book review: Leftovers by Laura Weiss

i've been wanting to read this book for a couple of years now. i finally got my hands on a copy a few months ago from paperbackswap. lately, i've had no intentions of reading it... but after a failed attempt at going to lovEvolution in SF, i was home alone in an apartment that was not my own. so i looked through the books available to me and found this. i read most of the book's 256 pages in one day.

the back of the book reads, "Blair and Ardith are best friends who have committed an unforgivable act in the name of love and justice. But in order to understand what could drive two young women to such extreme measures, first you'll have to understand why. You'll have to listen as they describe parents who are alternately absent and smothering, classmates who mock and shun anyone different, and young men who are allowed to hurt and dominate without consequence. You will have to learn what it's like to be a teenage girl who locks her bedroom door at night, who has been written off by the adults around her as damaged goods. A girl who has no one to trust except the one person she's forbidden to see. You'll have to understand what it's really like to be forgotten and abandoned in America today. Are you ready?"

i was ready. and i was pretty into the storyline through most of the novel. i really enjoyed the way the story was written where the girls told their story to someone (though not the reader). typically, the girls both change as the plot moves forward. i think once the girls really began to change is when i started to dislike the story. i think most people may enjoy this book because it speaks to the teenagers in america today, or whatever. but i'm so tired of storylines like this, where girls are helpless and/or when they do take charge of their own life they do something STUPID. yes, the caps is necessary.

i'm no good at reviewing books, but overall i disliked the book. i actually came close to throwing it across the room once i finished it. i felt sick by what the story resulted in, and was mad that this shit was supposed to represent a large group of people. for once, i'd love to read a book where a teenager just learns to suck it up, and cope with emotions in a healthy way! hell, maybe i just missed the point of the whole novel. who knows. either way, i am not giving weiss' other novel a try.

2/5 stars.