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39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Read by a Talented Author, January 29, 2012
This review is from: Spectacle (Kindle Edition)
Spectacle is an impressive debut YA novel by short story writer and blogger Angie McCullagh. It takes us into the turbulent lives of best friends, Emily and Trix, both outsiders to the world of popular high school cliques. As their junior year progresses, jealousy, self-absorption, and increasingly different interests threaten to destroy their friendship. Emily is riddled with insecurity about her tall and still-growing stature and is pursuing the whereabouts of her birth mom. Trix is dealing with a less-than-ideal home situation that causes her to be drawn into the world of heavy partying and guys who only want one thing. As each girl begins to explore who she is and who she wants to be, the very fabric of their relationship to each other--and to others they care about--is put to the test. Having been a high school librarian for six years, I have read my fair share of YA novels, both good and bad. Spectacle is definitely one of the good ones. It is well-written, with insight and realism. I found myself finishing the book in a few hours because I needed to know what would happen to Trix and Emily and how everything would turn out. Were I still in the position to order books for a high school library, this is one that I would be happy to have on my shelves (if it were in print form), and I recommend it for girls ages 15+.
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling and compulsively readable teen fiction, January 29, 2012
This review is from: Spectacle (Kindle Edition)
Perhaps most noteworthy about Spectacle is that it is exceedingly well-written. So many books in this genre are plot-driven to the exclusion of character development and writing that supports, rather than hinders, storyline. Spectacle is refreshingly different. McCullagh is a deft, talented writer. Interesting imagery abounds in her writing. At the same time she gets this age group and writes realistic and age-appropriate dialogue for her two main characters, Emily and Trix. Emily and Trix are best friends who find themselves growing apart as they start to make different choices about their sexuality, their circles of friends, and, more broadly, their futures. Although the two do come from different sides of the track, McCullagh does not abuse this stereotype. Trix, whose mother lives in a trailer and whose father is most often drunk (though goodhearted), is certainly wittier and probably brighter than Emily, although she very often fails to make use of her natural talent. Emily is an observer. She sees well and deeply, and is unusually mature for her age. Oh, and have I mentioned that Emilly is also unusually tall? She is, and her height causes her great distress. Her task will be to learn that there is much more to her than her height. This is a coming-of-age novel in the best sense, as both girls must learn some hard lessons about their strengths and weaknesses, about the failings of their parents (and, in one case, the dispelling of the wicked stepmother myth), about their sexual selves, and about each other. Both Emily's and Trix's stories are poignant. By the end we are rooting hard for each of them, and we are celebrating their growth. I read this book in a night and a day. I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I couldn't put it down!, January 29, 2012
This review is from: Spectacle (Kindle Edition)
Emily Lucas feels like a spectacle at her high school. She is six feet tall and getting taller, her first chance at love is not going well, and the popular girls seem to be out to make her more miserable than she already feels. Writer Angie McCullagh explores the divisions in relationships in Emily's life: the best friend who chooses to spend her time with others, the mother who left when Emily was four years old, the father who is too immersed in work to notice his daughter's pain. By focusing on Emily and her best friend Trix, McCullagh delves into the the world of the modern teenager, full of angst and hope, in this coming-of-age story. The main characters are well-developed, written with dimensional qualities in their personalities that makes them believable. This is no fairy tale. Their pain is real, but real life is like that; things don't always work out the way we want them to, and people let us down. The use of the phrase, "You just need to get over it" is astute on the part of the author, allowing us to see the tear in the fabric of the relationship but also, subtly, allowing us to insert ourselves into the story by reminding us -- with that one short sentence -- of our own relationships. For any woman, young or not-so-young, who has ever been told, "You just need to get over it."
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