. It was a waste of my hard earned money (which I got back after returning the book to the store), and my time! I wasted part of my life to read about some self-absorbed, selfish brat is my age (at the time of writing). I picked up this book because I thought it would be a funny, lighthearted satire on high school life. I thought that me, being one of the social outcasts of my school, could relate to this girl, but all I saw was a self-righteous, annoying, immature little girl who doesn't deserve to have her book published.

And now I've had my say, thank you. :-)

Strange, funny, raw, weird, crackling, plucky, intense, acerbic, sparkling..... so many ways to describe this one-of-a-kind book. I've never read a book like this, one that takes so many risks, and one in which the writer is clearly 100% committed to tell her truth. Props to Zoe Trope. (...)

I picked up this book when I was running around a Barnes&Noble trying to find an interesting read. True, this book may be like the works of many teenage girls writing online diaries. But take a closer look. This is a memoir,this is an actual person's life not some fictional diary. She experiences pain and writes in a cryptic style. She is honest and truthful. Take from it what you will, like it or don't, but you just have to take a closer look decide whether or not this is the book for you. I liked it and I will be willing to keep it on my bookshelf. She is a talented writer, just not in a conventional way.

This book is beautiful. The metaphors are lovely. The style is unique. It is full of wit and humor, but most of all it is truthful. Yes, it is WRITTEN by a high school student, but that's what makes it fabulous! So often I read high school books written by authors that have not been in high school for ten years, and I resent ths people trying to portray high school when they so clearly can hardly remember it. But I found myself yelling out loud, "THAT IS SO TRUE!!" as I was reading this book. I found myself smiling the entire way through and finding it nearly impossible to close. I was intoxicated by the originality. But, I am a high school student. I want to read something that relates my life flawlessly and accurately. I want to read something by someone I could easily have known, and can imagine knowing. It's like reading about my own life, but written more eloquently than I could have done and with much more interesting friends and events than I have in my own life. Don't READ this book if you don't want to read about high school! It's as simple as that! If you're forty-five or ten, then you won't enjoy the accuracy and the honesty. But if you're fifteen, you'll adore it like I did.