Customer Reviews

Vegan, Virgin, Valentine

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4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I don't know what Carolyn Mackler's problem with veganism is, but she obviously has one.

This problem comes through almost like an agenda throughout the book. First of all, there's no way that a protagonist as intelligent as Mara wouldn't know why she didn't eat dairy and eggs as a vegan. (Eggs come from layer hens who are treated arguably worse than any other animal in today's modern factory farms; milk relies on separating a calf from its mother and sending the boy calves off for veal production, the other arguably worst agricultural practice today). Right away Mackler lost all credibility with me, there. No intelligent 17-year-old vegan would list her reason as: eggs come from a chicken's butt. Puh-leaze.

Then there's the oh-so-touching conversation with the mom in the car - But Mara, there is no right and wrong. Oh really? I'd love to have a discussion with Mackler about the philosophical and ethical implications of *that* statement.

Finally, Mara's "liberation" partly occurs when she orders cheese. I don't know, I guess I just wanted some, is her lame excuse.

There are ex-vegans out there (I'm wondering if Mackler is one), and many of them became vegans for half-baked reasons, or left veganism and then tried to justify it with a bunch of silly philosophies that they then prop up as much as possible. I've heard this before, as in, "I didn't want to be so rigid." I wonder if that's Mackler's thing.

But, speaking as a vegan, most of us don't dream of grilled cheese; we have actual reasons for not eating eggs and milk that you should look into by reading something like Peter Singer's "The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter", c) we do believe in the radical concept (!) that there might be right and wrong or at least more right and more wrong things to do in any given situation.

Mackler has done a real disservice to animals, the environment and herself by producing this pathetic tripe.

It's too bad, too, because otherwise the writing is not bad. It'd be great to see a story worth putting to paper in addition to her writing style.

At any rate, don't go into this book if you expect a main character with any kind of integrity and certainly don't go into it looking for anything to do with actual veganism, cause it ain't there.

Meet Mara Valentine. She has "type A blood, a type A personality, and . . . an A-cup bra." Mara is on the fast track to success: she's duking it out for valedictorian, she's been accepted early decision by Yale, and she's already taking college courses. Mara's much older sister Aimee has always been a screw-up, traveling around the world in search of the next big thing. Mara is desperate not to disappoint her mom and dad the way Aimee did --- she has to succeed because she is her parents' "Only Hope."

Secretly, though, Mara is vulnerable: her college courses have left her without many high school friends, and she's still reeling from a painful breakup with equally high-achieving Travis. She hides her insecurities by trying to control absolutely everything, from her schedule to her emotions to her diet. She confesses that she has become a vegan not only because she is "grossed out by animal byproducts" but because veganism is "all-consumingly obsessive. . . . It can be a pain, but it helps keep my mind off things."

That's why, when Aimee's troublemaking daughter (and Mara's niece), sixteen-year-old V, comes to live with Mara's family while Aimee chases her surfer boyfriend to Costa Rica, Mara is furious. V has always had the ability to see through Mara's veneer and to call attention to Mara's fears and anxieties. When V moves in on Mara's ex, Mara vows never to be friends with this "class-ditching, chair-in-the-principal's-office-warming deadbeat."

V's tough-talking, no-nonsense attitude does rub off on Mara, though, as she begins to question why she has made the choices she has. When she starts to have feelings for James, her boss at the coffee shop, her life gets even more confused. If James, who has never been to college but owns a successful small business, can be one of the smartest (not to mention the cutest) people she has ever met, does Mara need to redefine the meaning of success?

Like Carolyn Mackler's earlier novels, VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE has a winning combination of a likeable main character, zingy narration, and some truly funny one-liners. Readers who find themselves identifying with misunderstood V may be somewhat frustrated by the novel's primary focus on Mara's development. This intriguing character screams to be the star of her own novel, and readers will likely find themselves wishing for a sequel.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Being a vegan, I was excited to pick up the book. I haven't read a horrible book in a long time, and was disappointed to realize this was probably the worst book I have ever read. The character is not a vegan by the end of the book, which was probably the most disappointing aspect, but the characters were unrealistic and the plot was extremely boring and unoriginal. It was a quick read and you can read it in less than an hour, but I advise you not to waste your time.

Many of the reviews on this book talk about it in a negative light, some are well-worded, and others miss the "point" of the story completely. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I feel that this book should have at least a few positive statements on it.

It's not a fantastic book, I've read better in this genre, and out of this genre there are better books, but I think for anybody who is just willing to sit back and escape their world for a while, it's a perfect book for that- which is what a book should be.
The story, as noted in other reviews is about a straight A high school student who, with the onset of her niece coming to live with her family and a new romantic relationship, is forced to re-evaluate why she wants to be valedictorian, and have enough college credits to begin college as a sophomore. It's your basic over-achiever who overcomes who she is "suppose" to be, to become who she really is.

There aren't any major revelations, when reading it, you know the course is inevitable and there aren't any major plot twists, but what makes the book entertaining is the language it's written in. It's not brilliant, but its a fast read, and fun- some parts can be laugh out loud funny if you're just willing to go along with it. I'd recommend it to anybody who just wants to sit back and be mildly amused for a few hours- not people looking for deeper meaning or characters with deep human complex emotions- what you get is on the page, and not a whole lot more, but I don't want my 4 hours back that it took to read it, so I feel like in the end, it was worth it.

VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE. Yes, Mara Valentine is a high school senior who is a strict vegan, off animal meat and animal byproducts. Yes, she is a virgin - her sexual experience with guys is oh-so limited. And her last name is Valentine. She is the bitter ex-girlfriend of Travis Hart. When it comes to her rightful place as class valedictorian, she plans on kicking Travis' salutorian butt out the door to Yale, which is where she applied (and received acceptance!!!) early action. She has type A blood, receives only A's in school, and wears an A-cup bra.

Vivienne Vail Valentine. She is slutty, pot and cigarette-smoking, and merely sixteen. She is also Mara's niece, despite the itsy-bitsy age gap. Vivienne, who refuses to answer to anything but V, is the daughter of Aimee, Mara's 35 year-old loser sister who can't make up her mind when it comes to a job, a man, a house, or a sex partner. From what Mara can see, V is heading down Aimee's very same path of loserdom. Carefully outlined plans for her last days spent in the boring old town of Brockport certainly did not include V in the equation. She is convinced she, the second birth, took place solely due to the fact that her 'rents felt the need to compensate for Aimee, the college dropout.

As VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE progressed, I found myself admiring Mara - which is more than I can say for most story protagonists. Her transformation never strains credibility. She doesn't let loose and veer wildly out of control off the usual path of a goody two-shoes - she merely starts making decisions for what she believes are her best interests. This means no summer school at Johns Hopkins. It means pursuing a relationship with sexy twenty two year-old James, the owner and boss of the coffeeshop where Mara works. Alas, pursuing the relationship also means keeping it under wraps, for coworker and friend Claudia has been lusting after James for ages, and Mara knows it.

Mara also knows she deserves to be happy and the new Mara is even more aware of this. Quite frankly, the new Mara, who tosses veganism in favor of grilled cheese sandwiches, is much more likeable. She's ready to face the world - and Yale - head-on.

V also undergoes a sort of tranformation, though it may not be as drastic. A lead role in the school play, encouragement from a doting aunt and uncle, plus SAT prep courses are setting her on the right path. Despite the fact that her actions seem extreme (including fooling around with Travis Hart on her first day, in a shower stall), she ups the status quo in Mara's life and gives her a bit of her own brazen courage.

Mackler takes a realistic route in the pairing of these two related characters. Their relationship isn't a sugarcoated, opposites attract sort of bond. They live together, learn together, and come to eventually respect one another. The change of aversion to being able to get along is gradual, not rushed.

Mackler's third novel, debut to THE EARTH, MY BUTT, AND OTHER BIG ROUND THINGS, is a treat for the Young Adult audience. Protagonist Mara Valentine is a stretch from prior heroine/anti-heroines Sammie Davis and Virginia Shreves, yet all stories take place in a real world where nothing is perfect and problems do arise. Nor are they ever solved in the blink of an eye. Girls may see themselves in Mara, even in V. Girls may see themselves in their worlds as well.

The fact that Mackler has managed to write all three of her novels with such voice is nothing short of remarkable.

Mackler, as always, writes great, realistic girl characters with a nice dollop of humor. The novel is narrated by Mara, an (...) retentive good girl, but also features her niece V, a fun-loving party girl. How the characters change in their relation to each other, Mara's parents, and school is told with humor, good pacing, and heart. A highly enjoyable read.

And thank you, Mackler, for portraying female sexuality in a touching, realistic way.

I can't wait to get Mackler's next book.

Mackenzie Whittaker
Mrs. Laborde
Communication Studies
December 5, 2005
Book review

"Get intrigued with Vegan, Virgin, Valentine"
Vegan, Virgin, Valentine By, Carolyn Mackler

Some books have a really good beginning that makes you want to read the whole book, and then you read the book and think to yourself "wow, that really wasn't that good." Or, sometimes, books have a slow beginning but an awesome ending; and then some books are awesome all the way through. The beginning intrigues you; the ending leaves you wanting to read more. That's what this book is "Vegan, Virgin, Valentine" you don't want to put the book down...
This book talks about relevant issue in our society today, like, getting a boyfriend, making new friends, and trying to figure out who you are. In the book the main character strives to become more than the average; she tries to become a perfect figure. A senior who works half time at a coffee shop, makes decent money, isn't overly pretty but yet isn't ugly, straight A student all four years oh high school, and is the valedictorian.
What she finds out is that it's nearly impossible to be perfect. She gets a boy friend who she `experiments' with and opens her self up. Her niece moves in with her, and she teaches her more about life, than Mara (main character) thought she would see....
I would highly recommend this book to everyone it's a unique book that most people can relate too.

The brashly glittered-up bookjacket and title promise a frothy coming-of-age comedy, but Mackler's book, while not exactly a downer, is only a so-so time passer. Our heroine Mara is determined on a path of monster overachievement, so much so as to enter Yale, she intends, as a SECOND-YEAR student! (I can only pray, for the sake of American education, that this is not actually possible-- what's the point of even going to Yale if you're going to rack up a fourth of your credits from local summer classes?!?). Naurally, the poor girl needs to reorder her priorities. And her do-gooding parents, determined to rescue the progeny of Mara's much older, ne'er-do-well sister, take her niece Vivienne, or "V" as she absolutely insists, under their roof. Chaos ensues. Or well, not really actually. And here lies much of the problem. On the one hand, Mackler avoids making V quite the stereotypical bad girl foil to Mara's goody-two-shoes. But in showing us so quickly that V has a soul, the story becomes too dull, too early. Sure, we'd expect some redemption at the end, and of course we expect V to bring some sauce into Mara's life. But, aside from introducing Mara to the pleasures of hootchie-tops with ironic slogans written in glitter (hence that bookjacket), the bonding between Mara and V is dull as dishwater. This devolves the plot's interest onto Mara's budding romance with her boss James, the 22-year old arty and intellectual entrepreneur who never went to college. Mara's parents will make a bit more of an issue of his age than she will, but for Mara the constant question is why he went into work instead of school. This plays into the novel's theme about Mara's obsessive pursuit of education as status-symbol, but the book doesn't explore the issues of class that create parents as overdetermined as Mara's, who clearly have driven her obsessively to "achieve". Mackler tries to differentiate Mom and Dad midway through, having the mother deliver some cliched relativistic message while showing the dad using the cell phone as a weapon of mass surveillance, but it doesn't change the fact that they're both neurotic overachievers and probably drove V's mom into her listless lifestyle and are guilty of raising Mara to be even more straitjacketed, to the point where being valedictorian and getting a prestige education on the fly is the most important thing in the world. Considering that, the offscreen denouement after the last page, where (sorry,plot spoiler!!!) Mara will show up to graduate wearing V's first-day-of-school outfit, will probably make their hearts stop quicker than any of V's indiscretions or, for that matter, Mara's own experiments in intimacy, ever would've. Yes, Mara Valentine is a much "badder" girl than she realizes! For all her frumpy anxiety, she is the real charm of this book. As predictable as her habit of stomping off to walk alone in the freezing snow evertime something goes wrong becomes, I could identify with it, and it makes her become real and human, even if (from a storytelling perspective) it's repetitive and uninspired. "Vegan Virgin Valentine" is a fun and, to my mind, positive read for the YA set, but I wish it had more wit and let these non-sibling rivals just not get along a little more!

Mara Valentine has her whole life figured out. She's well on her way to becoming the senior class valedictorian, she's been accepted to Yale and plans to spend her summer taking courses at Johns Hopkins University. Her neice Vivienne Valentine (otherwise known as V), is only one year younger than Mara and has nothing figured out. She couldn't care less about grades and extra-curricular activities. She just wants to party and have a good time.

When Mara's parents agree to take V in for a little while, Mara is sure that it will be disastrous. And sure enough, the first thing V does upon arriving at the new school is make out with Mara's ex-boyfriend. V and Mara begin to loathe each other more than ever before.

The story is formulaic, predictable and marred by unoriginal dialogue, but Mara and V's struggles are interesting enough to make this book a fun read.

I was glad to see that this book got mostly good reviews from customers despite being labeled cliché. Sure, it is somewhat predictable, but that didn't keep me from enjoying it. The plot revolves around seventeen year-old Mara, whose life is basically dominated by academic pressures and successes and all of the test scores, GPA's, and extracurricular activities that go with them. Though she has already gotten into Yale, she is determined to beat her ex-boyfriend Travis Hart in the race to become valedictorian. When V, her sixteen year-old niece, (the daughter of a much older, rebellious sibling) comes to live with Mara's family, Mara is forced to question the manner in which she has lived her life thus far. As V struggles not to gain a bad reputation as a stoner and a tramp (she makes out with Mara's ex-boyfriend on her first day of school) in her new school, and enrolls in SAT prep courses and gains a part in the school play, Mara begins to question the validity of her dreams and ambitions. She finds herself wishing she could reconnect with old friends, growing attracted to her twenty-two year-old boss at the coffee shop where she works part-time, and even as a vegan, dreaming of cheese!

Having already read Mackler's sophomore effort "The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things", I recognized her humor and was once again amused by her penchant for nuanced, eccentric characters. However, I especially identified the book's exposure of the mindset of an honor-roll student and the hypocrisy of a school administration that lavishes praise on Mara while it continues to exert pressures on her that sap her of her energy. Even though Mara seemingly has it all, one cannot help but empathize with her slow realization that it isn't making her very happy. The reader can also commend her for having the courage to gradually make changes in her life in order to assert her independence and her desires, even if Mackler might take these freedoms a tad too far for credibility at times.

Perhaps the two aspects of this book that I appreciated the most were Mara's relationship with James and her relationship with her parents. Even though James is twenty-two and hasn't been to college, which typically screams bad news for a teenage girl, he is portrayed as sensitive and possessing a wisdom that cannot be accumulated from textbooks but rather from age. He serves as a striking contrast to the model-student, closet-jerk Travis, who pressures Mara sexually. I liked the fact that this book emphasizes the importance of trusting one's own feelings when it comes to sexual relationships and shows a character who waits until she is ready to have sex and reaps positive results. Mara's relationship with her parents is portrayed with equal complexity in that the reader sees evidence of their love for their daughter even as they seem unable to in V's words "cut the cord".

I found this book to be a quick read but one that was hard to put down. I loved watching Mara's transformation as she went from being an uptight, austere A-student to being a more moderate, fun-loving person who finds herself in love. This metamorphosis is set in opposition to V's equally compelling makeover from "stonah babe" and "slutty tramp degenerate" into a girl who is aware of her talents and respects herself while never losing her edge. This book is for anyone who has found themselves wondering if there is more to life than making the honor-roll.