Review: Vegan Virgin Valentine

Title:  Vegan Virgin Valentine

Author:  Carolyn Mackler

Published:  March 14, 2006

# of Pages:  240

ISBN:  978-0763626136

My Rating:  3/5

Mara Valentine is in control. She’s a straight-A senior, a vegan, and her parents’ pride and joy. She’s neck-and-neck with her womanizing ex-boyfriend for number-one class ranking and plans to kick his salutatorian butt on her way out the door to Yale. Mara has her remaining months in Brockport all planned out, but the plan does not include having V, her slutty, pot-smoking, sixteen-year-old niece — yes, niece — come to live with her family. Nor does it involve lusting after her boss or dreaming about grilled cheese sandwiches every night. What does a control freak like Mara do when things start spinning wildly out of control?

For me personally, this book was decent.  Not great, but pretty okay.  I enjoyed the story – it did keep me on my toes, waiting to find out what would happen with Mara and what kinds of decisions she would make.  Actually the main thing I liked about Vegan Virgin Valentine was the character development of Mara.  Throughout the course of the novel, Mara really came into herself, she definitely started caring more about what was best for her rather than what her parents, teachers, etc. wanted for her.  That aspect of the book I really appreciated.  The rest – eh.  I could take it or leave it.  I found every single secondary character to be one-dimensional and, frankly, completely stereotypical, and it bothers me a lot when the secondary characters aren’t developed.

So, conclusion – okay book, nothing too fabulous and unfortunately not a book that will stick with me in the long run.

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Review: The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things

Title:  The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things

Author:  Carolyn Mackler

# of Pages:  304

Published:  July 3, 2006

ISBN:  978-1844282937

Rating: 3/5

Virginia Shreves is a fifteen-year-old, overweight, blond-haired teen with no specific talents or gifts, a complete opposite to the rest of her beautiful, dark-haired, intelligent and talented family.  Her best friend has just moved all the way across the country, and Virginia feels completely alone at her upscale, Manhattan private high school.  She starts fooling around with Froggy Welsh on Monday afternoons – when it’s convenient for him – in secret (the fact that it’s a secret is part of her “fat girl code of conduct”), which is strange and new and exciting for Virginia.  The reader gets glimpses of Virginia’s “perfect” parents as they struggle to deal with her weight while balancing their very full social and professional lives, as well as her brother and sister – one in the Peace Corps, the other an amazing student and athlete at Colombia.  One phone call to the Shreves residence changes everything for Virginia – suddenly, everything she thought she knew about her family – especially her brother, who she idolizes – suddenly is turned on its head.  Nothing will ever be the same for Virginia.

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things was a decent book.  It was good.  Not great, but good.  Virginia is a very likeable character and it is easy for the reader to feel sympathy for her as her family basically ignores her, kids at school talk about her behind her back, and she tries to navigate her first attempt at a relationship.  For me, the book picked up quite a bit after the big event in the story – which did turn out to be a major turning point in Virginia’s life.  After she got over the shock of what happened, I felt that she really came out of her shell and became a character I could really appreciate.

I found her parents to be slightly unrealistic – I mean, I know there are people like them in real life, but to me they just seemed a little over the top.  But, generally, the book was entertaining and I did enjoy it.  The story moved along pretty quickly and definitely kept me interested the entire way through.  I think this book would be a fantastic choice for a middle school or early high school student, especially those who may have some trouble fitting in or who may have some self-esteem or body image issues.  I would absolutely recommend the book for that age group, a little less so for adults, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.

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• Alessandra at Out of the Blue