“10th-grader Leslie is angry and rebellious, while her best friend Katie is the “good one.” Leslie’s parents recently divorced, which forced her mom to move them into a cramped, dingy apartment. At school, Leslie’s bumbling English teacher hands out a journal-writing assignment; Leslie’s not happy about that, until she meets Jason – the so-called “love of her life” whom she begins to write about. Jason manipulates their relationship, beginning to both mentally and physically abuse his girlfriend. Until Leslie begs Katie to help her, she keeps making mistake after mistake in dealing with the abusive boyfriend. However, the ending redeems itself in that the police finally help Leslie and her mom via a “Victim’s Services” advocate, who helps them get tools such as caller ID and a dead bolt lock, plus help them through the court process. Most of the story, however, seems unrealistic in that Leslie probably wouldn’t have made all the mistakes that she did; however, the author did a fine job presenting the numerous mistakes that, surely, many teens have made in real life. Two unrealistic parts that detract from the story are a description of “totally awful teaching:”
-when the original English teacher attempts to come back to the classroom (no teacher would be this clueless in real life)
-when the assistant principal – with no medical training – suggests to Leslie’s mom that medication might solve all her daughter’s problems (any educator who suggested such an immediate, drastic step would certainly be reprimanded if not fired).
Additionally, this story is written as if it’s all Leslie’s journal; but there are some inconsistencies in this format. Even after a new English teacher takes the journal to a principal, the reader is still reading Leslie’s journal, even though it’s supposedly no longer in her possession! Perhaps YA readers can overlook this inconsistency, but it is noticeable. One of the more well-written parts of this novel comes when Leslie explains “one of the horrible things about dating guys.” Any middle or high-school girl that reads Leslie’s theory will immediately connect with her based on this passage, despite the book’s other shortcomings.
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MsWrobel wrote this review Saturday, October 17 2009.
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