Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing Special about Special, 25 Nov 2003
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 going to find it subversive or darkly probing. Instead, this story of a two week school trip by a group of 13-year-old English schoolgirls, is more of a catalogue of female teen issues, such as anorexia, cutting, drinking, date rape, divorced parents, absent parents, running away, anger, sexual identity confusion, and so on. The core protagonists of the book are all set up as types: Caz is the beautiful alpha female, Jules is her jealous and caustic sidekick, Hen is the Scottish outsider trying to join the A-list, Ali is the quiet wallflower , Izzy is the gross fat and annoying hypochondriac, Mel and Vicky hang out in the background, Ms. Naylor is the sadistic spinster school marm, and Jaws is the understanding younger teacher.Unless one believes that girls heading into teenagerdom are sweet little angels, there's little new here: They are cruel to each other—some more than others. They are jealous of each other—some more than others. They are terrified of being cast out—some more than others. And so on. Although Bathurst does a decent job of bringing the characters to life, none ever really rises above the level of cliché. More problematically, they often display levels of introspection and sophistication beyond their years. I had to keep reminding myself that these girls were supposed to be thirteen and not sixteen or seventeen. Some have likened it to Lord of the Flies, which is a rather lazy analysis, since the only theme the two books share is the ability of children to be cruel to one another. But while Lord of the Flies was making a much larger point above the nature of man, Bathurst's book is about the banal horror of everyday life as a teenage girl with no strong role models or support systems. In short, nothing special.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
special indeed!, 7 Sep 2003
By A Customer
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.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Special, 10 April 2005
By A Customer
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.
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