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Girl Defective Simmone Howell Henry Beer Books

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Girl Defective Simmone Howell Henry Beer Books

Sky is trying to find her place. In the world, in her personal relationships and even in her family. Her mother left long ago, pursuing dreams of art and recognition leaving her caring but alcoholic father to raise herself and her eccentric younger brother Gully. The one constant in life has been 'The Wishing Well', their beloved vintage record shop. But with a developer sniffing around for ways to claim the property even that is on shaky ground. With her best friend Nancy drifting further away and her new crush Luke dealing with a secret tragedy it's up to Sky to figure out a way to hold it all together, or decide to let it all go and begin anew.

This book had a lot of potential but never quite lived up to it. With one main mystery surrounding the plot line the other storylines felt at times like filler, something you want to get through quickly to get back to the real story. There are also many great side characters that I would have loved to see more of that don't get the attention they deserve. That said, Simmone Howell fills the pages with beautiful prose and an intelligent heroine, making this a worthwhile read and certainly an author I'll be following in the future.


Tags : Amazon.com: Girl Defective (9781442497603): Simmone Howell, Henry Beer: Books,Simmone Howell, Henry Beer,Girl Defective,Atheneum Books for Young Readers,1442497602,Mysteries & Detective Stories,Performing Arts - Music,Romance - General,Australia,Coming of age,Coming of age;Fiction.,Family life - Australia,Family life;Australia;Fiction.,Friendship,Friendship;Fiction.,Mystery and detective stories,Record stores,Saint Kilda (Vic.),Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12),Family life,Fiction,Fiction-Coming of Age,JUVENILE,JUVENILE FICTION Love & Romance,JUVENILE FICTION Mysteries & Detective Stories,JUVENILE FICTION Performing Arts Music,JUVENILE FICTION Social Themes General (see also headings under Family),Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile FictionLove & Romance,Juvenile FictionMysteries, Espionage, & Detective Stories,Juvenile FictionPerforming Arts - Music,Juvenile Grades 10-12 Ages 15+,Love & Romance,Mysteries (Young Adult),Mystery and detective stories,Nick Hornby; High Fidelity; Perks of Being a Wallflower; Empire Records; Rainbow Rowell; teen romance; literary teen novel; music; Bohemian; romance; records,Nick Hornby; High Fidelity; Perks of Being a Wallflower; Empire Records; Rainbow Rowell; teen romance; literary teen novel; music; Bohemian; romance; music; records,Performing Arts - Music,Personal & social issues (Children's Teenage),Record stores,Romance - General,Saint Kilda (Vic.),Social Themes - General,TEEN'S FICTION MYSTERY & DETECTIVE,TEEN'S FICTION ROMANCE,United States,YOUNG ADULT FICTION,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Mysteries & Detective Stories,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Performing Arts Music,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Romance General,JUVENILE FICTION Love & Romance,JUVENILE FICTION Mysteries & Detective Stories,JUVENILE FICTION Performing Arts Music,JUVENILE FICTION Social Themes General (see also headings under Family),Juvenile FictionLove & Romance,Juvenile FictionMysteries, Espionage, & Detective Stories,Juvenile FictionPerforming Arts - Music,Love & Romance,Social Themes - General,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Mysteries & Detective Stories,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Performing Arts Music,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Romance General,Family life,Fiction,Mysteries (Young Adult),YOUNG ADULT FICTION,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12),Personal & social issues (Children's Teenage)

Girl Defective Simmone Howell Henry Beer Books Reviews

Summary
Sky Martin narrates her tale of dealing with those around her and growing up. Her dad owns a record shop and is an alcoholic. Her mother left them to pursue a rock career and has no interaction with them. Her younger brother fancies himself a detective and is determined to solve two mysteries that go through the book vandalism and abduction. An older girl that Sky is friends with, and Luke the new hire. Sky relates her feelings of interactions with all of these characters intermixed with discussions of life and the crimes going on around her.

My thoughts
I really enjoyed this movie in an 80's teen movie kind of way. The narrator has the same witty voice that you expect in those long loved movies and each character is extremely flawed without the promise of perfection. I love how this novel shows just what is without the ideal clouding everything. The all over the place writing matches with the narrator and adds more to her character. Overall, I would recommend this book to adults that want to reminisce about their teenage years, and older children that are able to handle the scatterbrained aspect.
Girl Defective is an interesting Australian import that I found to be just quirky enough to eventually charm its way to a four star rating. This story of Skylark Martin has a hard time going anywhere, and although I found the characters to be interesting and the setting to be rather exotic, I found the story itself to be a bit of a mess for most of the book.

This is certainly a unique look at traditional coming of age themes, and young readers who are not put off by all the Australian pop cultural references, slang terms and other idiosyncrasies will likely find much to enjoy as they follow 16 year old Skylark as she tries to "find her people". This is not an easy task when you have a ten year old brother with his own unique collection of issues and you live over a vintage record store with a father who drinks too much.

It's the characters that save this wandering story. Gully stole my heart and Skylark managed to finally get there by the end of the book. The story was surprisingly edgy, if not especially graphic. Thanks to an older girlfriend, Sky is exposed to numerous sexual situations and drug use, all without too much interference from a father who is struggling to determine his own future. This is one messed up little family with a lot of problems, but fortunately there's also a lot of love in evidence.

Sky learns some valuable lessons by the end of the story, when the plotting finally tightens up and things start going somewhere. Girl Defective is a strange little book that I ended up liking, but just be a whisker.
I'm giving this book a little bit of the benefit of the doubt in part because it has the trifecta of things that drive sensitive readers crazy sex, drugs, and swear words. That seems an odd item to base a review on, but Girl Defective is one of those books that needs something to keep readers interested and the trifecta might just do it. The book is a slice-of-life type that follows fifteen year old Sky who lives in Australia and discovers that love and romance are connected, but not exactly the same thing. On the one hand she's friends with the older Nancy who's totally into the whole rock and roll scene of St. Kilda's. This leads, ultimately, to Sky making some ill-informed decisions, but also to her getting to know Luke who she's totally crushing on. Then there's her brother, Gully, who is a little bit special needs but whom she cares for and feels protective of. There's also Sky's dad who owns a record store and refuses to modernize, so no cds and no digital or internet sales. Somewhere in the book there's also Luke's missing sister, a brick thrown through a window, and Gully's investigative prowess in trying to solve several happenings at once.

For being a rather slim volume, the book tries to balance a lot and never fully succeeds. The mystery of Luke's sister isn't a major part of the story so much as Sky dealing with her dad's issues is. What starts out looking like a book about mistakes turns into one about finding one's true self and the importance of having people who love and support you. There is some sex and a little violence, underage drinking and some swear words, but it all kind of adds up to nothing of consequence, which is sort of a disappointment in a multitude of ways. Howell shows promise with Girl Defective, but just never fully delivers on that promise.
Sky is trying to find her place. In the world, in her personal relationships and even in her family. Her mother left long ago, pursuing dreams of art and recognition leaving her caring but alcoholic father to raise herself and her eccentric younger brother Gully. The one constant in life has been 'The Wishing Well', their beloved vintage record shop. But with a developer sniffing around for ways to claim the property even that is on shaky ground. With her best friend Nancy drifting further away and her new crush Luke dealing with a secret tragedy it's up to Sky to figure out a way to hold it all together, or decide to let it all go and begin anew.

This book had a lot of potential but never quite lived up to it. With one main mystery surrounding the plot line the other storylines felt at times like filler, something you want to get through quickly to get back to the real story. There are also many great side characters that I would have loved to see more of that don't get the attention they deserve. That said, Simmone Howell fills the pages with beautiful prose and an intelligent heroine, making this a worthwhile read and certainly an author I'll be following in the future.