The Princesses of Iowa [Hardcover]

M. Molly Backes (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 8, 2012

What does it mean to do wrong, when no one punishes you? A smart and unflinching look at friendship, the nature of entitlement, and growing up in the heartland.

Paige Sheridan has the perfect life. She's pretty, rich, and popular, and her spot on the homecoming court is practically guaranteed. But when a night of partying ends in an it-could-have-been-so-much worse crash, everything changes. Her best friends start ignoring her, her boyfriend grows cold and distant, and her once-adoring younger sister now views her with contempt. The only bright spot is her creative writing class, led by a charismatic new teacher who encourages students to be true to themselves. But who is Paige, if not the homecoming princess everyone expects her to be? In this arresting and witty debut, a girl who was once high-school royalty must face a truth that money and status can't fix, and choose between living the privileged life of a princess, or owning up to her mistakes and giving up everything she once held dear.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-Three popular girls-Paige, Lacey and Nikki-are involved in an accident at the end of their junior year of high school as a result of drunk driving. Sent away for the summer to be an au pair in Paris by her image-conscious mother, Paige returns to her senior year only to find her friends and boyfriend acting strangely. The once tight threesome is divided by Nikki's possible anorexia and promiscuity, injured Lacey's air of martyrdom, and Paige's lack of sympathy. Their goal of being homecoming princesses begins to look less likely. When Paige takes a creative writing class with a charismatic teacher who encourages students to be true to themselves and meets some uncool teens, her character develops and she slowly learns to be kinder and less of a snob. There are a lot of pertinent themes in Backes's novel (Candlewick, 2012): peer pressure, problematic family relationships, casual cruelty of teens, and homophobia. Not all are satisfactorily dealt with, but listeners will be interested to track Paige's growth. Shelby Lewis's spot-on narration perfectly reflects the teenage tone, drawing listeners in. She makes some characters even more likeable than they were on the page, and draws our attention to the arrogance of others. Ultimately, Paige reveals who was behind the wheel on that fateful night, and the girls do their best to deal with the situation. A good choice for young adult collections.-B. Allison Gray, Goleta Library, CAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Review

A well-executed first novel... Backes addresses guilt, deceit, homophobia, loyalty, and the burden of keeping up appearances in a brutally believable high school setting as Paige recognizes the weaknesses of loved ones and her own imperfections.
—Publishers Weekly

In this debut novel, Backes takes Dead Poets Society and brings it into the age of Mean Girls. Her writing style is witty while still being relatable, and the themes of acceptance and identity will ring true to teens... Backes re-creates a world that most teens already live in, with the overarching message that anyone can become more than what others perceive them to be.
—School Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick; First Edition edition (May 8, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763653128
• ISBN-13: 978-0763653125
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

M. Molly Backes has lived in Wisconsin, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Illinois. She has taught students of all ages, and once got 150 of her middle-school students to write novels for National Novel Writing Month. About THE PRINCESSES OF IOWA, she says, "I always identified with the kids who didn't fit in, but one day I started wondering about the kids who did. What if you did everything 'right,' and it still wasn't enough?" Molly lives in Chicago with her family, and her greyhound, Zia. She teaches writing at StoryStudio Chicago and stops to pet every dog she sees.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, funny, and poignant May 8, 2012

By Marie @ Ramblings of a Daydreamer (book blog)

Format:Hardcover

4.5 stars

The Princesses of Iowa book wasn't what I expected at all. It made me feel so much, I don't even really know where to begin. I can tell you that at the time of writing this review, it's been several weeks since I finished reading the book, and it's still on my mind.

Paige is a perfect princess. Or at least, that's the image she's projected to people her entire life. She and her two best friends have worked toward being princesses for most of their lives - being pretty, being popular, and having people see them as worthy of attention and admiration. That's all that really matters in life. But when Paige realizes how shallow and superficial she's been, and that her friends are just as bad - if not worse - life changes completely for her.

Her mother's obsessive need for perfection made Paige paranoid and self-conscious. I lost count of the number of times my jaw dropped at the critical things her mother said, or the back-handed compliments. As ridiculous as it may sound, there were moments when I wanted to cry, because I couldn't imagine a mother actually saying those things, being so selfish, or putting that much pressure on her daughter.

I connected with Paige on a very deep level. Even though her life was completely different from mine, I could put myself in her shoes so easily. Nobody really saw her for her. Nobody knew the real Paige. Paige didn't even really know the real Paige, but as she learned more about herself, as her character grew and changed, I was so proud of her for her self-discovery. Besides her own issues, and the tough life lessons she had to learn, she was surrounded by hypocrisy, racism, bigotry, and homophobia. She'd never realized that before, but she was able to learn the importance of taking responsibility for your actions and not only owning up to your mistakes, but learning from them as well.

The secondary characters were absolutely brilliant, especially Ethan and Shanti. I wish I had friends like them, and I also found myself falling for Ethan. They had surprising depth for secondary characters, and I couldn't wait for more scenes with them. I also liked the progression made by Paige's sister, Miranda/Mirror, and I loved Mr. Tremont, not only because he was a great character in his own right, but also because he was one of the main reasons Paige started to dig deeper and realize her true self.

An unexpected bonus of this book was that there were parts that were hilariously funny. The subject matter was so heavy that it was nice to have those moments where I would laugh until I cried (there was one scene in particular that involved Paige, Ethan, and Shanti). And yet, I would laugh and laugh, and then a minute later, Paige would think or say or do something so heartbreaking or poignant that I'd be ready to cry. And I will admit, I did cry several times. This book really did evoke a lot of emotion in me.

I only have a few small complaints about this book. The first is that it was incredibly long. There were these beautiful, elaborate descriptions that I personally enjoyed and could appreciate as a writer, but I think a lot of other people might see it as unnecessary or `filler'. I read a review where the reviewer said the book was like `a love letter to writing', and that really stuck with me as being true, but again, as a writer, I enjoyed the descriptions. I also thought that for such a long book, the ending was rather abrupt. Everything was technically wrapped up, it just felt sort of rushed after so much story.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Beautiful, poignant, brilliantly funny, and achingly real, The Princesses of Iowa is a debut that should not be missed.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A love letter to Iowa May 22, 2012

By carlynarr

Format:Hardcover

At one of the author's book launch parties, she said that she wrote this book as "a love letter to Iowa." I think she nailed that just about perfectly.

Paige, as a girl who is both traditionally gorgeous and traditionally popular, is unlike everything I was in high school and everything I am now. She smokes, drinks, wears staggeringly high heels, and regularly applies mascara. In contrast, I've never tried a cigarette, have never had more than half a glass of wine (and that wasn't until I was 26), prefer to wear flats, and would probably end up looking like a rundown raccoon if I tried to put on mascara. In short, I shouldn't identify with Paige. But I do--and that is what's truly amazing about this book. Paige is such a real, true person that I feel for her even though we have nothing in common and even though there are many points in the narrative where I stopped to think, "Geez, she is a jerk."

Every so often, I will come across a book that is so all-consuming that I can't get out of its world. Yesterday, while I was reading this book, my boyfriend asked me a question. I vaguely recognized that he had spoken, but I had no idea what he'd said. I snapped my head up and said, "What? What?!" Not only was I annoyed at being jarred out of the book's universe, but I felt as if I shouldn't have to be. I was strangely detached from the real world, as if everything that was true existed only in the book.

I didn't want The Princesses of Iowa to ever end. Now that I have finished it, though, I'm just glad I can go back and flip through it whenever I want to find that world again.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Princesses of Iowa May 12, 2012

By B. Smith

Format:Hardcover

Soon-to-be High School Senior, Paige Sheridan HAD a perfect popular life until one wild night of partying ends in a car crash, which involved her best friends. Although only one of her friends was seriously hurt, Paige found herself exiled to Paris and spent the summer as an Au pair. All Paige wants is her life to be back to normal, but upon returning from Paris everything seems very different.

This was a very interesting book to read. I found myself seriously wanting to smack all of Paige's snobby friends and Paige upside the head. Although annoyed, I find it to be a good thing..It means that I really got into this book. There were so many interesting characters in this book, some obviously I hated, but others I really loved. The Princesses of Iowa deals with a lot of issues from teen drinking to homophobia to self-discovery and growth. I really enjoyed this book and the writing style, from the unusual beginning to the end.

I would absolutely love to read a sequel especially if its more about the down-to earth characters Shanti, Ethan and Mr. Tremont , who in my opinion made the book even more fantastic!

I really loved that this was based in Iowa! I was born in Iowa, but moved to Texas when I was 6. I have many lovely memories of Iowa. It is a very beautiful state!

Special Thanks to Candlewick Press and NetGalley for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review