- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (29 Jun 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0618263276
- ISBN-13: 978-0618263271
- Product Dimensions: 20.9 x 14 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,990,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Bess Roman in Independent on Sunday, September 2003
Special makes disturbing yet entirely necessary reading.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Review
'Special is a work of brilliance and insight. At times it's like reading an anthropological text on a strange, distant tribe, while at others it feels uncomfortably familiar - but I have to say I've never come across a book that makes me so glad to be grown-up' Daily Telegraph 'Sinister and menacing' Patricia Duncker, Books of 2002, New Statesman 'A brilliant and disturbing take on underoccupied teenage girls' Maggie O'Farrell, Books of 2002, Observer
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What an excellent book. An absolutely fascinating insight into the the dark world that teenage girls are able to create for themselves. While untypical of most fifteen year old girls, this particular group as portrayed by Bathurst, come off by turns appealing and downright repellent.Every woman will have known at least one of these characters during those uncertain years at school, or been party to a similar group.All the minutae of adolescent struggles is made uncomfortably vivid, magnified by Bathurst's deeply evocative and unsettling style of writing, that smacks of both honesty and exaggeration.A book that asks many difficult questions, and offers no easy answers.Highly recommended.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Has anyone reviewing this read it in a teenage mind-set?
I myself am only 17 and reading it was, for me, a real-eye opener, showing that im not the only one who feels in my position. I think the book shows a good understanding of female relationships, and although most people begin to see this as they mature, for a younger audience i think this book is great. It really feels as if there is a writer there who actually understands teenage girls and is writing from their point of view... not another writer trying to be a teenager and failing dismally.
I myself am only 17 and reading it was, for me, a real-eye opener, showing that im not the only one who feels in my position. I think the book shows a good understanding of female relationships, and although most people begin to see this as they mature, for a younger audience i think this book is great. It really feels as if there is a writer there who actually understands teenage girls and is writing from their point of view... not another writer trying to be a teenager and failing dismally.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I disagree with Keelis' (review below) closing line, which by the way is absolutely superb: "Overall, this book may appeal to you if you like books which are very slow and boring." A killer put-down, but I think it's a little bit unfair on poor Bella Bathurst. OK, the book is definitely jam-packed with clichés about the horridness of being a teenager - but that's the whole point, teenagers ARE clichéd, and that doesn't make their suffering any less real... I definitely remember the years Bathurst describes as being pretty d-n awful, and I think she does a good job of keeping your attention throughout all this dreariness. Maybe it's a little bit voyeuristic, but it's still effective.
One quibble, though: girls like Cat always pop up in these sort of books: perfect Lolita-like little creatures, old beyond their years in their exquisite cruelty. I agree that girls (just like boys) can be real bullies, but I wonder if this not an idea we carry with us from adolescence... at that point, these sort of girls seemed to be the devil incarnate, when they were probably just as freaked out as we were. Or is that just me becoming old and well-meaning and totally out of touch??
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
loved it, have read it twice
definitely one of my top ten books. I found it very insightful and the rawness of it gave the book this eery edge that is rare to find. Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2006 by "britt_bub"
Especially Special
Finally, a true reflection of teenage life as a female. Girls who go on school trips together, or are at boarding school together, usually have an entirely different experience to... Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2004 by Miss R A Regan
Nothing Special about Special
The back of this book promises "a fierce, subversive, darkly probing exploration of female adolescence", and while it might be considered fierce, only the very naive reader is... Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2003 by A. Ross
Nothing Special about Special
The back of this book promises "a fierce, subversive, darkly probing exploration of female adolescence", and while it might be considered fierce, only the very naive reader is... Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2003 by A. Ross
Disappointing
I didn't find this book at all exhilarating. It was very boring and pointless. It may appeal to you if you like fiction which is writen all over the place, but to me it did not... Read more
Published on 18 July 2003 by Keely
Special - a chilling glimpse into the adolescent female mind
I couldn't put 'Special' down, reading it at one sitting. It gives a chilling insight into the minds of adolescent girls, seen largely through the eyes of Ali, an... Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2002
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