YAB Review: 'Red: Teenage Girls In America Write On What Fires Up Their Lives Today' Edited By Amy Goldwasser
Posted by meredith on 04-21-2009Today's Ypulse Youth Advisory Board post is a book review from Nina L. on the collection of personal essays Red: Teenage Girls Write On What Fires Up Their Lives Today edited by Amy Goldwasser.
As always, you can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com…or just leave a comment below. And If you are a publicist and would like to send our Youth Advisory Board books to review, please email me.
First Impressions:
After reading a short summary of the book I thought it would be aimed towards adults, specifically mothers of teens. Instead, I found the book to be a very helpful guide to my first year in high school. Many of the stories dealt with exactly the same issues that that my friends and I are beginning to deal with ourselves. The entire book is bright red with a very Keith Haring style title. The picture of the teenage girl on the cover did nothing for me; I’m usually drawn to books without photographs on the cover. I think that it was supposed to look like she was underneath the red part, but it was sort of confusing.
I think Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love captured the book's message best with her blurb on the cover, “It’s high time people stopped writing, talking, and worrying about teenage girls and just let those girls speak for themselves.” However, if I saw this at a bookstore I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. The documentary-like feel just wouldn’t have appealed to me — why would I need to read about people like me? Fortunately I was pleasantly surprised when I started the book.
When Were You Hooked?
When I opened the book on a Saturday afternoon, I quickly skipped the introduction. It was too long with lots of little words, and I was ready to get in to the essays. The first story that really pulled me in was "The Jewish Hair" by Jane Horowitz. My best friend has the Jewish hair and I hear her complain about it all the time. Jane did all the same things my friend does: brushing in the shower, using different creams and sprays to control it, etc. Although some of the other, more serious stories scared me — for instance, "The 'Beautiful' Cause of Death That Had Me Dying for a While," which was by a college student who had dealt with a severe case of anorexia and bulimia — I couldn't put the book down. I found myself staying up later and later each night cramming in as many essays as I could. They were witty and kept me interested and helped me to better understand a lot of high school issues. The authors covered a wide range of topics from eating disorders to school to parents, even Johnny Depp. What moved me most though was the ending section where the authors wrote what’s wrong with the world and what we could do to make it a better place for everyone.
The Extras (i.e. author and/or book's website, additional marketing materials, etc):
I was surprised by how much information there was on the book's website. Not only is it a book, but now there is a CD, a fashion collaboration, and a social network for the authors to post whatever they feel like posting; stories, poems, reviews. I learned that the 58 authors all have their own account on the website and some post a lot more than others. In general though I felt like the website could have been slightly better maintained. For instance, it says that the book tour began October 28, 2009, but the next location was going to be on April 4th (?!).
Final Verdict:
I’m not sure if I would read another book exactly like this because I think the whole idea could get old. Other than that I would definitely recommend this to teenage girls, their mothers, and anyone else interested on what we are going through. Although a few stories just went on and on, most were really relevant. I enjoyed the short essays that left me wanting more over the longer ones that left nothing up to the imagination.
Red is a great idea that was also executed very well. After finishing the book I went back to read the introduction, and Amy Goldwasser shares some great insight and overall knowledge of today’s youth. All teenage girls and their parents should read this book.
About Nina L.
Nina is a freshman in high school in Washington state. She plays the flute in the school band. Even though she's not as writing inclined as the other board members, Nina is the youngest of the group and may share an opinion with a younger audience. Nina is very interested in fashion, new technology and teen culture. Having three and a half sisters (an exchange sister for the year) she knows a lot about how teenage girls interact with each other and their parents. Nina ‘s biggest love is music, either classical or contemporary, it doesn’t matter. She cares about all of it.
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Categorized under: Books & Print, YAB Review, Youth Advisory Board