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Please Don't Kill the Freshman: A Memoir Paperback – Bargain Price, July 27, 2004

by Zoe Trope (Author)

65 customer reviews

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I wrote a story about you. Well, sort of, see, it's mostly about me. Well, entirely about me, but here's the catch: I'm you. No, really, I mean it. Not like that transcendentalism stuff we're learning in English class, but really, truly, I'm you. I know what it feels like when your heart beats so hard against your white bone ribs, when you sing in the shower with soap in your eyes, when you run until you get a side ache. I wrote this story about you because I am so in love with you, your broken-fence teeth and your tissue-paper scars. I love you when you're so exhausted it could topple you to the ground, so in love it could snap guitar strings, so sickly sweet it could make lips smile. This is a reckless love story. This is my shameless confession.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Please Don't Kill the Freshman: A Memoir [Bargain Price]

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Product Details

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Collins (July 27, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060529385
ASIN: B005SN11AM
Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.7 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,711,318 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #256 in Books > Teens > Social Issues > Being a Teen
- #997 in Books > Teens > Education & Reference > Mathematics
- #1673 in Books > Teens > Biographies

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Customer Reviews

3.5 out of 5 stars

5 star		39%
4 star		23%
3 star		6%
2 star		15%
1 star		17%

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Top Customer Reviews

The empress is scantily clad.

By MS on December 13, 2003

Format: Paperback

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.Read more ›

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A Kid's Review on December 26, 2005

Format: Paperback

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.

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Not to Be Taken for More Than it Actually Is.

By Jane Taylor on November 29, 2003

Format: Paperback

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.Read more ›

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PDKTF: A Breath-takingly Poetic Peek Inside High School

By Michelle on March 6, 2005

Format: Paperback

Please Don't Kill the Freshman is one of my favorite books as of now. What makes it a truly one-of-a-kind book is that it was written by a fourteen year old girl with a very individual writing style--Zoe Trope. PDKTF is separated from other teen novels by its hauntingly poetic style, its honesty, and of course by the fact that it is a true story.

Trope's approach to writing is delightfully nonlinear. The book is actually a diary, and plot clarity is secondary to captivating language. She uses metaphors that would not even occur to most writers, for example, in her description of a crush: "I feel like she could drown me in a spoonful of water or crush me with her fingernail clippings." She describes experiences and ideas as having tastes and smells, such as "irony tastes like lead water;" she approaches issues like identity crises wondering what would happen "if i rearrange the letters in my name or the fingers on my hands."

Zoe does not flinch at honesty, and some of the best parts of her book are the ones in which she admits that she is sometimes hypocritical and that she reads in the bathroom. These parts keep her story relateable.

Most importantly, PDKTF is a true story, one that will resonate with anyone who appreaciates unconventional writing and has trouble finding themselves in an environment that doesn't usually understand them.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

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