Story of a Girl

Title- Story of a Girl
Author: Sara Zarr
192 pages
Fiction

Summary:

When Deanna's father catches her having sex in a car when she is 13, her life is drastically changed. Two years later, he still can't look her in the eye, and though Tommy is the only boy she's been with, she is branded the school slut. Her entire family watches her as though she is likely to sleep with anyone she sees, and Tommy still smirks at and torments her when she sees him. Her two best friends have recently begun dating, and Deanna feels like an intruder. She tries to maintain a close relationship with her older brother, but Darren and his girlfriend are struggling as teenage parents. Deanna learns to protect herself by becoming outwardly tough, but feels her isolation acutely. Her only outlet is her journal in which she writes the story of an anonymous girl who has the same experiences and feelings that she does.

Review:

If I hadn't known that this book was fiction, I definately would have guessed that this was a true story. Zarr really captured what goes on in the mind of a teenage girl, and she wrote with real honesty.

Besides struggling with the label of School Slut, Deanna also struggles with forgiving Tommy, living in the house of a broken family, and dealing with her best friends dating.

The character are put together very well. A the beginning of the book, you learn to hate Tommy for having sex with her and telling the story to everyone at school. But by the end of the book, I found that- along with Deanna- I didn't hate him anymore.

There were alot of elements to this story and I think that the author fit them together in a very emotion and wonderful way. Some people may say that this book left you hanging- and although I would have liked to have known a few more things- I think that where it ended was not terrible. It leaves you with a sense of hope.

Although this book was short, the emotion was real and constant and the story never faltered. It deals with the consequences of one action, and how you can be judged by one mistake in your past.

It was a quick read that I might venture again.