Fly On The Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything by E. Lockhart Review

Fiction

182 pages

At the Manhattan School for Art and Music, where everyone is “different” and everyone is “special,” Gretchen Yee feels ordinary. She’s the kind of girl who sits alone at lunch, drawing pictures of Spider-Man, so she won’t have to talk to anyone; who has a crush on Titus but won’t do anything about it; who has no one to hang out with when her best (and only real) friend Katya is busy.
One day, Gretchen wishes that she could be a fly on the wall in the boys’ locker room–just to learn more about guys. What are they really like? What do they really talk about? Are they really cretins most of the time?Fly on the Wall is the story of how that wish comes true.

Completion: A+

Writing/Style: B+

Characters: A+

Plot/Pacing: B+

World-Building/Atmosphere: A-

Sub-genres (Romance, Humor, Mystery, etc.): A+

Grade: A Get Thee to the Bookstore!

Who knew a guys’ locker room could make such a great setting? Normally I would prefer a more sophisticated writing style, but Lockhart nailed the funny read. Due to the premise, the majority of the book consists of only the thoughts of Gretchen Yee. By herself. As a fly. That’s a great character there. I could live inside her head forever. Her humor made this novel. I love Gretchen and the thoughts that run through her head, and, as a side note, I love that Gretchen is not white, not super worried about popularity, and actually has a personality. I’m always glad to see some diversity in my main characters. The plot is so simple, so straightforward, and yet it is better because of it. Something that could have been so dull, a main character as a fly, was pulled off with such ease and humor. The novel never felt slow, and there was not a single moment that I wasn’t engrossed in the story even though the actual plot points are minimal. The romance isn’t super developed, but who cares? Since the main character was a fly for the majority of the novel, it gets off the hook. Plus, I love both of the characters so why wouldn’t I want them to be happy together?

I promise I won’t blather on about this too much, but the short version of this is: read it. This book was another great recommendation from John Green, vlogger and author. My face hurt from laughing so much. At any one given moment, I was blushing with embarrassment and laughing out loud. This book makes for a great summer read or pick-me-up.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson Review

Memoir

363 pages

New York Times Bestseller

Jenny Lawson realized that the most mortifying moments of our lives—the ones we’d like to pretend never happened—are in fact the ones that define us. In the #1 New York Times bestseller, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson takes readers on a hilarious journey recalling her bizarre upbringing in rural Texas, her devastatingly awkward high school years, and her relationship with her long-suffering husband, Victor. Chapters include: “Stanley the Magical, Talking Squirrel”; “A Series of Angry Post-It Notes to My Husband”; “My Vagina Is Fine. Thanks for Asking”; “And Then I Snuck a Dead Cuban Alligator on an Airplane.” Pictures with captions (no one would believe these things without proof) accompany the text.

Grade: A-  Get thee to a bookstore!

Stop. Like seriously stop reading. Get this book. Like NOW, people! Move it, move it!

Still here? I guess you want to know why I recommend it? Well, okay, I’ll try not to rave too much about it.

The equation goes like this humor + bizarre true stories = literary cocaine. No, seriously, it’s true. The problem with reviewing a book like this is humor is hard to explain and quantify, and I don’t want to take the surprise out of the weird stories. I guess the best indicator is the chapter titles with such classics as “Thanks for the Zombies, Jesus” and “It Wasn't Even My Crack”. Sounds like fun, right? Or maybe I should start with her thank-you bit which reads:

I want to thank everyone who helped me create this book, except for that guy who yelled at me in Kmart when I was eight because he thought I was being “too rowdy”.

You’re an asshole, sir.

If those tidbits don’t sound like your cup of tea, I would recommend you still read this book. For my Creative Nonfiction class I had to read the chapter called “Jenkins, You Motherfucker”, and I was hooked. (Now that I've written that down it does sound really weird, but just trust me — this random stranger on the internet telling you what to do — it’s really good.) Plus, my one friend who’s picky about everything liked it so that totally means you will too. (To my picky friend: you know it’s true. Besides, I’m trying to persuade people here so I had to mention that a picky person liked it. That’s as close as I can give to a guarantee to the five random people who are going to read this.)

So, all in all, why are you still here? Go read it!

Completion: A+

Read all the things. Even the introduction. Even the chapter titles. Even the bonus chapter. It is all amazing.

Writing/Style: B+

Her style matched her humor perfectly. Sometimes I cracked up so hard I had to stop for a moment.

Characters: A-

Now, in this case, her characters are real people. I feel like I know so much about her and her family. I’m worried about her father and his craziness. I admire how good-natured her husband is. I love how Lawson unabashedly shares her quirks, loves, problems, sadness, and happiness with the world.

Plot/Pacing: B+

When you buy this book, you are really buying Jenny Lawson. Her stories are wonderful, but she as a narrator seems to become the story all to herself. She consistently goes off on tangents and tends to ramble. Oddly, whenever I would start to wonder about it, she would make me laugh so hard I would forget. Though I will warn that if you go into this looking for a traditional story you won’t find it. You will find some touching moments, but it’s real strength is putting you on a roller coaster of weird stories and pitch perfect humor.

World-Building/Atmosphere: B

Her life in rural Texas almost seems made up. She has lived quite the life, and she has fully captured the craziness and utter absurdity of her family and the situations she has run into. I could picture everything.

Sub-genres (Romance, Humor, Mystery, etc.): A+

OMG THE HUMOR! YES, THAT DID REQUIRE ALL CAPS. The humor made this memoir. It is so unique and made each page more fun and laugh out loud than it really should have been. Her life is fascinating, and while it wasn't a mystery per se, I was always surprised at what ridiculous story she had next.

Question Time!

1. What did you guys think of this book?

2. What is the funniest book you have ever read?