Acting

Acting by Sherri Winston 2004

Rating: 2.5/5

IQ "Eve desperately searched her mind for a character, any character, she could play, whose lines were already written and spoken and tested, because she had no words of her own." pg. 22


Eve feels unappreciated by her mother and twin sister, Al (their mother named them both Eve with different middle names; Eve Alexandra and Eve Belinda). Eve is always trying to be a "good girl" to please her mother, but her mother just wants Eve to be more like her twin. The only time Eve feels truly special is when she's on the stage and she spends all her time acting and playing in the make believe. Eve soon feels that she is shedding her "good girl" image when she begins to fall for a "bad boy" (named Luscious). "Acting gives us a backstage view of one of life's most brutal auditions-the audition for true identity and sexual awareness, the discover of what it takes to be yourself" (inside flap)

This book had an air of ridiculousness to it and unlike in other books where that's charming, in Acting I just found it annoying. First off, the names. Who names both their daughters the same thing?! I mean really. Also, Luscious? That was his actual name. I almost gagged. Also, the characters were unappealing. Eve was annoying and whiny. She seemed to be completely clueless as to what was going on in her family and she constantly jumped to conclusions. Luscious was so far from actually being 'luscious'. He was ok, he had cute moments, but for the most part I felt that the author used the fact that he's an artist as a crutch (if that makes sense). What I mean is, the only attractive part of him seemed to be his artistic talent (and I suppose his 'hot bod') and the author relied on that only (I suppose her point could have been to make him undesirable but I wanted to learn more about him, why was he bad?). I didn't understand Al's mood swings either; sometimes she would be totally sweet to Eve and other times she would be totally vindictive. Eve's mother was just awful and I don't feel that she grew at all. She was bitter and I was skeptical as to her claims of why she acted that way. The only person in Eve's family I always liked was her Aunt Mary, who was sweet and no-nonsense (Eve's father is in the picture, but he was passive). Finally, it's supposed to be a big mystery as to who the father of Al's baby is (she won't tell), but I had it figured out within the first few chapters.

This book's main redeeming factor was that it talks about an issue that is not often addressed in YA literature; that of a girl wanting sex. It's rare to read about a girl who actually wants to have sex (because we have to be "good and pure" *rolls eyes*) and this part of the story was well done. Eve's struggle is the only thing that made her sympathetic but at the same time I wanted her to just own up to it (or at least stop with her "holier than thou" act). I also enjoyed reading about the production of The Crucible put on by Eve's school. Eve had an interesting take on the role of Abigail Williams and it gave me pause (in a good way).

Acting was a novel that had great promise, but it didn't really deliver. I do think the message of having girls comfortable in their sexuality is an important one to tell and I liked that this book was even trying to tackle that subject. The book is at its best when it focuses on sexual awareness and theater. The scenes involving acting and plays were enjoyable. However, the characters were never fully developed, intentions were never fully realized and I finished this book without caring to read it again.

Disclosure: From the library.

Throwback Thrusday-The Kayla Chronicles

Thanks to Tashi for the Throwback Thursday idea! Throwback Thursday is when you review a book you read a while ago. I'll usually review books that were published before 2007.

The Kayla Chronicles by Sherri Winston

Rating: 4/5

I.Q. "A woman must look inside to find herself. When she spends too much time outside, hanging onto the words of others, she does not become authentic, she becomes deluded." Kayla

Kayla Dean, junior feminist and future journalist, is about the break the story of a lifetime. She is auditioning for the Lady Lions dance team to prove they discriminate against the not-so-well endowed. But when she makes the team, her best friend and fellow feminist, Rosalie, is not happy.Now a Lady Lion, Kayla is transformed from bushy-haired fashion victim to glammed-up dance diva. But does looking good and having fun mean turning her back on the cause? Can you be a strong woman and still wear really cute shoes? Soon Kayla is forced to challenge her views, coming to terms with who she is and what girl power really means.

I loved this book! I learned lots of new quotes from strong women because Kayla and Rosalie email and speak quotes to one another, back and forth (which I imagine would be a little strange to hear). I especially loved all the Kayla-isms, words that Kayla made up. My favorite was stankalicious!

Stankalicious- 1) Derived from stank, slang for stinker. the art of being stanky; 2)One who behaves in a manner so overboard, so bigger-than-life outrageous, so self-deluded, that it would only be considered stankalicious.

The whole story was hilarious. Kayla is really funny in her own way, but she put herself into some of the most awkward but funny situations. There were times in the book where I just smacked my head and groaned in frustration "How could you say THAT?" This is one of those books where you may not want to read in a place where you need to be quiet, because there are plenty of laugh out loud moments!

This book was also really sweet. Kayla lived with her ultra-feminist grandmother JoJo for most of the years of Kayla's life while Kayla's mom, dad and sister traveled throughout Africa (it's never really explained in the book why). When JoJo dies, Kayla's parents come home and Kayla begins living with them again in America. Kayla has to learn to adjust to her (basically new) family. She's not used to having a man around at all , especially not a former Marine like her father. Also, her sister and mother are not the strong feminists that JoJo was. There are some really touching moments and you feel bad for the mother, because while she's trying to reconnect with Kayla, Kayla's trying to push her away.

Rosalie is perfectly annoying, Sherri Winston did an excellent job in writing her character. I really didn't like her, but she had some redeeming qualities. Roger Lee Brown. Just read the book to find out why I feel so bad for the poor kid. I really liked almost the whole Lady Lions squad. One of my favorite scenes involves some Lady Lions and a band major sub. One of the funniest scenes and it's described so well, so vividly. Another great scene is when Rosalie starts to quote Nikki Giovanni's "Ego Trippin" to the Lady Lions and they shut her up really quick, by quoting it right back!

This is one of the funniest, most real books ever. These characters are real (although sometimes I wonder if a person can really be as awkward as Kayla), they are easily people I could see attending my school. My sister who is in junior high read this book really fast, and laughed through the whole thing so I would recommend this book to 6th graders and up. I'm not sure if a guy would like this book as much as a girl, but I'm certainly not going to advise against them reading it.

Check out Susan from Black-Eyed Susan's review here for a slightly different perspective