Silag, Lucy. Beautiful Americans. Razorbill/Penguin. Jan. 2009. ISBN: 978-1-59514-222-1. Gr 8-12.
-- School Library Journal, 1/14/2009
The book was about teen angst, as is most young adult fiction. Some of the characters had the stereotypical problems of the genre, such as spoiled rich kid whose life is spinning out of control, etc. but a few of the characters had valid issues. I appreciated that Olivia had an autistic brother, and that her storyline dealt with the challenges that affected her whole family because of her brother’s disability.
This book was actually better than I thought it would be, but that isn't saying much. I found it distracting that the author jumped from character to character each chapter, because she did not pick up where she left off and there were holes in the story that never really got filled in. The story is set in Paris, and a lot of French was used, but none of the French phrases were repeated in English so the punch line or key point of a conversation was often completely unknown to me.I didn't really care about any of the four main characters, but I found myself wanting to know more about some of the supporting characters such as Olivia's boyfriend, and Jay, who in my opinion would have been a better main character than Zach the somewhat generalized gay character. It seemed like the author was setting up the story for a sequel, but I can't see myself wanting to read it.
The cover was rather generic - it had attractive teenagers on it, and the book was about attractive teenagers, so I guess it relates, but it didn't matter all that much. Note to Ms. Silag - I, like a majority of your audience, do not know French! – Caitlin M., age 17
This review is from a member of the Teens Know "Best" YA Galley Group of the St. Paul Public Library and the Metropolitan State University Library and Learning Center (MN), a part of YALSA's Young Adult Galley/Teen Top Ten Project which uses 15 public libraries and school library media centers from across the country to provide feedback to publishers of young adult books.
