Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com
BEAUTIFUL is a gripping, gritty, and realistic look into the life of a lonely girl finally shown some attention...albeit the wrong sort of attention.
Cassie and her family have moved from Bainbridge Island to the Seattle suburbs. It's the start of seventh grade, and Cassie has grown into her beauty. The kids at her new school don't know who she was prior to the move.
She starts to form tentative bonds with girls she would never have been welcomed to befriend at her school, when tough girl Alex grabs her from the cafeteria and instantly insists they be friends. She takes Cassie to where some of the older boys are hanging out during lunch, and Cassie is struck when the obvious leader of the boys calls her beautiful. It's from this point on that life spirals downward for Cassie.
Though things with James quickly go sour, she is absolutely caught up in the limelight that surrounds the new boy, Ethan. And Ethan wants HER! He can even drive. Cassie does anything and everything Ethan asks of her. But it's the destructive relationship she has with Alex that does the most damage.
Cassie literally does everything and anything in the pages of BEAUTIFUL. She goes from being the unnoticed nothing girl to the girl who has done acid, had sex, and dresses trampy, according to her father. Cassie's voice is almost defeatist in the way she acquiesces to everything suggested to her. It's not until she befriends Alex's half-sister that Cassie really starts to show any personality of her own. She finally learns to stand on her own two feet, ready to fight for what is right.
There are only two concerns I have regarding BEAUTIFUL. The first is that I still am not sure who the intended audience of the book is aimed at. Though Cassie is only thirteen and in seventh grade, the language, drugs, and sexual situations are for a far older reader. Also, for those that require a definite backstory for Cassie (i.e.: how she came to be beautiful and why they moved from the island to the mainland), they won't find it here.
Outside of those two concerns, though, BEAUTIFUL is definitely an eye-opening read.
BEAUTIFUL is a gripping, gritty, and realistic look into the life of a lonely girl finally shown some attention...albeit the wrong sort of attention.
Cassie and her family have moved from Bainbridge Island to the Seattle suburbs. It's the start of seventh grade, and Cassie has grown into her beauty. The kids at her new school don't know who she was prior to the move.
She starts to form tentative bonds with girls she would never have been welcomed to befriend at her school, when tough girl Alex grabs her from the cafeteria and instantly insists they be friends. She takes Cassie to where some of the older boys are hanging out during lunch, and Cassie is struck when the obvious leader of the boys calls her beautiful. It's from this point on that life spirals downward for Cassie.
Though things with James quickly go sour, she is absolutely caught up in the limelight that surrounds the new boy, Ethan. And Ethan wants HER! He can even drive. Cassie does anything and everything Ethan asks of her. But it's the destructive relationship she has with Alex that does the most damage.
Cassie literally does everything and anything in the pages of BEAUTIFUL. She goes from being the unnoticed nothing girl to the girl who has done acid, had sex, and dresses trampy, according to her father. Cassie's voice is almost defeatist in the way she acquiesces to everything suggested to her. It's not until she befriends Alex's half-sister that Cassie really starts to show any personality of her own. She finally learns to stand on her own two feet, ready to fight for what is right.
There are only two concerns I have regarding BEAUTIFUL. The first is that I still am not sure who the intended audience of the book is aimed at. Though Cassie is only thirteen and in seventh grade, the language, drugs, and sexual situations are for a far older reader. Also, for those that require a definite backstory for Cassie (i.e.: how she came to be beautiful and why they moved from the island to the mainland), they won't find it here.
Outside of those two concerns, though, BEAUTIFUL is definitely an eye-opening read.
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