Book Review: Pudge & Prejudice
It’s 1984 and after moving to Northenfield, Texas, with her family, Elyse Nebbit faces the challenge of finding her place in a new school, one dominated by social status and Friday night football. When Elyse’s effortlessly beautiful older sister Jayne starts dating golden boy Charlie Bingley, Elyse finds herself curious about Charlie’s popular and brooding best friend, Billy Fitz. Elyse’s body insecurities eventually complicate her relationship with Billy, leaving Jayne and Elyse’s exceedingly blunt friend, Lottie, to step in and help Elyse accept herself for who she is, pant size and all.
I've said this in the past, but I'm not big into reading YA books. I ended up making another exception with this one though, because when I read the synopsis, I was instantly taken in and I wanted to read more and I'm so glad I did.
First
off, reading this story made me feel like I was reading a John Hughes
film. One of my favorite guilty pleasures is watching teen, 80's, coming
of age movies. I just never get tired of watching Ferris singing on top
of a float in the middle of the city or watching everyone forgetting
Samantha's 16th birthday. It's classic and they just give you this sense
of entertainment and relatability and that's how I felt reading Pudge
& Prejudice. It's a classic 80's story all on it's own and it's a good one for any 80's fan to read. It makes you happy, sad, heard, and it invites you in from the very beginning.
Going with the
theme of relatability, there were quite a few relatable scenarios
throughout the story. Even though this is a teen drama book, I feel that
teen drama is timeless. You're always going to have some of the same
instances throughout life and that's how I felt reading this book. I
could picture myself in these different scenarios and reached back into my
memory and pulled out instances of when such and such events happened.
There was nothing too crazy or out of the crazy ordinary, it's all
practical in some way, shape or form, but it's not dull, not even an ounce.
Then
there's the characters. The characters were also people that I could
relate to on a personal level. As we are introduced to different
characters, I was able to picture which one of my friends would be which
person or who I would be in each scenario. The characters were just a fun delight, nor were character's jumbled up or mistaken for someone else at any point in time.
I also would just like to point out that the author does a fantastic job of creating the setting for you. The book is set in rural, small town Texas in the 80's. The author is able to create a place that you can envision, even one you might have seen, and place it into words and into the pictures in your mind.
Overall, I give this book a 5 out of 5. It was enjoyable, it was fun, great characters, relatable plots and it's just a really well written book. Definitely put this one on you and your teenage kids shelve this year. Until next time, Happy Reading!
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YES! Relatable! Whether you're fifteen or fifty, we can all relate. I get the impression you (like me) are not well-versed in the original novel, Pride and Prejudice, so this is a great review to remind readers that we don't have to be Austenites to enjoy this great story. Can't wait to see your Vlog!
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