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Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway (view source)
Revision as of 14:34, 10 August 2020
, 14:34, 10 August 2020no edit summary
I really didn't expect to like ''Audrey, Wait!''. I thought it was going to pan out to be another glittery, girly, teen diary-style novel - slight, superficial, and ultimately pointless. But not so! Audrey is smart and snazzy, and not in the least bit ditzy and sparkly. In fact, she's healthily snobbish toward the ditzy and sparkly groupies she comes across in the course of her dreadful fifteen minutes of fame. But, wit and originality aside, Audrey is just as self-centred as many of her peers, including the ditzy groupies, and her unwelcome celebrity teaches her this eventually. It's the same journey every teenager makes, but poor Audrey has to make it under the glare of notoriety.
The book is also a look at the cult of celebrity, in which being known is more important than what you are known for. It's not a pleasant aspect of twenty-first -century culture, and the book pulls no punches describing it. But it's not a soapboxy, disapproving book. We see everything through Audrey's eyes, and Audrey is very funny indeed. I had huge sympathy for her, but I also found myself wanting to be her friend.
It's a fabulous read for teen girls; witty, wise and with something to say - but there's plenty of fashion sense included, so they won't have to go cold turkey.
My thanks to the nice people at Hodder for sending the book.
[[Sara's Face by Melvin Burgess]] and [[Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks]] are both rather more chilling looks at the cult of celebrity. You might also enjoy [[All of This Is True by Lygia Day Penaflor]].
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