Girl from Mars by Tamara Bach
Feb. 9th, 2010 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainbowunicorn_readsAh, teenagers. I was a really thin, gangly, clumsy teen. Definitely awkward, and prone to obsessing about how others saw me and skin problems. I didn't really have any sexual-identity related issues (I studied in an all-girls highschool, having a girlfriend was considered very cool)
Back in highschool, I had a girlfriend which lasted for only one day. It was a dare, and we couldn't stand being in this fake relationship so we called it off after a day. I still like girls though, and my partner and I have been happy together for the past 2 years or so, but that's another happy story.
Anyway, I picked this up because I was intrigued by the cover. That girl in the left is hot, and looked like my type, so I read the blurbs at the back, and decided to skim through it.
I could understand Miriam's fascination with Laura. (Miriam, I presume, is the one at the right side of the cover, while Laura is the hottie at the left)
Laura is the stereotypical cigarette-smoking rebellious new girl with the tough-as-nails aura, spiky short hair, black clothes and piercings.
I'm betting shy awkward teens with confused identities would love this one. If I were in highschool, this book might have changed my life, probably.
Or maybe not.
See this, for example:
"I am Miriam. Fifteen. Blonde. Brown eyes. Average height. Average weight. Daughter, sister, the person who sits beside you at school."
DISCLAIMER: I wrote this while reading it.
I do wish the author was more inventive with her letting-the-audience-know-how-average-the-protagonist-is-to-set-up-a-contrast-between-her-and-cool-rebellious-outgoing-Laura. In a nutshell, the plot of this book is: Average girl falls in love with not-so-average girl. The end.
There might be something lost in translation there, because this book was originally..Dutch? German? I am not sure, but it did win some awards. It could also be intentional, since the book is written using Miriam's pov, and maybe that was how 15-year-olds sound when they're waxing poetic about themselves. In hindsight, I probably sounded like that too, back then, so, okay.
On the bright side, there is the occasional interesting imagery:
"What is it about Laura? Every time I look at her, it's different. Sometimes it's as if she's always been here. And sometimes it's like she's here for the first time. Like she's just landed on my planet. Then I look at her and she looks at me and it's different again. Not bad different, but weird, like when you hear a new song that sounds strange but not in a bad way. And at some point you find yourself humming along. And you remember the words as you lie in bed, thinking of Laura and smiling into the dark, because the song is good, better than the others, and because it makes your hear beat faster, and it reminds you of yourself"
I got quite distracted with the number of times the word "weird" was said, but then I guess I must have been obsessed with how that word summed up almost everything when I was younger, without revealing too much. This book actually reminded me a bit of Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, except it's less introspective and has more giggling.
I am now sad. How many books have I read with this theme, where the shy girl and the rebel girl kiss and then the roles are reversed, with the rebel girl going all cold and aloof, and the shy girl is all hurt and confused, and..
Curiously, I am now liking Ms. Average girl, but I am still sad for her. And for YA LGBT readers, who read books like this that end up making them depressed and hopeless. I understand how authors want to be realistic, but I'm sure there are teen LGBT romances that don't end up so miserably. Which brings me to the next ya LGBT-themed book I've read: How they Met and other stories by David Levithan, but that book merits another gush-filled entry.
Like the Well of Loneliness, but for teens. And with more drugs.
What I think: 5 unicorns
Back in highschool, I had a girlfriend which lasted for only one day. It was a dare, and we couldn't stand being in this fake relationship so we called it off after a day. I still like girls though, and my partner and I have been happy together for the past 2 years or so, but that's another happy story.
Anyway, I picked this up because I was intrigued by the cover. That girl in the left is hot, and looked like my type, so I read the blurbs at the back, and decided to skim through it.
I could understand Miriam's fascination with Laura. (Miriam, I presume, is the one at the right side of the cover, while Laura is the hottie at the left)
Laura is the stereotypical cigarette-smoking rebellious new girl with the tough-as-nails aura, spiky short hair, black clothes and piercings.
I'm betting shy awkward teens with confused identities would love this one. If I were in highschool, this book might have changed my life, probably.
Or maybe not.
See this, for example:
"I am Miriam. Fifteen. Blonde. Brown eyes. Average height. Average weight. Daughter, sister, the person who sits beside you at school."
DISCLAIMER: I wrote this while reading it.
I do wish the author was more inventive with her letting-the-audience-know-how-average-the-protagonist-is-to-set-up-a-contrast-between-her-and-cool-rebellious-outgoing-Laura. In a nutshell, the plot of this book is: Average girl falls in love with not-so-average girl. The end.
There might be something lost in translation there, because this book was originally..Dutch? German? I am not sure, but it did win some awards. It could also be intentional, since the book is written using Miriam's pov, and maybe that was how 15-year-olds sound when they're waxing poetic about themselves. In hindsight, I probably sounded like that too, back then, so, okay.
On the bright side, there is the occasional interesting imagery:
"What is it about Laura? Every time I look at her, it's different. Sometimes it's as if she's always been here. And sometimes it's like she's here for the first time. Like she's just landed on my planet. Then I look at her and she looks at me and it's different again. Not bad different, but weird, like when you hear a new song that sounds strange but not in a bad way. And at some point you find yourself humming along. And you remember the words as you lie in bed, thinking of Laura and smiling into the dark, because the song is good, better than the others, and because it makes your hear beat faster, and it reminds you of yourself"
I got quite distracted with the number of times the word "weird" was said, but then I guess I must have been obsessed with how that word summed up almost everything when I was younger, without revealing too much. This book actually reminded me a bit of Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, except it's less introspective and has more giggling.
I am now sad. How many books have I read with this theme, where the shy girl and the rebel girl kiss and then the roles are reversed, with the rebel girl going all cold and aloof, and the shy girl is all hurt and confused, and..
Curiously, I am now liking Ms. Average girl, but I am still sad for her. And for YA LGBT readers, who read books like this that end up making them depressed and hopeless. I understand how authors want to be realistic, but I'm sure there are teen LGBT romances that don't end up so miserably. Which brings me to the next ya LGBT-themed book I've read: How they Met and other stories by David Levithan, but that book merits another gush-filled entry.
Like the Well of Loneliness, but for teens. And with more drugs.
What I think: 5 unicorns