Going Vintage

Going Vintage

by Lindsey Leavitt

Even though Mallory just moved to town about two years ago, she's already set in her high school ranking.  She's the girlfriend of one of the hottest guys in school, so she's got an identity and hundreds of "friends" on her Friendspace account (think MySpace merged with Facebook).

After an intense make-out session at her BF's house, she goes onto his computer to write his philosophy paper, only to find his Friendspace account open and a virtual "wife" who is a complete stranger to Mallory.

Is it cheating if it's only online?

Hell YES!

While Mallory is recovering from the ultimate betrayal, she comes across a list her grandma made in 1962.

        Junior Year: Back to School Resolution.

             1. Run for Pep Squad secretary

             2. Host a fancy dinner party/soiree

             3. Sew a dress for homecoming

             4. Find a steady

             5. Do something dangerous

This list is simple.  This list is powerful.  This list is exactly what Mallory needs.

In order to make this list authentic, Mallory immerses herself in a tech-free environment.  No more cell phone. No more computer. No more digital anything.  And definitely no more Friendspace.

Now she has just a couple of weeks to finish the entire list, while dealing with the real world ramifications of an online smear campaign.

Final thoughts:  This is a cotton candy book.  It's light and fun, but you have to let some concerns go as you read to really enjoy it.  There are far too many things that line up for Mallory, as well as go wrong.  It's just a bit much to see all of this happening in the space of about two weeks.  Some of the things are just a little out of the realm of believability, but are still interesting to read.  Mallory's voice was really true to that of a high school junior, sometimes annoyingly so.  However, the overall story is a decent one and one that many people will be able to relate to.

One annoying thing, from this Librarian's point of view, is Mallory's research project.  Because she's sworn off technology, she has to write her report the old-fashioned way, which includes researching in the Library (YEAH!), but then she procrastinates too long, gets bored and frustrated, so she sneaks onto a computer, copy/pastes from different articles, changes a few sentences "so the words are my own", prints the paper, and submits it.  The author just endorsed plagiarism??  We already have a HUGE problem with students doing this every day and the author just put it in a book?  I know she's going for reality, but this is just frustrating.

Rating: 4/5