Scan barcode
A review by kdahlo
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
Not rating because I don't have a well-calibrated sense of YA writing. This book is in turns very childish and shockingly graphic and violent. That effect is certainly partially deliberate and due to the choice of narrator, but sometimes I think it's a little 'off' in terms of portraying how a teenager would think. It starts very twee, but then it really takes off and changes tone. I basically enjoyed it, but I don't really get the niche for this book. I feel like the reading level is middle school and the violence level is high school. Like I said though, I don't really read much YA. And the narrator is meant to be ~18, however I think she is written more like a 13 year old. Lots of little nitpicks with the writing, but at least it was pretty short and kept me interested. The book has fake fanfic embedded in it, and the book itself definitely has a fanfic feel.