Gossip Girl #1: A Novel (Gossip Girl Series) (Paperback)

The beautiful Serena has returned from a sojourn in a ritzy private school and some time in France. Pretty bulimic Blair is dismayed by this, as Serena has unconsciously usurped the position that Blair had been occupying. Even worse, Blair's boyfriend Nate once slept with Serena and is still interested in her, but Serena is not really interested in Nate. Dan is besotted with her, and Jenny looks up to her.

Rumors begin to fly about Serena -- that she's slutty, that she has enough STDs for several people, that she had a baby in France, that she was thrown out of her boarding school, that she's had several abortions, and just about every other kind of vicious rumor. And presiding over all of this is Gossip Girl, a mysterious omniscient observer who reports online about the tangled lives of her friends and peers.

It seems that readers will never tire of the antics of too-rich Manhattanites, especially if they live depraved, empty lives. Like Nick McDonell's "Twelve," this book is filled with shallow, obnoxious characters who do drugs, sex, alcohol, and mourn the problems of their privileged lives. The drugs, sex, alcohol, bulimia and angst serve no actual purpose in the plot; they are merely attempts to shock. The problem is that they are handled in such a haphazard manner that they don't shock at all -- they are merely diversions to spice up the lack of plot. Strip them away, and there's pretty much nothing left. And while McDonell managed some poignant moments and character insights, Von Ziegesar never makes any such attempt. We are never given a reason to react to anyone in this book, either to be interested or repelled by them. I, personally, was only bored by them.

Those characters are also stereotypes, in a fictional world where the elite rich are all gorgeous. The scheming insecure girl, the mystery beauty, the shy naive girl, the weak handsome guy, the promiscuous guy, and dozens of others are devoid of any originality. They are part of the stereotype that teenagers are intrinsically shallow and can't be bothered with anyone who is not of interest to them.

Admittedly, the "Gossip Girl" website extracts are amusing. There's a certain wit to them, and they are also the only parts of the book that show some genuine originality. I only wish there had been more of them, and fewer repetitive rumors about Serena's past. The writing style lacks detail or any sort of wit or spiciness. And, like, the dialogue is so, you know, like, stupid, right?

Perhaps the worst part of the book is the finale, which fails to produce a climax or wrap up any loose threads. The book simply stops. Perhaps this is an effort to get readers to read "You Know You Love Me," if they aren't too disgusted by the plodding storyline and grating characters. Not recommended for anyone whose IQ is higher than their dog's.

Sound interesting? Well, it's not. Unlike other people I was not "shocked" or "appalled" at the dirty nature of this book. Personally I've read far worse and have not been offended. The thing that really got me about this book was the sheer bad writing. The characters, which should be the backbone of any novel, are shallow and far too two-dimensional. They're popular, dress in fabulous clothes (which the author can't help but describe, the only real detail you'll get in this book), get drunk, have sex, get high, and spread rumors. Each one of them are the stereotypes of every character you'll find in any trashy teen novels. We have the "popular girls" the "deep poet" the "former popular girl with the bad reputation" the "theater geek" and the infamous "shy naieve girl who wants to be popular."

Recent great YA novels like Speak, and Love and Four Letter words have shown the world that teen books don't have to be shallow. In fact they can have some heart. Gossip girl falls back on the stereotypes that all teens are shallow and have nothing better to do in life than to worry about popularity. I gave it 2 stars instead of one because I'm not naieve, I know that there are people that like books like this, but I'm not that kind of person. If you want a good YA novel read Sloppy Firsts or Feeling sorry for Celia, they focus on the lives of real teens of all different shapes and sizes and are much better written.