What do you think?
Rate this book
Ghostgirl #1
Ghostgirl
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I should die before I awake,
I pray the popular attend my wake.
Charlotte Usher feels practically invisible at school, and then one day she really is invisible. Even worse: she's dead. And all because she choked on a gummy bear. But being dead doesn't stop Charlotte from wanting to be popular; it just makes her more creative about achieving her goal.
If you thought high school was a matter of life or death, wait till you see just how true that is. In this satirical, yet heartfelt novel, Hurley explores the invisibility we all feel at some times and the lengths we'll go to be seen.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I should die before I awake,
I pray the popular attend my wake.
Charlotte Usher feels practically invisible at school, and then one day she really is invisible. Even worse: she's dead. And all because she choked on a gummy bear. But being dead doesn't stop Charlotte from wanting to be popular; it just makes her more creative about achieving her goal.
If you thought high school was a matter of life or death, wait till you see just how true that is. In this satirical, yet heartfelt novel, Hurley explores the invisibility we all feel at some times and the lengths we'll go to be seen.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2008
About the author
Tonya Hurley
23 books1,117 followersTonya Hurley is a New York Times and international bestselling author of the ghostgirl series (Little, Brown) and The Blessed trilogy (Simon & Schuster). Her books are published in nearly 30 countries and in more than 20 languages. Ms. Hurley has a worked in virtually every aspect of teen entertainment: creating, writing, and producing two hit TV series; writing and directing several acclaimed independent films, music videos and videogames. She is a contributor to the Huffington Post, an active member of the Writer's Guild of America, a member of the Horror Writers Association Her first novel, ghostgirl was an instant bestseller and received starred reviews from the literary publications Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, VOYA and School Library Journal. The ghostgirl audiobooks are narrated by Parker Posey with original music by Vince Clarke. PRECIOUS BLOOD, the first book in her new, gritty young adult THE BLESSED Trilogy was released September 25, 2012. PASSIONARIES, the second book, was released January 7, 2014. The Blessed audiobook is read by Moonrise Kingdom star Kara Hayward.
Praise for "ghostgirl":
Instant New York Times bestseller.
Instant International bestseller.
"Tim Burton and Edgar Allan Poe devotees will die for this fantastic, phantasmal read."
– School Library Journal (STARRED review)
"[Hurley] beats out witty teen-speak like a punk-band drummer, keeping the narrative fast-paced and fun yet thought-provokingly heartwarming. Goofy, ghastly, intelligent, electrifying."
– Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)
"Readers with a taste for black humor and satire will feast on Hurley’s crisp, wise dialogue. Anticipate a well deserved cult following."
– VOYA (STARRED review)
"Glittering comedy, a prime exemplar of what might be called demento mori, a growing subgenre of satire about teens who will not or cannot die."
– Publishers Weekly (STARRED review)
"Harry Potter's epic battles against dark forces of evil are nothing compared to Charlotte Usher's struggles with an even more fearsome foe -- high school."
– Herald-Standard
"Offers the answer to the age old question: Who would come to my funeral? And gives fantasy fulfillment for anyone who wanted to be someone else for a day."
– San Francisco Chronicle
"Written with deadpan wit… this is a ‘Wonderful Life’-like tale."
– New York Post
"A sincere (and humorous) exploration of how we all feel invisible at one time or another… a perfect read."
– CosmoGirl
Indie Next List pick
New York Public Library Stuff For The Teenage pick
Pennsylvania Library School Assocation Award Outstanding Author for 2012
Praise for "ghostgirl":
Instant New York Times bestseller.
Instant International bestseller.
"Tim Burton and Edgar Allan Poe devotees will die for this fantastic, phantasmal read."
– School Library Journal (STARRED review)
"[Hurley] beats out witty teen-speak like a punk-band drummer, keeping the narrative fast-paced and fun yet thought-provokingly heartwarming. Goofy, ghastly, intelligent, electrifying."
– Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)
"Readers with a taste for black humor and satire will feast on Hurley’s crisp, wise dialogue. Anticipate a well deserved cult following."
– VOYA (STARRED review)
"Glittering comedy, a prime exemplar of what might be called demento mori, a growing subgenre of satire about teens who will not or cannot die."
– Publishers Weekly (STARRED review)
"Harry Potter's epic battles against dark forces of evil are nothing compared to Charlotte Usher's struggles with an even more fearsome foe -- high school."
– Herald-Standard
"Offers the answer to the age old question: Who would come to my funeral? And gives fantasy fulfillment for anyone who wanted to be someone else for a day."
– San Francisco Chronicle
"Written with deadpan wit… this is a ‘Wonderful Life’-like tale."
– New York Post
"A sincere (and humorous) exploration of how we all feel invisible at one time or another… a perfect read."
– CosmoGirl
Indie Next List pick
New York Public Library Stuff For The Teenage pick
Pennsylvania Library School Assocation Award Outstanding Author for 2012
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,537 reviews
April 28, 2015
"Maybe he wasn't in this class after all! But he had to be. At least that's what it said when she steamed open his pre-registration envelope."
You all know me to be a pretty chill person, right? I mean, I don't freak out or go off on long tangents...
Okay, fine, maybe I do, but it's all for a good reason. Those books pissed me off, whether it's plot, characters, piss-poor writing... Ghostgirl has at least two down and I wasn't overly impressed with the plot either.
Meet Charlotte, our fabulous main character:
"Her whole reason for self-improvement, diet, exercise, blah, blah--everything--was Damen."
Pulling out teeth would be less painful than listen to her blabber. All she wants is to be popular and get Golden Boy and she's not about to let a little thing called death stop her. In fact, she'll twist it to her advantage!
"She planned to turn her greatest disadvantage--being dead--into a positive and use it to get closer to Damen. If he couldn't actually see her, he couldn't object to her invading his personal space."
But wait! Charlotte is also a steadfast feminist:
"Charlotte had always been conflicted about cheerleading, the basic idea to validate male egos by doing stupid jumps and silly routines, all with pom-poms and a ton of makeup on. But she wanted to be ogled too. She wanted to be eye candy."
In love with her yet? Ready to cheer her on as she blunders through the Afterlife? Well, maybe the wide range of side characters will catch your fancy:
Scarlet, the emo, goth character
"You can expect these type of outbursts from the calorie-challenged."
She cuts for no good reason and doesn't freak out when she sees Charlotte because, you know, death is the center of goth culture. So she agrees lickity-split to let Charlotte possess her body, so she can hang out ghosts and learn her culture.
Petula, the preppy, bitch cheerleader
"You can't ban me from the dance! I AM THE DANCE!" Petula screamed.
Isn't she chock-full of personality?
And if that isn't enough, the writing:
"You didn't expect me to wait, like, forever, did you?" Petula said selfishly.
"I know you think you're meant to go to the dance," Prue said antagonistically.
The plot/premise takes a stupendous suspension of disbelief, an effort I don't give a shit enough to make. Dead kids have to take classes to learn how to be a ghost and move on and for plot reasons, it takes place in an occupied school building. No kidding, they have lunch break with living students, who obviously can't see them, and eat food served by ghostly cafeteria ladies.
Even in my wildest dreams, I can't make up something this ludicrous.
Read
April 21, 2012I really wanted to like this book. A LOT. I wanted to like it so much that I got its two sequels, Lovesick and Homecoming out of the library at the same time.
But I can’t even finish it. I put the book down at page 227.
The characters are boring and literally make no sense. The writing is worse than juvenile. And there are errors in it that just make me want to tear my hair out: at one point, a character called Scarlet turns up the volume on her iPod to maximum, then calmly has a conversation with another character – without taking her earphones out or turning the iPod off. I was reading their interaction as if music was still screaming in her ears. If that’s not bad enough, the section ends with Scarlet putting a CD into her “music player” and heading to class.
That’s the point where I gave up.
There were a “surprising” amount of “unnecessary” air quotes in the “text” as well – several on one page that were completely arbitrary. It did not endear to me. It wasn’t funny and it was completely superfluous, as well as serving no purpose.
The book tried too hard to be funny. The funniest thing was Charlotte’s death – choking to death on a gummy bear (which isn’t a spoiler, btw) – and even then it teetered between funny, sad, and downright morbid.
And I don’t know about anyone else, but it really annoys me when characters are having a calm conversation and then all of a sudden they scream.
I don’t even know what target audience this is aiming for. I’d hazard a guess at middle grade because of the juvenile writing, but there are mentions of erections, virginity, menstrual cycles, planned parenthood, casual sex and the occasional curse word. I haven’t read much middle grade stuff but I thought it was supposed to be safe and clean. My bad if it’s not.
I’m used to heroines getting unnatural obsessions, so the part where Charlotte never gave two seconds’ worth of thought to her parents didn’t actually bother me that much. What bothered me was that she decided to keep living her old life before she had any idea of how to do it. It was ungraceful and unflattering. Charlotte was also an unlikeable character. Not just because she’s written that way, but because there’s no explanation given as to why, if she’s so “invisible” (there I go with the quotes again) people like Petuna bullied her so harshly.
It’s a pity I put this book down because I was getting interested in Scarlet and the boy. Whatever his name was. I’ve literally just put the book down and I can’t remember – he’s that forgettable. He’s your typical YA hot guy, let’s suffice. But there’s absolutely no sense behind any of the character’s motivations. Petuna’s just a bitch. Scarlet’s just an outcast. Charlotte’s invisible. Heaven forbid if any of us ask why. Why are the cheerleaders so mean to Charlotte? Why does Prue hate her so much, seeing as how she’s supposed to be ‘invisible’? Why is that stupid house so important and why the crap do the ghost kids still go to the living school, side by side their fleshy counterparts?
Sorry. But even an awesome Ace of Cakes Ghostgirl cake couldn’t make me like this.
ghostgirl book launch, 2009.
"Die, ghostgirl, die! Oops, you're already dead..."
But I can’t even finish it. I put the book down at page 227.
The characters are boring and literally make no sense. The writing is worse than juvenile. And there are errors in it that just make me want to tear my hair out: at one point, a character called Scarlet turns up the volume on her iPod to maximum, then calmly has a conversation with another character – without taking her earphones out or turning the iPod off. I was reading their interaction as if music was still screaming in her ears. If that’s not bad enough, the section ends with Scarlet putting a CD into her “music player” and heading to class.
That’s the point where I gave up.
There were a “surprising” amount of “unnecessary” air quotes in the “text” as well – several on one page that were completely arbitrary. It did not endear to me. It wasn’t funny and it was completely superfluous, as well as serving no purpose.
The book tried too hard to be funny. The funniest thing was Charlotte’s death – choking to death on a gummy bear (which isn’t a spoiler, btw) – and even then it teetered between funny, sad, and downright morbid.
And I don’t know about anyone else, but it really annoys me when characters are having a calm conversation and then all of a sudden they scream.
I don’t even know what target audience this is aiming for. I’d hazard a guess at middle grade because of the juvenile writing, but there are mentions of erections, virginity, menstrual cycles, planned parenthood, casual sex and the occasional curse word. I haven’t read much middle grade stuff but I thought it was supposed to be safe and clean. My bad if it’s not.
I’m used to heroines getting unnatural obsessions, so the part where Charlotte never gave two seconds’ worth of thought to her parents didn’t actually bother me that much. What bothered me was that she decided to keep living her old life before she had any idea of how to do it. It was ungraceful and unflattering. Charlotte was also an unlikeable character. Not just because she’s written that way, but because there’s no explanation given as to why, if she’s so “invisible” (there I go with the quotes again) people like Petuna bullied her so harshly.
It’s a pity I put this book down because I was getting interested in Scarlet and the boy. Whatever his name was. I’ve literally just put the book down and I can’t remember – he’s that forgettable. He’s your typical YA hot guy, let’s suffice. But there’s absolutely no sense behind any of the character’s motivations. Petuna’s just a bitch. Scarlet’s just an outcast. Charlotte’s invisible. Heaven forbid if any of us ask why. Why are the cheerleaders so mean to Charlotte? Why does Prue hate her so much, seeing as how she’s supposed to be ‘invisible’? Why is that stupid house so important and why the crap do the ghost kids still go to the living school, side by side their fleshy counterparts?
Sorry. But even an awesome Ace of Cakes Ghostgirl cake couldn’t make me like this.
ghostgirl book launch, 2009.
"Die, ghostgirl, die! Oops, you're already dead..."
January 5, 2008
I wanted to like this book. I really, really did! What cute packaging! What a great premise! What bad writing : (
Cliche, upon cliche, upon cliche.
Cliche, upon cliche, upon cliche.
November 2, 2018
Αντιπαθητική ηρωίδα και ανώριμη πλοκή. Γενικά το βιβλίο διαβάζεται δε διαβάζεται. Παρόλα αυτά έχει απίστευτη βιβλιοδεσία. Ίσως δεν θα έπρεπε να δώσω τόση σημασία, αλλά σπάνια βλέπω τόσο περιποιημένες εκδόσεις βιβλίων. Αυτά.
Read
October 16, 2021I really was excited about this book. Then I started reading. Seriously, I kept saying, "Really?" How do books like this get so much money put into them for marketing? It felt like a screenplay switched to a book... but very poorly. It had a lot of "Then she did this," "Then she did this," "Then she did this." I didn't really care about the main character. I couldn't figure out if this book was supposed to be funny and light, or morbid. It would be serious and then switch to this unbelievable scene from a B movie. I don't know. I don't mean to sound harsh. I get excited for any author to get published because that's a pretty hard thing to do. But I just thought it was going to be so much better than it was.
June 27, 2016
Comenzó como una novela para pre adolescentes que sí...era graciosa y llamaba la atención....
En el medio se volvió tediosa y cansina con el asuntito de "quiero ser popular" "estoy muerta, me importa una mierda mi familia, así que solo sigo al chico que me alborota las hormonas"
y el final.... OMFG!!!!!!!!!! típica película adolescente con "la reina del baile" "el beso de media noche" "el vestido soñado"
Una historia nefasta... el mensaje que deja es "morirse por ser popular" una oda a la vanidad y a la superficialidad....
En el medio se volvió tediosa y cansina con el asuntito de "quiero ser popular" "estoy muerta, me importa una mierda mi familia, así que solo sigo al chico que me alborota las hormonas"
y el final.... OMFG!!!!!!!!!! típica película adolescente con "la reina del baile" "el beso de media noche" "el vestido soñado"
Una historia nefasta... el mensaje que deja es "morirse por ser popular" una oda a la vanidad y a la superficialidad....
November 13, 2012
Reviewed by Breanna F. for TeensReadToo.com
"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I should die before I awake,
I pray the popular attend my wake."
This is the year for Charlotte Usher. The year that she's finally going to be noticed. She's finally going to have what she's always wanted: to be a popular girl and fit in with the head cheerleader in the school, Petula Kensington. She feels that the first day of school will be the start of her new life. She'll finally have the attention of the most popular guy in school, Damen. Who is, of course, Petula's boyfriend.
In a way she does start a new life. Although it's actually her afterlife. Poor Charlotte chokes on a red gummy bear just before she leaves her first period physics class and dies. Her hopes of starting over fresh and finally being noticed for once are all crushed in an instant. Especially when she finds out that she still has to graduate even though she's dead! There's a whole class of students from her school who have died and are still attending classes there.
Charlotte isn't giving up, though. She's still determined to win over Damen. And with the help of Scarlet Kensington (Petula's younger sister) she's sure she'll be able to do it. Scarlet can actually see Charlotte and Charlotte isn't about to let that fact go to waste. She figures she can hang out in Scarlet's body and get through to Damen that way. But her new dead classmates aren't liking Charlotte's plans too much and are making it incredibly hard for her to get anything done. Plus, the more time Scarlet spends time with Damen (when Charlotte isn't in her body, that is) the more Scarlet is starting to like Damen herself.
Charlotte is determined to be noticed. She thinks that if she can just get noticed and be popular that she'll finally move on. But is popularity really what Charlotte needs? Or is it just finally realizing that you don't have to be the center of attention to matter?
This book was great. I couldn't really guess what would happen throughout the book, which I always like. Poor Charlotte has such a rough time! Especially in the beginning of her afterlife. But she pulls through and even learns a valuable lesson along the way. I loved Scarlet's character. The way she acts towards her sister is hilarious. They are total opposites in every way. I loved all the nicknames the other dead students have, too. And I thought the ending was cute. It might not have been totally realistic, but then again this book wasn't really all that realistic in the first place. So I thought the ending fit pretty perfectly. I highly suggest checking this book out.
"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I should die before I awake,
I pray the popular attend my wake."
This is the year for Charlotte Usher. The year that she's finally going to be noticed. She's finally going to have what she's always wanted: to be a popular girl and fit in with the head cheerleader in the school, Petula Kensington. She feels that the first day of school will be the start of her new life. She'll finally have the attention of the most popular guy in school, Damen. Who is, of course, Petula's boyfriend.
In a way she does start a new life. Although it's actually her afterlife. Poor Charlotte chokes on a red gummy bear just before she leaves her first period physics class and dies. Her hopes of starting over fresh and finally being noticed for once are all crushed in an instant. Especially when she finds out that she still has to graduate even though she's dead! There's a whole class of students from her school who have died and are still attending classes there.
Charlotte isn't giving up, though. She's still determined to win over Damen. And with the help of Scarlet Kensington (Petula's younger sister) she's sure she'll be able to do it. Scarlet can actually see Charlotte and Charlotte isn't about to let that fact go to waste. She figures she can hang out in Scarlet's body and get through to Damen that way. But her new dead classmates aren't liking Charlotte's plans too much and are making it incredibly hard for her to get anything done. Plus, the more time Scarlet spends time with Damen (when Charlotte isn't in her body, that is) the more Scarlet is starting to like Damen herself.
Charlotte is determined to be noticed. She thinks that if she can just get noticed and be popular that she'll finally move on. But is popularity really what Charlotte needs? Or is it just finally realizing that you don't have to be the center of attention to matter?
This book was great. I couldn't really guess what would happen throughout the book, which I always like. Poor Charlotte has such a rough time! Especially in the beginning of her afterlife. But she pulls through and even learns a valuable lesson along the way. I loved Scarlet's character. The way she acts towards her sister is hilarious. They are total opposites in every way. I loved all the nicknames the other dead students have, too. And I thought the ending was cute. It might not have been totally realistic, but then again this book wasn't really all that realistic in the first place. So I thought the ending fit pretty perfectly. I highly suggest checking this book out.
April 13, 2009
I picked this up because I'd received an advance copy of the sequel, and I thought I should start the series at the beginning. I really, really wish I hadn't found the gilt edged pages and die cut cover so appealing. The book just looked so pretty I wanted to give it a chance, even though I had to force myself to make it through the first chapter.
The best thing I can say about ghostgirl is that it's a gorgeous physical object. But despite the fun little chapter headings and page decorations, the pretty endpapers and attractive cover sizing, this book was almost impossible to finish because Hurley made it so hard for me to like any of her characters.
Charlotte, the ghostgirl of the title, is a classic example of a negative teenage stereotype: whiny, self-absorbed, and shallow. Which wouldn't bother me too much, if Hurley did something to subvert the stereotype or add to it in a creative way, maybe even use it to comment on negative teen stereotypes. She does none of those. Charlotte is still an annoying, selfish, cut-out of a character at the end of the novel, despite the plot's climax that's meant to show how she's changed.
Also, I couldn't help thinking that if this were a book about a guy character who followed a girl character around the way Charlotte follows her crush Damen it wouldn't have gotten reviews calling it cute. I thought it was more than a little creepy how stalkerish Charlotte got once she could follow her crush unobserved.
Mostly, this book, from the characters to the plot to the overabundant pop culture references, annoyed me from beginning to end. Totally not worth the time.
The best thing I can say about ghostgirl is that it's a gorgeous physical object. But despite the fun little chapter headings and page decorations, the pretty endpapers and attractive cover sizing, this book was almost impossible to finish because Hurley made it so hard for me to like any of her characters.
Charlotte, the ghostgirl of the title, is a classic example of a negative teenage stereotype: whiny, self-absorbed, and shallow. Which wouldn't bother me too much, if Hurley did something to subvert the stereotype or add to it in a creative way, maybe even use it to comment on negative teen stereotypes. She does none of those. Charlotte is still an annoying, selfish, cut-out of a character at the end of the novel, despite the plot's climax that's meant to show how she's changed.
Also, I couldn't help thinking that if this were a book about a guy character who followed a girl character around the way Charlotte follows her crush Damen it wouldn't have gotten reviews calling it cute. I thought it was more than a little creepy how stalkerish Charlotte got once she could follow her crush unobserved.
Mostly, this book, from the characters to the plot to the overabundant pop culture references, annoyed me from beginning to end. Totally not worth the time.
August 21, 2013
How can I put this?
This book is worst than a Disney channel movie with Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato wannabes. That's right, it's the equivalent of a bad nickelodeon teen show with fake laughs and over the top characters with no distinctive personalities whatsoever that are just in there to tell some jokes and references to pop culture (which weren't that funny anyway and just made me roll my eyes everytime a name was dropped). It's another piece of crap wrapped in shiny tin foil for the easy impressible.
I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting too much from this book, but at least I was hoping to be entertained and that was not the case, I utterly loathed the easyness and cartoonish out of reality solutions the characters used to get away with things.
Let's talk about them, shall we? The main character is Charlotte, whom we are supposed to like or empathized with in any way. She's supposed to be this shy little nobody who tries to be somebody and in the attempt to do so she chokes on a gummy bear. And that's it, 'til there I was ok with the storyline but from there on, everything went downhill.
First of all, Charlotte is in no way likeable at all. She's a selfish, self centered, egotistic, victimized martyr, horny and creepy stalker that lurks around Damen, the guy she is obsessed with.
Gosh, the way she goes after him even in death is just...agh! made me really uncomfortable. And her goal to get Petula's respect and also get the guy doesn't even make any sense given that Damen is Petula's boyfriend. What the hell was she thinking? That after stealing her boyfriend she was going to be all "Yeah, you're awesome, let's be friends, my boyfriend looks better with you anyway"?
Petula and her Wendys are also SO stereotypical, I don't even have to point it that out, right?
The ghost friends are also blah, uninteresting and with no real motivation, they're just there to make the point that Charlotte was a loner in life and also in death. Also they don't seem to be the brightest ghosts of all either. All of them don't make one, like in all the "let's save Hawthorne Manor" stuff: there are these buyers going to see their house and they're all like "Awww, what do we do now?"...Excuse me? YOU'RE FRIGGIN' GHOSTS!! Are you telling me that NOT ONE of you thought about haunting the house UNTIL the shallow and empty minded Charlotte brought it that up?? And the saddest thing is that they're not even good at it!!
The only character I had any hope after realizing how devilish Charlotte really was, it was Scarlet who was this punk emo chick who didn't give a shit about anyone (and Petula's little sister).
...But once she fell into the freaky friday game with Charlotte, competing for Damen's attention, I just threw away any tiny bit of interest I may previously had for it.
But let's move on to the story, or lack of it, it's just a series of copy&paste scenes from every highschool comedy from the 80's and 90's full of ridiculous over the top reactions and situations with no concern in actually making any sense and be coherent within the plot when it's convenient for the characters.
For example, they make clear that nobody can see Charlotte or the others, then why the hell they don't take notice of Charlotte and Scarlet talking when they're in the SAME DINNING ROOM as the other ghosts??? Oh, wait, yes, Pam does see them talking, but then again, she doesn't even make any fuss for the fact that no one is supposed to see them! And what about the laws of physics constantly broken? Above of the invisibility thing, the ghost are supposed to not being able to touch anyone alive, but heck no! Charlotte is special! She's the chosen one! she can touch and pull of Scarlet whenever the hell she wants!
And then there's the weird pacing, there's no sense of time in this book, you don't even know if it's been a week or several months after something has happened. Take for instance when Scarlet and Damen go to the concert, he's supposed to still be her sister's boyfriend so they're like awkward when they say goodbye. Two scenes later in the pool they're kissing with no explanation whether Damen broke up with Petula or if they're now dating or what.
Ohhhh, the pool scene...just as the posessed Petula's car, it's a chain of incidents that ends in an excessive and over the top action scene. In this particular one, Scarlet invites Damen to the pool so she and Charlotte can have a one on one moment with him. Then Damen arrives and the girls begin to tease and luring him in to the water.
They start to make out with him (isn't this like some kind of threesome??) but then Prue, the bitter ghost, appears and calls Charlotte a whore.
She orders the rest of the ghosts to swim (???) in circles creating a vortex of water and then shit just gets real. I swear to god while I was reading this, I was waiting for sharks starting to fall and bite some asses, it was THAT ridiculous.
But nothing, absolutely NOTHING can be compared with that haunted Ball at the end taken right out of Casper but without the sweetness and tenderness of it.
Out of nowhere, suddenly Prue makes all of the dead boys visible just by passing through them...
And because of that, all of the living kids freak out and start running from the haunted house of hell but then, like the schizophrenic characters they are, it turns out they don't leave and stay for the crowning of their prom king and queen (you know where is this going, right?). So, Damen and Scarlet are pronounced king and queen, and Petula pops up of nowhere with a spray tan...yep, you read it right, a FUCKING SPRAY TAN, because everybody knows emo kids hate tans. And then the implausible happens...Prue grabs Petula's arm and makes her miss Scarlet, spraying the tan all over Charlotte. And the miracle occurs, the tanning mist makes her visible to everybody.
Fuck logic, fuck physics, now you know ghost hunters all over the world, you just have to take your spraying tan with you and you will certainly catch a ghost, or at least see it.
And if that's not enough, Scarlet gives her the crown and explains to everyone she's the one who pulled off the prom and Damen makes this "hey, girl, I remember you" stunt grabbing her chin and kissing her in the cheek in gratitude(because apparently the tanning also made her solid), and this is, I'm not making this up, what happens soon after that: She begins to float and SHINE, and her dress transforms into the one she dreamt of, with a round of applause worthy of the shabbiest teen prom movie ever.
AND not only that, all of her ghosts friends become visible (and tangible) too, because, you know, friendship is magic!
I'm not even joking, the entire time I was reading this I was in denial, going all "NO NO NO FUCK NO!" I just couldn't believe this was actually happening.
I mean, c'mon! This kind of lazy writing and resolution is just wroooong, I bet even in fanfics this would be considered low standard.
Oh, oh! But it's not over yet! Then, as everyone, even the dead kids, were dancing and poor Charlotte remained lonely in the room watching everybody having fun and being all lovey dovey, here comes the human Casper moment when an unknown new hot dead guy arrives and asks her to dance...
Seriously, who the hell was this guy??? He's not even mentioned again!! They just dissappear later because apparently they finally made their peace by making Charlotte's wish come true somehow... and that doesn't even make any sense!! Why Charlotte? Why not Pam, why not Prue? Were their unfinished business not cool or important enough? This all just seems so contrived!!
At the end they all live and die happily ever after with the ex haunted Manor now a coffee shop apparently run by Scarlet and with Petula doing community service by being a waitress over there (again, so devised!), finishing with a cliche phrase about friendship and stars and unicorns and rainbows...
So...what did I think of this book?
I know there are two other books, and given my inclination to torture myself by reading hideous books just to finish something I began, probably I will end up reading them too in my spare time. Don't have any hopes though, I just have to see by myself if it can get worst than this.
This book is worst than a Disney channel movie with Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato wannabes. That's right, it's the equivalent of a bad nickelodeon teen show with fake laughs and over the top characters with no distinctive personalities whatsoever that are just in there to tell some jokes and references to pop culture (which weren't that funny anyway and just made me roll my eyes everytime a name was dropped). It's another piece of crap wrapped in shiny tin foil for the easy impressible.
I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting too much from this book, but at least I was hoping to be entertained and that was not the case, I utterly loathed the easyness and cartoonish out of reality solutions the characters used to get away with things.
Let's talk about them, shall we? The main character is Charlotte, whom we are supposed to like or empathized with in any way. She's supposed to be this shy little nobody who tries to be somebody and in the attempt to do so she chokes on a gummy bear. And that's it, 'til there I was ok with the storyline but from there on, everything went downhill.
First of all, Charlotte is in no way likeable at all. She's a selfish, self centered, egotistic, victimized martyr, horny and creepy stalker that lurks around Damen, the guy she is obsessed with.
Gosh, the way she goes after him even in death is just...agh! made me really uncomfortable. And her goal to get Petula's respect and also get the guy doesn't even make any sense given that Damen is Petula's boyfriend. What the hell was she thinking? That after stealing her boyfriend she was going to be all "Yeah, you're awesome, let's be friends, my boyfriend looks better with you anyway"?
Petula and her Wendys are also SO stereotypical, I don't even have to point it that out, right?
The ghost friends are also blah, uninteresting and with no real motivation, they're just there to make the point that Charlotte was a loner in life and also in death. Also they don't seem to be the brightest ghosts of all either. All of them don't make one, like in all the "let's save Hawthorne Manor" stuff: there are these buyers going to see their house and they're all like "Awww, what do we do now?"...Excuse me? YOU'RE FRIGGIN' GHOSTS!! Are you telling me that NOT ONE of you thought about haunting the house UNTIL the shallow and empty minded Charlotte brought it that up?? And the saddest thing is that they're not even good at it!!
The only character I had any hope after realizing how devilish Charlotte really was, it was Scarlet who was this punk emo chick who didn't give a shit about anyone (and Petula's little sister).
...But once she fell into the freaky friday game with Charlotte, competing for Damen's attention, I just threw away any tiny bit of interest I may previously had for it.
But let's move on to the story, or lack of it, it's just a series of copy&paste scenes from every highschool comedy from the 80's and 90's full of ridiculous over the top reactions and situations with no concern in actually making any sense and be coherent within the plot when it's convenient for the characters.
For example, they make clear that nobody can see Charlotte or the others, then why the hell they don't take notice of Charlotte and Scarlet talking when they're in the SAME DINNING ROOM as the other ghosts??? Oh, wait, yes, Pam does see them talking, but then again, she doesn't even make any fuss for the fact that no one is supposed to see them! And what about the laws of physics constantly broken? Above of the invisibility thing, the ghost are supposed to not being able to touch anyone alive, but heck no! Charlotte is special! She's the chosen one! she can touch and pull of Scarlet whenever the hell she wants!
And then there's the weird pacing, there's no sense of time in this book, you don't even know if it's been a week or several months after something has happened. Take for instance when Scarlet and Damen go to the concert, he's supposed to still be her sister's boyfriend so they're like awkward when they say goodbye. Two scenes later in the pool they're kissing with no explanation whether Damen broke up with Petula or if they're now dating or what.
Ohhhh, the pool scene...just as the posessed Petula's car, it's a chain of incidents that ends in an excessive and over the top action scene. In this particular one, Scarlet invites Damen to the pool so she and Charlotte can have a one on one moment with him. Then Damen arrives and the girls begin to tease and luring him in to the water.
They start to make out with him (isn't this like some kind of threesome??) but then Prue, the bitter ghost, appears and calls Charlotte a whore.
She orders the rest of the ghosts to swim (???) in circles creating a vortex of water and then shit just gets real. I swear to god while I was reading this, I was waiting for sharks starting to fall and bite some asses, it was THAT ridiculous.
But nothing, absolutely NOTHING can be compared with that haunted Ball at the end taken right out of Casper but without the sweetness and tenderness of it.
Out of nowhere, suddenly Prue makes all of the dead boys visible just by passing through them...
And because of that, all of the living kids freak out and start running from the haunted house of hell but then, like the schizophrenic characters they are, it turns out they don't leave and stay for the crowning of their prom king and queen (you know where is this going, right?). So, Damen and Scarlet are pronounced king and queen, and Petula pops up of nowhere with a spray tan...yep, you read it right, a FUCKING SPRAY TAN, because everybody knows emo kids hate tans. And then the implausible happens...Prue grabs Petula's arm and makes her miss Scarlet, spraying the tan all over Charlotte. And the miracle occurs, the tanning mist makes her visible to everybody.
Fuck logic, fuck physics, now you know ghost hunters all over the world, you just have to take your spraying tan with you and you will certainly catch a ghost, or at least see it.
And if that's not enough, Scarlet gives her the crown and explains to everyone she's the one who pulled off the prom and Damen makes this "hey, girl, I remember you" stunt grabbing her chin and kissing her in the cheek in gratitude(because apparently the tanning also made her solid), and this is, I'm not making this up, what happens soon after that: She begins to float and SHINE, and her dress transforms into the one she dreamt of, with a round of applause worthy of the shabbiest teen prom movie ever.
AND not only that, all of her ghosts friends become visible (and tangible) too, because, you know, friendship is magic!
I'm not even joking, the entire time I was reading this I was in denial, going all "NO NO NO FUCK NO!" I just couldn't believe this was actually happening.
I mean, c'mon! This kind of lazy writing and resolution is just wroooong, I bet even in fanfics this would be considered low standard.
Oh, oh! But it's not over yet! Then, as everyone, even the dead kids, were dancing and poor Charlotte remained lonely in the room watching everybody having fun and being all lovey dovey, here comes the human Casper moment when an unknown new hot dead guy arrives and asks her to dance...
Seriously, who the hell was this guy??? He's not even mentioned again!! They just dissappear later because apparently they finally made their peace by making Charlotte's wish come true somehow... and that doesn't even make any sense!! Why Charlotte? Why not Pam, why not Prue? Were their unfinished business not cool or important enough? This all just seems so contrived!!
At the end they all live and die happily ever after with the ex haunted Manor now a coffee shop apparently run by Scarlet and with Petula doing community service by being a waitress over there (again, so devised!), finishing with a cliche phrase about friendship and stars and unicorns and rainbows...
So...what did I think of this book?
I know there are two other books, and given my inclination to torture myself by reading hideous books just to finish something I began, probably I will end up reading them too in my spare time. Don't have any hopes though, I just have to see by myself if it can get worst than this.
September 11, 2008
So far, this book is really good. It's like nothing I have ever read before, and it's got me hooked.
The way the book is put together, the art, the fonts, the colors and the pages, it's all so beautiful and it's amazingly well-put together.
"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I should die before I awake,
I pray the popular attend my wake."
**I just got finished with this book, and I freaking love it. It's now one of my favorites. First off, I love how the book starts off. It's Charlotte's first day of school and she's all ready to try and get Damen, the guy she likes. Sadly, Damen has a girlfriend named Petula. Well, it's Physics class and Damen & Charlotte get paired up, and he asks her to tutor him, so she deffiently agrees. THEN, at the end of class and starts eating gummy bears and accidentally starts choking, as she heads out the door, Petula slams the door in her face, causing her to choke even more. She attempts to get Damen's attention through the window but he thinks she's waving and he waves back. She then dies...from choking on a gummy bear.
She then ends up in "DeadEd" a class for dead students to "graduate" which simply means to move on after they complete the reason they're held back from moving on.
This book is an amazing story of the struggle for Charlotte to help save herself and her dead friends from losing their home, and her journey on helping/saving herself.
It's amazing. READ IT NOW!
The way the book is put together, the art, the fonts, the colors and the pages, it's all so beautiful and it's amazingly well-put together.
"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I should die before I awake,
I pray the popular attend my wake."
**I just got finished with this book, and I freaking love it. It's now one of my favorites. First off, I love how the book starts off. It's Charlotte's first day of school and she's all ready to try and get Damen, the guy she likes. Sadly, Damen has a girlfriend named Petula. Well, it's Physics class and Damen & Charlotte get paired up, and he asks her to tutor him, so she deffiently agrees. THEN, at the end of class and starts eating gummy bears and accidentally starts choking, as she heads out the door, Petula slams the door in her face, causing her to choke even more. She attempts to get Damen's attention through the window but he thinks she's waving and he waves back. She then dies...from choking on a gummy bear.
She then ends up in "DeadEd" a class for dead students to "graduate" which simply means to move on after they complete the reason they're held back from moving on.
This book is an amazing story of the struggle for Charlotte to help save herself and her dead friends from losing their home, and her journey on helping/saving herself.
It's amazing. READ IT NOW!
September 2, 2016
Mentiría si dijese que compré este libro por la sinopsis. No. Compré este libro porque la portada era una belleza, si no me gustaba daba igual, era tan precioso que tenía que ser mío. Y no me arrepiento de haberlo comprado.
Quiero decir que es la primera vez y única que lo hice, a veces tenemos momentos de debilidad y nos dejamos llevar por la superficialidad -me refiero a libros, siempre a libros-.
En mi defensa, tengo que decir que después leí la sinopsis y me gustó.
Empecé a leerlo y la verdad es que no me esperaba para nada ese toque de humor que le daba la protagonista a la situación, había muerto a causa de un osito de gominola y lo cuenta a modo de chiste. Por eso básicamente me conquistó el libro, porque aunque esté muerta, lo que más le importa es su estatus en el instituto.
Tiene poco que enseñar, es una historia muy juvenil que retrata la sociedad americana, en general a los adolescentes de instituto, su crueldad, su egocentrismo,... Y siempre hay alguien que es diferente. Esa es Scarlet, la hermana "rara" -que para mí es normal- de Petula, la chica más popular y con el nombre más feo del instituto.
Son los típicos tópicos de la sociedad que se retrata.
Pero está cargado de buen humor y de locas ideas, como la de Charlotte de no renunciar al amor aunque el chico al que adora esté vivo y ella muerta. Me encanta su insistencia, me encanta su inexperiencia en ese nuevo mundo que le ha tocado "vivir" y me encanta sobre todo como no se rinde.
Te hace pasar un buen rato mientras lo estás leyendo y la verdad, te quedas con ganas de saber qué tal le va a Charlotte cuando acaba todo y por fin consigue lo que tenía que conseguir, ¿podéis adivinar lo que es?
Pero lo que más me ha gustado ha sido la edición. Por dentro es preciosa, las páginas son blancas adornadas con unos ramilletes, el principio de cada capítulo tiene una imagen de la silueta de Charlotte enmarcada y una frase, normalmente de una canción y la portada en tapa dura es muy origina y bonita no, bonitísima. Pero sin duda lo mejor, el borde de las páginas en un color rosa metalizado y en las que pone "ghostgirl" en letra gótica y negra.
Es un libro divertido con el que pasar un buen rato, se lee en un tris y te deja con un buen sabor de boca, pero recomiendo dejar los ositos de gominola para cuando se esté acompañada de alguien, por si tienen que hacernos la maniobra de Heimlich.
Léela en el blog: http://exlibri.blogspot.com.es/2012/1...
Quiero decir que es la primera vez y única que lo hice, a veces tenemos momentos de debilidad y nos dejamos llevar por la superficialidad -me refiero a libros, siempre a libros-.
En mi defensa, tengo que decir que después leí la sinopsis y me gustó.
Empecé a leerlo y la verdad es que no me esperaba para nada ese toque de humor que le daba la protagonista a la situación, había muerto a causa de un osito de gominola y lo cuenta a modo de chiste. Por eso básicamente me conquistó el libro, porque aunque esté muerta, lo que más le importa es su estatus en el instituto.
Tiene poco que enseñar, es una historia muy juvenil que retrata la sociedad americana, en general a los adolescentes de instituto, su crueldad, su egocentrismo,... Y siempre hay alguien que es diferente. Esa es Scarlet, la hermana "rara" -que para mí es normal- de Petula, la chica más popular y con el nombre más feo del instituto.
Son los típicos tópicos de la sociedad que se retrata.
Pero está cargado de buen humor y de locas ideas, como la de Charlotte de no renunciar al amor aunque el chico al que adora esté vivo y ella muerta. Me encanta su insistencia, me encanta su inexperiencia en ese nuevo mundo que le ha tocado "vivir" y me encanta sobre todo como no se rinde.
Te hace pasar un buen rato mientras lo estás leyendo y la verdad, te quedas con ganas de saber qué tal le va a Charlotte cuando acaba todo y por fin consigue lo que tenía que conseguir, ¿podéis adivinar lo que es?
Pero lo que más me ha gustado ha sido la edición. Por dentro es preciosa, las páginas son blancas adornadas con unos ramilletes, el principio de cada capítulo tiene una imagen de la silueta de Charlotte enmarcada y una frase, normalmente de una canción y la portada en tapa dura es muy origina y bonita no, bonitísima. Pero sin duda lo mejor, el borde de las páginas en un color rosa metalizado y en las que pone "ghostgirl" en letra gótica y negra.
Es un libro divertido con el que pasar un buen rato, se lee en un tris y te deja con un buen sabor de boca, pero recomiendo dejar los ositos de gominola para cuando se esté acompañada de alguien, por si tienen que hacernos la maniobra de Heimlich.
Léela en el blog: http://exlibri.blogspot.com.es/2012/1...
September 12, 2018
The adverbs... I can't... I can't, y'all.
"You didn't expect me to wait, like, forever, did you?" Petula said selfishly.
"I know you think you're meant to go to the dance," Prue said antagonistically.
I cannot. This book is like a poorly written fanfiction by a twelve-year-old.
Charlotte died by choking on a gummy bear.
A gummy bear.
I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.
So yeah, she dies and what does she do while dead and trapped as a ghost?
Does she visit her family? Friends? Travel the world?
Nah, she spies on her crush, because that's the only thing she lived for in the first place:
"She planned to turn her greatest disadvantage--being dead--into a positive and use it to get closer to Damen. If he couldn't actually see her, he couldn't object to her invading his personal space."
WHOO! WE LOVE IT WHEN GIRLS ONLY LIVE FOR BOYS IN FICTION, DON'T WE?!?
All ranting aside, one good thing I will say about this book is that the graphics and poems were beautiful, the book itself was aesthetically pleasing and all.
Also, it made me laugh. It wasn't supposed to make me laugh, but it did. So, thanks, Tonya, I needed that. I think you should write more comedic books, tbh, you wouldn't be half bad. Just please tone down the boy-craziness.
"You didn't expect me to wait, like, forever, did you?" Petula said selfishly.
"I know you think you're meant to go to the dance," Prue said antagonistically.
I cannot. This book is like a poorly written fanfiction by a twelve-year-old.
Charlotte died by choking on a gummy bear.
A gummy bear.
I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.
So yeah, she dies and what does she do while dead and trapped as a ghost?
Does she visit her family? Friends? Travel the world?
Nah, she spies on her crush, because that's the only thing she lived for in the first place:
"She planned to turn her greatest disadvantage--being dead--into a positive and use it to get closer to Damen. If he couldn't actually see her, he couldn't object to her invading his personal space."
WHOO! WE LOVE IT WHEN GIRLS ONLY LIVE FOR BOYS IN FICTION, DON'T WE?!?
All ranting aside, one good thing I will say about this book is that the graphics and poems were beautiful, the book itself was aesthetically pleasing and all.
Also, it made me laugh. It wasn't supposed to make me laugh, but it did. So, thanks, Tonya, I needed that. I think you should write more comedic books, tbh, you wouldn't be half bad. Just please tone down the boy-craziness.
March 2, 2018
I had really high hopes for Tonya Hurley's novel "ghostgirl" after seeing an advanced reading copy of the novel due out in August 2008 (this despite the fact that the title is all lower case). The book design is really amazing: Taller and narrower than a mass market book, the novel immediately looks different. The dominant colors are pink and black. The cover features a silhouette in what looks like a coffin with a sash that reads "Rest in Popularity." Even the interior of the book is snazzy featuring a silhouette by Craig Phillips at the start of each chapter and a loopy border at the top and bottom of each page. In other words, this book looked really cool. Even its marketing campaign is cool. Just take a look at www.ghostgirl.com to see what I mean.
Despite all of that, I'm still not sure how I feel about "ghostgirl." I was hesitant to put this novel as a CLW review at all. But, by the end of the story, it's clear that the main character is trying and she does change eventually and, since that's all anyone can ask, I decided to go with it.
And, now that I've set up the novel more than anyone would have thought possible, on to the review:
Charlotte Usher is virtually invisible at her high school. She's the kind of girl no one would miss if she disappeared suddenly. Even when she does exactly that. To be more specific, she dies. Because of a gummy bear.
Adding insult to injury, Charlotte was certain things were looking up before she died. After a rigorous summer campaign, Charlotte was finally prepared (mentally and physically thanks to intense surveillance and a makeover) to make a play for her crush, Damen Dylan--the guy every girl at Hawthorne High wants to date. Even Damen's snooty girlfriend Petula and her sidekicks, The Wendys, couldn't discourage Charlotte.
With that kind of tenacity, it's not surprising that Charlotte isn't about to let a little thing like being dead get in the way of her goal. Wandering town as a spirit with unfinished business, Charlotte decides to focus on living the life she was so close to having instead of dying with style. Much to the chagrin of her new "Dead Ed" classmates who are all waiting to learn their own lessons and finally rest in peace. What follows is a zany plot involving stalking, possession (don't worry, it's consensual), and a love triangle that has to be read to be believed.
As that description might suggest, this plot--like the book itself--has a lot of potential. Sadly, a lot of that potential is squandered. Charlotte is painfully invisible to her classmates before her death. Unfortunately she remains equally aloof from readers. At points I feel like I can see Charlotte, but not once in the novel did I feel like I knew her. (This is, to a lesser extent, a problem for the other characters as well.) While her desires are obvious throughout the novel, her motivations never quite manifest.
The actual narrative has its own shaky points. Hurley has several characters mention that teen-aged ghosts are too self-absorbed to miss their families, which seemed like an easy (too easy) way to write out an entire part of Charlotte's life. It also leaves the question of why no one tried to help Charlotte make friends before her death unanswered.
Finally, the tone of the novel is slightly erratic. The novel alternates haphazardly between morbid and flippant at breakneck speeds making the characters seem cartoonish with their odd situations and reactions to them (I'm not even talking about Charlotte being a ghost here)
Yet, I still finished "ghostgirl" and I still did enjoy parts of it. If you can get past the erratic writing and underdeveloped characters, this is an okay book even if it doesn't live up to the hopes created by its design.
Almost in spite of herself, Charlotte does learn her lesson and find peace by the end of the story as she begins to understand that, sometimes, there's more to life than being seen--even in high school.
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
Despite all of that, I'm still not sure how I feel about "ghostgirl." I was hesitant to put this novel as a CLW review at all. But, by the end of the story, it's clear that the main character is trying and she does change eventually and, since that's all anyone can ask, I decided to go with it.
And, now that I've set up the novel more than anyone would have thought possible, on to the review:
Charlotte Usher is virtually invisible at her high school. She's the kind of girl no one would miss if she disappeared suddenly. Even when she does exactly that. To be more specific, she dies. Because of a gummy bear.
Adding insult to injury, Charlotte was certain things were looking up before she died. After a rigorous summer campaign, Charlotte was finally prepared (mentally and physically thanks to intense surveillance and a makeover) to make a play for her crush, Damen Dylan--the guy every girl at Hawthorne High wants to date. Even Damen's snooty girlfriend Petula and her sidekicks, The Wendys, couldn't discourage Charlotte.
With that kind of tenacity, it's not surprising that Charlotte isn't about to let a little thing like being dead get in the way of her goal. Wandering town as a spirit with unfinished business, Charlotte decides to focus on living the life she was so close to having instead of dying with style. Much to the chagrin of her new "Dead Ed" classmates who are all waiting to learn their own lessons and finally rest in peace. What follows is a zany plot involving stalking, possession (don't worry, it's consensual), and a love triangle that has to be read to be believed.
As that description might suggest, this plot--like the book itself--has a lot of potential. Sadly, a lot of that potential is squandered. Charlotte is painfully invisible to her classmates before her death. Unfortunately she remains equally aloof from readers. At points I feel like I can see Charlotte, but not once in the novel did I feel like I knew her. (This is, to a lesser extent, a problem for the other characters as well.) While her desires are obvious throughout the novel, her motivations never quite manifest.
The actual narrative has its own shaky points. Hurley has several characters mention that teen-aged ghosts are too self-absorbed to miss their families, which seemed like an easy (too easy) way to write out an entire part of Charlotte's life. It also leaves the question of why no one tried to help Charlotte make friends before her death unanswered.
Finally, the tone of the novel is slightly erratic. The novel alternates haphazardly between morbid and flippant at breakneck speeds making the characters seem cartoonish with their odd situations and reactions to them (I'm not even talking about Charlotte being a ghost here)
Yet, I still finished "ghostgirl" and I still did enjoy parts of it. If you can get past the erratic writing and underdeveloped characters, this is an okay book even if it doesn't live up to the hopes created by its design.
Almost in spite of herself, Charlotte does learn her lesson and find peace by the end of the story as she begins to understand that, sometimes, there's more to life than being seen--even in high school.
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
July 10, 2009
Resist the cute book design - black coffin-like shape, with silver and pink accents. It does NOT make up for this messy story starring a selfish and unlikeable heroine. Avoid! Great format, stupid story.
Basically, Mean Girls, but with a ghost as the main character.
Charlotte wants to be popular, and she wants to kiss Damen, the football star. But on the first day back at school, she chokes to death on a gummi bear. But does she let that stop her plan? No! She is a one-dimensional character who is willing to do anything - turn herself into a phony, spy on her rival, lie, manipulate others, all for her Midnight Kiss with Damen at the school dance. We're supposed to like her because she's a nerd, but while she may be smart (she's good at physics), she's not loveable. She complains she has no friends, but she ignores everyone who tries to befriend her except to use them to get closer to her crush.
The characters were all stereotypes - the rich and mean head cheerleader, her two slutty sidekicks (both named Wendy), the cute football player, and the goth girl. Sure, you were supposed to hate the rich girl, but Charlotte was just as despicable.
The plot beyond the "get the guy" theme, was muddled and nonsensical. Charlotte, on dying, became part of a class of dead students, which needed to reach some kind of resolution before they could all "graduate" to the beyond. Huh?
Not enjoyable. Not recommended to ANYONE.
Basically, Mean Girls, but with a ghost as the main character.
Charlotte wants to be popular, and she wants to kiss Damen, the football star. But on the first day back at school, she chokes to death on a gummi bear. But does she let that stop her plan? No! She is a one-dimensional character who is willing to do anything - turn herself into a phony, spy on her rival, lie, manipulate others, all for her Midnight Kiss with Damen at the school dance. We're supposed to like her because she's a nerd, but while she may be smart (she's good at physics), she's not loveable. She complains she has no friends, but she ignores everyone who tries to befriend her except to use them to get closer to her crush.
The characters were all stereotypes - the rich and mean head cheerleader, her two slutty sidekicks (both named Wendy), the cute football player, and the goth girl. Sure, you were supposed to hate the rich girl, but Charlotte was just as despicable.
The plot beyond the "get the guy" theme, was muddled and nonsensical. Charlotte, on dying, became part of a class of dead students, which needed to reach some kind of resolution before they could all "graduate" to the beyond. Huh?
Not enjoyable. Not recommended to ANYONE.
January 20, 2024
Premýšľala som nad tým, ako by som ohodnotila túto knihu.
Pripadá mi to tak, že sa autorka nevedela rozhodnúť o čom vlastne chce písať - akej téme/problematike by sa chcela venovať.
Väčšina časť knihy mi prišla ako satira, ale niektoré strany na mňa pôsobila trošku serióznejšie. Hlavne text pri každej kapitole. A to sa mi k príbehu vôbec nehodilo.
Niektoré časti deja mi nedávali zmysel - resp. v knihe sa objavovali mnohé cliché.
K postavám by som povedala toto - väčšina z nich mi liezla na nervy. Väčšinou sympatizujem s hlavnou postavou v knihe, ale Charlotte Usherovú (hlavnú protagonistku) som si neobľúbila. To som si skôr obľúbila Scarlett.
No ...
Páčil sa mi ale zovňajšok knihy. Škoda, že vnútrajšok nebol zaujímavejší.
Pripadá mi to tak, že sa autorka nevedela rozhodnúť o čom vlastne chce písať - akej téme/problematike by sa chcela venovať.
Väčšina časť knihy mi prišla ako satira, ale niektoré strany na mňa pôsobila trošku serióznejšie. Hlavne text pri každej kapitole. A to sa mi k príbehu vôbec nehodilo.
Niektoré časti deja mi nedávali zmysel - resp. v knihe sa objavovali mnohé cliché.
K postavám by som povedala toto - väčšina z nich mi liezla na nervy. Väčšinou sympatizujem s hlavnou postavou v knihe, ale Charlotte Usherovú (hlavnú protagonistku) som si neobľúbila. To som si skôr obľúbila Scarlett.
No ...
Páčil sa mi ale zovňajšok knihy. Škoda, že vnútrajšok nebol zaujímavejší.
October 1, 2022
This book is such a ✨wild card✨
The aesthetic 🤌 I remember being 15 years old and wanting this book so bad! 😭 But I couldn’t afford it and my library did not have a copy, so when I saw it on the thrift store last month…I shrieked!
Charlotte, our MC, will make this HER year. She talks to her crush, plans to defy the mean girls and revamps her look. All of that hard work is for nothing however, when she chokes on a gummy bear (yes 🤦♀️) and dies on her first day back to high school. Now she wakes up as a ghost, surrounded by other dead teenagers and stuck in high school even after death.
Honestly the secondary characters (a deranged cast of young ghosts… from the one who drowned in her own vomit on a crazy wild night to the one who got murdered on prom night) made this book so interesting! I also loved Scarlet's character. The only teen who can see Charlotte 😊
Look, the reason why I'm giving this book 3 stars instead of 4 is because I legitimately though that Charlotte and Scarlet were endgame. They were so cute together but of course this book was written in the 2000's and as fun as that was when it came to references and slang, the LGBTQ+ representation is very lacking. Alexa! play I Wish You Were Gay by Billie Eilish ✌️
LESSONS LEARNED:
- This book was a lot darker than I expected. It provides very good commentary on popularity and prioritizing all the wrong things as a teen.
-Be careful when you eat candy 👀 chew it well.
notes
- if you’re in your mid/late twenties this book is just worth reading to revisit the 2000's culture ❤️ omg.
- not the author quoting Evanescence!🤘no wonder my teen goth self wanted this book so bad. Amy Lee is and will always be an absolute icon.
- this book is so goddamn pretty! The cover, the little doodles on the corners, the silver edges, the bicolored chapter pages 🙌 I'm in love!
The aesthetic 🤌 I remember being 15 years old and wanting this book so bad! 😭 But I couldn’t afford it and my library did not have a copy, so when I saw it on the thrift store last month…I shrieked!
Charlotte, our MC, will make this HER year. She talks to her crush, plans to defy the mean girls and revamps her look. All of that hard work is for nothing however, when she chokes on a gummy bear (yes 🤦♀️) and dies on her first day back to high school. Now she wakes up as a ghost, surrounded by other dead teenagers and stuck in high school even after death.
Honestly the secondary characters (a deranged cast of young ghosts… from the one who drowned in her own vomit on a crazy wild night to the one who got murdered on prom night) made this book so interesting! I also loved Scarlet's character. The only teen who can see Charlotte 😊
Look, the reason why I'm giving this book 3 stars instead of 4 is because I legitimately though that Charlotte and Scarlet were endgame. They were so cute together but of course this book was written in the 2000's and as fun as that was when it came to references and slang, the LGBTQ+ representation is very lacking. Alexa! play I Wish You Were Gay by Billie Eilish ✌️
LESSONS LEARNED:
- This book was a lot darker than I expected. It provides very good commentary on popularity and prioritizing all the wrong things as a teen.
-Be careful when you eat candy 👀 chew it well.
notes
- if you’re in your mid/late twenties this book is just worth reading to revisit the 2000's culture ❤️ omg.
- not the author quoting Evanescence!🤘no wonder my teen goth self wanted this book so bad. Amy Lee is and will always be an absolute icon.
- this book is so goddamn pretty! The cover, the little doodles on the corners, the silver edges, the bicolored chapter pages 🙌 I'm in love!
October 16, 2010
I honestly don't know where to start in what bothered me about this book. So I'll start with what I liked, and that was the author's voice. Even though I didn't get half the references to music bands and other pop culture stuff, I did like the genuine feel of the writing. I know that doesn't go along with a lot of other reviews I've read, but frankly, I wouldn't mind reading more Tonya Hurley if her next books weren't centered around characters who are stereotyped. OK, so I suppose I should start there: this book is a walking stereotype. The cheerleaders are evil and dumb, the jock is goodhearted but stupid, and Hurley actually went so far as to say dead teenagers don't worry about their parents because they're all so self-absorbed.
Not setting the bar very high there, are we?
Last I checked there were all different kinds of teenagers, just like there are all different kinds of people. Not all cheerleaders are evil snobs, not every nerd is a wanna be, not all jocks are stupid, and believe it or not, some teenagers do care about their parents. Which brings me to the next thing that bugged the heck out of me: Where are the parents? Now, I understand that most teen books I have thus far read have neglectful parents who are practically non-existent in the text. This has, in fact, turned into a cliche in teen fiction unto itself, but Hurley takes this to a new level because there isn't a single scene with a parent in it, and the parents aren't even specifically mentioned. Charlotte's are kind of, sort of, mentioned in passing, but I know nothing about Petula and Scarlet's parents by the end of the novel, nothing about the main male character's parents, and nothing about the parents of any of the dead kids. It's as if I've been put into a high school world where all parents have been wiped off the face of the earth by a tragic plague which left only teenagers. Ooooh, there's a good plot line, but I suppose that's already be done in Lord of the Flies.
On to the next thing that drove me crazy: plot holes. One in particular. The dead kids are supposed to keep a house from getting condemned, a house with asbestos in it. And they succeed at this task by having the local high school hold a dance at the house. Leaving me to scratch my head and wonder why any high school would agree to hold a dance in a nearly condemned property with asbestos in it. Do they really care so little about the health of their students? And does this solve the asbestos problem? It doesn't, and there is little as frustrating as getting to the end of a book with a conclusion that makes absolutely no sense.
Which brings me to my next issue, Charlotte is whiny, whiny, whiny, whiny . . . to the point that I had a very hard time stomaching her, and selfish. So selfish that her one ultimate act of growth in the end is virtuous only because it isn't as selfish as everything else she's done. It's like applauding a thief for not taking candy from a baby, because the character of the thief is just too ugly to make the more satisfying deed of the thief returning the candy unrealistic. Yeah, Charlotte, you didn't steal the kiss--good for you, now you're a hero! Are you kidding me?
At this point in time you're probably getting the impression that I feel kind of cheated by this book, and you would be right. Because it looked so good and I really got into it in the first three chapters or so, then it just deteriorated. I almost stopped reading when I got to the 12 steps, and that's sad because I love the 12 steps, but just didn't see how they had enough relevance to the plot. It isn't like we saw the dead kids working through the steps, and the only one they really covered in the book was letting go. So what of the others? Was it just filler material or what?
OK, I'm done with my rhetorical questions now. I understand full well how hard it is to write a novel and I respect Ms. Hurley for her hard work. And in fairness, the fact that I felt so much disappointment with the book, means that she succeeding in making me care. So in the sense that her writing style was entertaining, I can certainly learn something from her. It just wasn't my favorite read.
Not setting the bar very high there, are we?
Last I checked there were all different kinds of teenagers, just like there are all different kinds of people. Not all cheerleaders are evil snobs, not every nerd is a wanna be, not all jocks are stupid, and believe it or not, some teenagers do care about their parents. Which brings me to the next thing that bugged the heck out of me: Where are the parents? Now, I understand that most teen books I have thus far read have neglectful parents who are practically non-existent in the text. This has, in fact, turned into a cliche in teen fiction unto itself, but Hurley takes this to a new level because there isn't a single scene with a parent in it, and the parents aren't even specifically mentioned. Charlotte's are kind of, sort of, mentioned in passing, but I know nothing about Petula and Scarlet's parents by the end of the novel, nothing about the main male character's parents, and nothing about the parents of any of the dead kids. It's as if I've been put into a high school world where all parents have been wiped off the face of the earth by a tragic plague which left only teenagers. Ooooh, there's a good plot line, but I suppose that's already be done in Lord of the Flies.
On to the next thing that drove me crazy: plot holes. One in particular. The dead kids are supposed to keep a house from getting condemned, a house with asbestos in it. And they succeed at this task by having the local high school hold a dance at the house. Leaving me to scratch my head and wonder why any high school would agree to hold a dance in a nearly condemned property with asbestos in it. Do they really care so little about the health of their students? And does this solve the asbestos problem? It doesn't, and there is little as frustrating as getting to the end of a book with a conclusion that makes absolutely no sense.
Which brings me to my next issue, Charlotte is whiny, whiny, whiny, whiny . . . to the point that I had a very hard time stomaching her, and selfish. So selfish that her one ultimate act of growth in the end is virtuous only because it isn't as selfish as everything else she's done. It's like applauding a thief for not taking candy from a baby, because the character of the thief is just too ugly to make the more satisfying deed of the thief returning the candy unrealistic. Yeah, Charlotte, you didn't steal the kiss--good for you, now you're a hero! Are you kidding me?
At this point in time you're probably getting the impression that I feel kind of cheated by this book, and you would be right. Because it looked so good and I really got into it in the first three chapters or so, then it just deteriorated. I almost stopped reading when I got to the 12 steps, and that's sad because I love the 12 steps, but just didn't see how they had enough relevance to the plot. It isn't like we saw the dead kids working through the steps, and the only one they really covered in the book was letting go. So what of the others? Was it just filler material or what?
OK, I'm done with my rhetorical questions now. I understand full well how hard it is to write a novel and I respect Ms. Hurley for her hard work. And in fairness, the fact that I felt so much disappointment with the book, means that she succeeding in making me care. So in the sense that her writing style was entertaining, I can certainly learn something from her. It just wasn't my favorite read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 16, 2015
Fueron varias veces en las que hablé en susurros y dije: ¡Tonya, Tonya, TONYA, qué cosa has hecho!
Empecemos por lo bueno. Hace ya muchísimo tiempo que tenía ganas de hincarle el colmillo a éste librito. La portada oscura, con esa muñequita, las letras plateadas, los relieves, la forma alargada (como de ataúd) y las citas que contenía, me llamaban mucho la atención. (Porque le eché una miradita al contenido, ya que había un ejemplar abierto que no pasó desapercibido a mis ojitos escrutadores) Así que mis expectativas eran altas, ALTÍSIMAS. ¿Qué podía esperar, entonces, menos que una muy buena historia con esa edición súper cuidada y estética? El primer error. Sí, señoritas y señoritos, ése fue el primer error que cometí.
Ahora, podemos hablar de lo malo. Comentaré los personajes: a la protagonista, Charlotte Usher, la odié al principio. (Cariño, fastidias con tus ansias de popularidad. No seas niña huequita como los demás). Sí, la personalidad de Charlotte fue mi problema. Ya hasta lo último, fue que más o menos llegué a tolerarla. Scarlet y Pam, las 'amigas' de Charlotte, me resultan personajes muchísimo mas agradables. Igual que el resto. Creo que los personajes no están correctamente elaborados, ni los vivos ni los muertos, sólo leía nombres y la verdad es que no llegué a identificarlos. Vamos, que solo se hacen descripciones de Scarlet pero de los demás no, así que no pude imaginarlos.
Sobre la trama, tengo que decir que está en un término medio (por no hacerlo sonar tan feo). Lo que parecía ser una historia bonita "una niña que quiere conquistar a un chico, muere a causa de un osito de goma, despertando como un fantasma" se convierte en algo aburrido y sin sentido, algo que yo no leería en mi pleno juicio, que no recomendaría a una persona que conoce de libros. Los escenarios y lugares tampoco son descritos, así que me perdí varias veces en tanto a la localización de donde ocurrían lo hechos. Lo peor fue que, aunque me regresara, no lograba construir un escenario decente. No entendí la localización de Hawthorne Manor (donde viven los fantasmas) ni la de Hawthorne High School (la escuela de los vivos).
Algunos hechos ocurrieron y me dejaron con cara de WTF! Me eché a reir y repliqué de nuevo contra Tonya. La verdad, es que ésta lectura me resultó completamente desastrosa y dolorosa. Pienso que si apenas están comenzando a leer pueden hacerlo con esto. Es una saga (como Crepúsculo) que ayuda a los adolescentes a interesarse en un libro. Conozco a chicas que no habían leído mucho antes pero que Ghostgirl les cayó del cielo. Gracias a esto, comenzaron a leer más (estoy hablando de dos o tres casos, ¿eh? No vayan a decir que generalizo mundialmente).
El final me hizo recordar a High School Musical (sólo vi la primera y la segunda a medias, lo juro). No diré el por qué. Fueron las últimas 100 páginas las que leí sin pensar "Oh, Dios, falta mucho. ¡Qué flojera!". Así que puedo decir que la cosa mejora para ése entonces. Aún así, el final me pareció un tanto incongruente, desapercibido, seco y autoconcluyente, así que no entiendo el porqué de una segunda parte.
En conclusión: sí, el diseño es muy mono, trae muchas citas y referencias a bandas músicales, eso puede ser bueno; pero del contenido no puedo decir lo mismo. Puede que les guste o que no, quizá lo odien o quizá lo amen, a lo mejor simplemente quieran leer la segunda parte solo para ver si se pone peor o mejor (como yo) o quizá les cueste más de 200 páginas interesarse y leer gustosamente (como yo, miren que estuve a punto de dejarlo, pero fui valiente y fuerte). Es su decisión.
Y me alegro de no haberlo comprado, por cierto.
Pero disfruto dibujando a Charlotte y su maraña de cabellos.
Ana del 2015 opina: ¡Me choca este libro! Me dan náuseas nada más recordarlo! Por eso he limpiado el raiting y ahora le he puesto una sola estrella.
July 17, 2017
Usually, when I give a book a low rating, I say that it's not the book. It's me.
In this case though, I think it was the book.
We'll start with the main protagonist, Charlotte. She was so obsessed with Damon that it was actually creepy. Even creepier, her obsession with Damon pretty much defined her personality. She had no goals beyond dating him and becoming more popular. The fact that these remained her only two goals after death is mind-boggling to say the least. Did she have no goals for the future? No actual human connections to mourn the loss of?
Damon himself was just a really nice, sporty guy. Hanging out with the popular (read: mean) kids, and dating Petula somehow did not stop him from being a really nice guy. I am still trying to work out how he ended up in his friendship group when he seemed to hate them so much. Also, he was essentially dating three girls at once (he thought he was dating two) and yet he was never called out for being unfaithful. None of the girls seemed to mind except for Petula, who we weren't supposed to like or agree with.
Everyone else was defined by one or two singular characteristics and most of them were stereotypes. Scarlet was the gothic loner, Petula was the mean girl who inexplicably had the world revolving around her, Pam was the pushover of a best friend...and on and on and on. Usually, I don't mind the odd stereotype, especially when they've been given the odd twist. The problem here was that none of the characters ever developed beyond their assigned stereotype. The only character I liked was Scarlet, and that was only because she was sarcastic and called Charlotte out once or twice.
Plot-wise, I struggled. This is a book aimed at the teen audience. To outright say in a book aimed at teens that the reason that teens don't go straight to the afterlife is because they're selfish is awkward to say the least. Throughout the book, there was a constant emphasis on how teenagers didn't think of how their deaths would affect their families and friends, only of how it affected them. This was essentially the entire reason that there was a plot at all. Charlotte spent the entire novel pining after Damon and ignoring her new responsibilities.
And this is what saved the day in the end.
Yeah. On the one hand, teens are selfish people. On the other hand, being a selfish person will save the day. I was also really confused by Damon's reaction to finding out that Charlotte and Scarlet had both been flirting with him. It seemed a little...odd.
Overall, I didn't enjoy this one. I have learned my lesson about picking books up just because they look pretty.
In this case though, I think it was the book.
We'll start with the main protagonist, Charlotte. She was so obsessed with Damon that it was actually creepy. Even creepier, her obsession with Damon pretty much defined her personality. She had no goals beyond dating him and becoming more popular. The fact that these remained her only two goals after death is mind-boggling to say the least. Did she have no goals for the future? No actual human connections to mourn the loss of?
Damon himself was just a really nice, sporty guy. Hanging out with the popular (read: mean) kids, and dating Petula somehow did not stop him from being a really nice guy. I am still trying to work out how he ended up in his friendship group when he seemed to hate them so much. Also, he was essentially dating three girls at once (he thought he was dating two) and yet he was never called out for being unfaithful. None of the girls seemed to mind except for Petula, who we weren't supposed to like or agree with.
Everyone else was defined by one or two singular characteristics and most of them were stereotypes. Scarlet was the gothic loner, Petula was the mean girl who inexplicably had the world revolving around her, Pam was the pushover of a best friend...and on and on and on. Usually, I don't mind the odd stereotype, especially when they've been given the odd twist. The problem here was that none of the characters ever developed beyond their assigned stereotype. The only character I liked was Scarlet, and that was only because she was sarcastic and called Charlotte out once or twice.
Plot-wise, I struggled. This is a book aimed at the teen audience. To outright say in a book aimed at teens that the reason that teens don't go straight to the afterlife is because they're selfish is awkward to say the least. Throughout the book, there was a constant emphasis on how teenagers didn't think of how their deaths would affect their families and friends, only of how it affected them. This was essentially the entire reason that there was a plot at all. Charlotte spent the entire novel pining after Damon and ignoring her new responsibilities.
And this is what saved the day in the end.
Yeah. On the one hand, teens are selfish people. On the other hand, being a selfish person will save the day. I was also really confused by Damon's reaction to finding out that Charlotte and Scarlet had both been flirting with him. It seemed a little...odd.
Overall, I didn't enjoy this one. I have learned my lesson about picking books up just because they look pretty.
December 23, 2008
Like many others I picked this book up purely based on packaging. A book this cute has to be good, right? Nope. I really wanted to like it, but I got about halfway through, gave up and read the last chapter. And I don't feel like I missed out on anything by doing it. The pop-culture references were out of control and I felt like they were used to get out of having to describe situations. This book is a good argument to NOT judge a book by it's cover.
November 26, 2009
Where do I start with Ghostgirl? Perhaps with the woefully one-dimensional and almost (almost) hilariously cliched characters. Maybe with the main character Charlotte, who was tragically born and even died without any kind of developed personality. Or maybe even the fact that Charlotte died -DIED- and went on for weeks into her afterlife without a single thought about her family. Not one iota of information about whether she even has a mother or father, or any siblings. In fact maybe I should start with the fact that there are only six adults in this entire book, three of them teachers who are mentioned only in passing while Charlotte waxes idiotic about the jock she's in "love" with, and another three mannequins who wander through a couple of pages with no purpose or effect. Maybe I should start with the strained and awkward dialogue, or on that note, the random dropping of the s-bomb by the cardboard cutout cheerleader - at the principal, with no reaction or punishment no less, with no other negative or naughty language before or after. Or maybe I should start with the fact that the author, 300 pages into the "story" still hadn't decided just what kind of ghosts/zombies/misc monsters she wanted. They walk through walls but need to eat, they sleep but don't "need" to, they attend compulsory classes but apparently go over the same subject matter every day, for an undisclosed number of years, one of them can be seen by somebody for no apparent reason other than plot device... Or maybe I'll start at the end, with the cringe-worthy anti-climax and painful conclusion where of course everybody ends up happy, except for the mean-old cheerleader who finally gets what's been comin', yeahhh!
No. I really don't know where to start with Ghostgirl. Although I know where I'll conclude - how on earth Hurley managed to secure a publishing deal for this abomination shocks me, but what leaves me stunned and stuttering for explanation is how she managed to have a sequel published. It's unfair to the many promising young-adult authors waiting in the wings that Hurley gets a second shot at the market after failing already, and some authors get no chance.
No. I really don't know where to start with Ghostgirl. Although I know where I'll conclude - how on earth Hurley managed to secure a publishing deal for this abomination shocks me, but what leaves me stunned and stuttering for explanation is how she managed to have a sequel published. It's unfair to the many promising young-adult authors waiting in the wings that Hurley gets a second shot at the market after failing already, and some authors get no chance.
July 27, 2008
the cover is cute as hell and there's "wendys" in this!!!!! ;)
okay... i really wanted to like this book...but it just didn't happen so much. i gave it 2 stars but really wanted just 1.5. it's pretty much a ripoff of "heathers", "beetlejuice" and "carrie" set in current times. yet - it doesn't feel like it should be current...nor do i picture charlotte as how she's written. with references to current pop/punk bands, etc...the best thing about this book is it's packaging.
okay... i really wanted to like this book...but it just didn't happen so much. i gave it 2 stars but really wanted just 1.5. it's pretty much a ripoff of "heathers", "beetlejuice" and "carrie" set in current times. yet - it doesn't feel like it should be current...nor do i picture charlotte as how she's written. with references to current pop/punk bands, etc...the best thing about this book is it's packaging.
August 5, 2008
Okay, so I picked up this book from the "TEEN" section because the packaging of it was so cute! Unfortunately, the adorable packaging is to make up for a pretty mediocre storyline. However, it does have its moments. Casper meets Beetlejuice meets Gossip Girl....perhaps a nice recommend for a 12 year old.
December 13, 2015
This book led to a long-lasting fight with my friend about if yu can actually choke on a gummy bear.
October 9, 2019
No sera nunca un libro favorito y dudo mucho que lo vuelva a leer, o que quiera saber mas de esa historia
July 4, 2018
I had a very difficult time deciding on a rating for this book. Realistically, the story is just a 3 stars rating. It's rather obvious, predictable, and full of American stereotypes. It kept reminding me of 'Mean girls', but with a dead protagonist. The book goes very fast, it's a simple story, classic romance, and honestly there's not a lot of thinking involved, you just have to enjoy the ride and relax. It wasn't even a new story, I've read this before.
Why did you give it four stars then? I hear you asking. For one very simple but utterly important reason (one I'm sure most bookworms would agree on). I connected with Charlotte on a level I hardly connect with characters. This is the story of a girl who is not popular, not pretty, not athletic, and who is practically invisible even to teachers. She doesn't know love, she doesn't have friends, and for what I gather all she has is intelligence. Of course, there's more to her than that, but she has to discover that on her own as the book moves along. But the basic outline of the story is of a regular teenager that wants to be accepted. And that was what I went through in Junior High. I wasn't popular either, nor athletic, or pretty, or had many friends (I could count them with just one hand). And even though I learnt that all of that wasn't important, that I learnt to embrace my quirkiness and accept it as who I was, that I eventually learnt to love myself, I can still remember that part of my life as a stressful one. I know what is like to want to fit in, desperately. So Charlotte talked to that old 15 year old me in a way very few characters have.
I had fun with her, it was annoying to see her so deeply obsessed with Damen, and constantly thinking how much she wanted him, how obsessed she was with the dance and nothing else, not even able to accept her death. Things spiral out of control when Scarlett gets involved, and I'm sure all of you know how this ends without even having to read the book. Last 30 pages, here comes the moment of truth. Charlotte has her desired moment, the one she has been pinning for the whole book. But suddenly she stops, she has a look at herself and in that moment illumination hits her. She grows. She realises this kiss, this moment, is not for her, that she has to let go, and she moves on. It's a beautiful moment I think, because very few of us get to figure it out at 15, we usually have to grow more, make many mistakes, and learn more in order to discover that we are more than school kids think of us. The beauty I found in the book is that she has no time, she is dead, and she has to learn that for the sake of being able to move on in her afterlife, or she'll be stuck forever.
So yes, the story per se doesn't get more than a three. All the stereotypes are so marked that it gets annoying, and makes me believe Anerica is truly like that (and makes me grateful we don't have cheerleaders here at all). Characters are too obvious, predictable, and sometimes plain, so I can't justify more than 3 stars. If I didn't have my background, had I been a popular girl, it might even had gone down to 2. But I was much like Charlotte, and that made all the difference for me, because despite how annoying she is, I understand were she is coming from.
I think it was a nice story, that could hopefully make others think about how they treat their classmates. I ended up really liking it, on a rather personal level, and I'll keep reading the other books, to see what else's he has to offer. But for now, this would make an excellent standalone book.
Why did you give it four stars then? I hear you asking. For one very simple but utterly important reason (one I'm sure most bookworms would agree on). I connected with Charlotte on a level I hardly connect with characters. This is the story of a girl who is not popular, not pretty, not athletic, and who is practically invisible even to teachers. She doesn't know love, she doesn't have friends, and for what I gather all she has is intelligence. Of course, there's more to her than that, but she has to discover that on her own as the book moves along. But the basic outline of the story is of a regular teenager that wants to be accepted. And that was what I went through in Junior High. I wasn't popular either, nor athletic, or pretty, or had many friends (I could count them with just one hand). And even though I learnt that all of that wasn't important, that I learnt to embrace my quirkiness and accept it as who I was, that I eventually learnt to love myself, I can still remember that part of my life as a stressful one. I know what is like to want to fit in, desperately. So Charlotte talked to that old 15 year old me in a way very few characters have.
I had fun with her, it was annoying to see her so deeply obsessed with Damen, and constantly thinking how much she wanted him, how obsessed she was with the dance and nothing else, not even able to accept her death. Things spiral out of control when Scarlett gets involved, and I'm sure all of you know how this ends without even having to read the book. Last 30 pages, here comes the moment of truth. Charlotte has her desired moment, the one she has been pinning for the whole book. But suddenly she stops, she has a look at herself and in that moment illumination hits her. She grows. She realises this kiss, this moment, is not for her, that she has to let go, and she moves on. It's a beautiful moment I think, because very few of us get to figure it out at 15, we usually have to grow more, make many mistakes, and learn more in order to discover that we are more than school kids think of us. The beauty I found in the book is that she has no time, she is dead, and she has to learn that for the sake of being able to move on in her afterlife, or she'll be stuck forever.
So yes, the story per se doesn't get more than a three. All the stereotypes are so marked that it gets annoying, and makes me believe Anerica is truly like that (and makes me grateful we don't have cheerleaders here at all). Characters are too obvious, predictable, and sometimes plain, so I can't justify more than 3 stars. If I didn't have my background, had I been a popular girl, it might even had gone down to 2. But I was much like Charlotte, and that made all the difference for me, because despite how annoying she is, I understand were she is coming from.
I think it was a nice story, that could hopefully make others think about how they treat their classmates. I ended up really liking it, on a rather personal level, and I'll keep reading the other books, to see what else's he has to offer. But for now, this would make an excellent standalone book.
August 4, 2016
Compré este libro en un Walmart de Nueva York, durante un viaje hace ya casi seis años. Me gustó mucho la tapa y no podia creer que se encontrara tirado en un cajon de descuentos a tan solo 3 dolares. Lo compré sin saber de qué se trataba. La edición de tapa dura posee una portada troquelada con la silueta en primer plano (al cerrar el libro) y una imagen completa al abrirlo. Increíblemente hermoso.
Esta primera introducción a la historia parece un poco floja. Los primeros capítulos dan a entender que la trama es simplemente otra estúpida novela romántica de la High School estadounidense. Hasta que la protagonista muere.
De ahí en adelante, no pude dejar de leer.
Charlotte es un fantasma, y la única persona capaz de verla es Scarlet, la chica “rara” y “antisocial” de la escuela. Poco a poco forman una gran amistad.
El sueño de Charlotte era ser popular, algo que no alcanzó en vida. El sueño de Scarlet es pasar desapercibida, algo bastante difícil teniendo a Charlotte inmiscuyéndose en su vida.
La frontera entre quién es Scarlet y quién es Charlotte se vuelve más delgada conforme pasan las páginas. Scarlet quiere ayudar a su amiga a lograr lo que no pudo en vida (para que pueda descansar en paz), pero teme que eso la ponga en una situación que le resulta incómoda: la popularidad.
Entre idas y venidas, veremos traiciones, miedos y aventura. Nos toparemos con algo de romance y los valores de una amistad sincera.
PERSONAJES
Como lo imaginarán, el diseño de personajes es extremadamente pobre. Lo cuál no hace que la novela sea mala.
Charlotte es "la chica linda" que sueña con ser popular y se esfuerza al máximo para lograrlo. Cliché.
Scarlet es la "inadaptada", típica de las historias estadounidenses. Se viste de negro, no habla con nadie, etc.
Damen (el chico) es el "deportista popular" con el que TODAS quieren salir, pero él no es de ese estilo. Es un "buen chico" -al estilo del protagonista de High School Musical- que guarda su corazón para la persona indicada.
Nada nuevo en los protagonistas. Nada especial, salvo porque Charlotte está muerta y su única conexión con el mundo es una chica totalmente opuesta a ella. La elaboración de la historia es muy buena a pesar de los personajes que nos resultan familiares porque ya los hemos visto millones de veces.
PUEDEN LEER la reseña completa en mi blog http://pardonmispanglish.blogspot.com...
Esta primera introducción a la historia parece un poco floja. Los primeros capítulos dan a entender que la trama es simplemente otra estúpida novela romántica de la High School estadounidense. Hasta que la protagonista muere.
De ahí en adelante, no pude dejar de leer.
Charlotte es un fantasma, y la única persona capaz de verla es Scarlet, la chica “rara” y “antisocial” de la escuela. Poco a poco forman una gran amistad.
El sueño de Charlotte era ser popular, algo que no alcanzó en vida. El sueño de Scarlet es pasar desapercibida, algo bastante difícil teniendo a Charlotte inmiscuyéndose en su vida.
La frontera entre quién es Scarlet y quién es Charlotte se vuelve más delgada conforme pasan las páginas. Scarlet quiere ayudar a su amiga a lograr lo que no pudo en vida (para que pueda descansar en paz), pero teme que eso la ponga en una situación que le resulta incómoda: la popularidad.
Entre idas y venidas, veremos traiciones, miedos y aventura. Nos toparemos con algo de romance y los valores de una amistad sincera.
PERSONAJES
Como lo imaginarán, el diseño de personajes es extremadamente pobre. Lo cuál no hace que la novela sea mala.
Charlotte es "la chica linda" que sueña con ser popular y se esfuerza al máximo para lograrlo. Cliché.
Scarlet es la "inadaptada", típica de las historias estadounidenses. Se viste de negro, no habla con nadie, etc.
Damen (el chico) es el "deportista popular" con el que TODAS quieren salir, pero él no es de ese estilo. Es un "buen chico" -al estilo del protagonista de High School Musical- que guarda su corazón para la persona indicada.
Nada nuevo en los protagonistas. Nada especial, salvo porque Charlotte está muerta y su única conexión con el mundo es una chica totalmente opuesta a ella. La elaboración de la historia es muy buena a pesar de los personajes que nos resultan familiares porque ya los hemos visto millones de veces.
PUEDEN LEER la reseña completa en mi blog http://pardonmispanglish.blogspot.com...
October 26, 2008
Charlotte has worked for this all summer. The first day of school. This year is going to be different, this year she is going to be noticed, this year she is going to get the most popular boy in school. She gets really close too, well she had the whole lab partner thing going for her, until she choked to death on that soft red gummy bear.
She doesn’t show up at the pearly gates instead she’s still stuck in high school only this time it’s high school for the dead. Now her crush really doesn’t know she’s alive, but Charlotte doesn’t let that damper her determination. She just realizes she’ll need to be a little more creative to reach her goal.
Ghostgirl definitely wasn’t what I expected, but it was still really fun to read. Poor Charlotte, the girl can’t seem to catch a break! The plot was unpredictable although I thought the ending could have been a little stronger, no one lets go of a grudge of that proportions just like that. I would try to explain more, but I don’t want to give anything away. The characters were fun. You have your stereotypical popular rich bitch girl, the stupid jock, the goth girl and the dead girl. If there can be something considered a stereotypical dead girl! Hurley’s writing style is easy to fall into and I finished the book in no time! The cover for the books is exceptional! It is a die-cut cover and the color scheme is pink and black. very cool. I loved the quotes and illustrations introducing every chapter and the page borders were a nice touch as well. I know that has nothing to do with the story itself, but I like creative additions like that!
She doesn’t show up at the pearly gates instead she’s still stuck in high school only this time it’s high school for the dead. Now her crush really doesn’t know she’s alive, but Charlotte doesn’t let that damper her determination. She just realizes she’ll need to be a little more creative to reach her goal.
Ghostgirl definitely wasn’t what I expected, but it was still really fun to read. Poor Charlotte, the girl can’t seem to catch a break! The plot was unpredictable although I thought the ending could have been a little stronger, no one lets go of a grudge of that proportions just like that. I would try to explain more, but I don’t want to give anything away. The characters were fun. You have your stereotypical popular rich bitch girl, the stupid jock, the goth girl and the dead girl. If there can be something considered a stereotypical dead girl! Hurley’s writing style is easy to fall into and I finished the book in no time! The cover for the books is exceptional! It is a die-cut cover and the color scheme is pink and black. very cool. I loved the quotes and illustrations introducing every chapter and the page borders were a nice touch as well. I know that has nothing to do with the story itself, but I like creative additions like that!
August 19, 2008
Like many reviewers I really wanted to love this book. First of all, it's one of the coolest looking books I have ever seen! Just seeing it on the shelf at the store made me want to buy it. And who can resist a book about a girl that dies choking on a gummy bear? The book started out with such promise, but very quickly becomes incredibly annoying. All the characters are badly undeveloped in the rush to finish the dull story so it's hard to care about anyone at all. Charlotte, who could have been such a fun character, is whiny, not-so-smart, and delusional. Scarlet, also a character with promise, lacks a real personality. Damen, our leading man, is not the brightest bulb in the box. Overall a painfully disappointing (and expensive!) read. Bleh.
May 9, 2011
El libro es terrible, pero terrible. Tenía que recordarme que la protagonista es una adolescente y muchos pasamos por ciertas etapas y, bueno, no debe de ser fácil morir de una manera tan estúpida... aún así, no. La protagonista es demasiado berrinchuda, inmadura e inconsciente y me molestan los libros que te dicen que ser popular es algo porque parece que la prota nunca aprendió lo que debía.
Es como un Crepúsculo que te quiere enseñar continuamente una lección de vida que no es.
Es como un Crepúsculo que te quiere enseñar continuamente una lección de vida que no es.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,537 reviews