Author: Elise Allen
Published by: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages: 300
From Goodreads: WHAT WOULD YOU DO if you had the chance to erase your past and reinvent yourself as the person you’ve always wanted to be? Would you grab it? Would you stick with it, no matter what the consequences? Cara Leonard always wished she could be one of those girls: confident, self-possessed, and never at a loss for the perfect thing to say. They are the Populazzi, and they’ve always been many rungs on the Popularity Tower above Cara and her best friend Claudia. Yet when Cara moves to a new school just before junior year, Claudia urges Cara to seize the opportunity and change her life… by using the Ladder. Its rungs are relationships, and by molding herself into the perfect girlfriend to guys higher and higher on the Popularity Tower, Cara will be able to achieve the ultimate goal: becoming Supreme Populazzi, the most popular girl in school. What starts off as a lighthearted social experiment becomes increasingly twisted and difficult, and Cara soon finds even the most basic things about herself aren’t what she always believed. Though the Ladder may seem like a straight climb to the top, for Cara it’s a sometimes-dark, sometimes-absurd, always-winding journey to find out who she really is.
Populazzi is a fun, cute read. It’s about Cara whose friend Claudia is convinced she has the perfect plan to help make Cara the most popular girl in her new school. The novel progresses through Cara’s climb through the social ladder and how she changes the higher she climbs.
Allen does a great job at making her characters realistic. They whole time you knew exactly who these characters were and what they were feeling. You could relate to every one of them and probably even name them as people you go/went to school with. Cara seemed so real and just like everyone else. You got caught in her topsy-turvy plan to be popular and at the same time you cheered her on, you also wanted to warn her about the choices she was making.
I must say my favorite character was Archer. He was such a kind soul and knew who he was. Surprisingly my least favorite character was not the supreme populazzi, but instead it was her step father. I think he was a selfish jerk and that Cara and her mother deserved better.
The one thing I didn’t like was the bullying. I understand it happens in real life but it’s such an emotional thing to deal with. I commend the author for writing this with such detail and passion because for me it was hard to read and I almost felt too much like these things were really happening to someone I know and care about.
My favorite thing about this book is the message about being happy with whom you are as a person. I think so many people get caught up in being popular or having the best and most expensive things, and yet if you are not happy none of it matters.
Overall I'd give it ★★★★
Def. a great message! I really like that the characters are realistic, that way we can connect better with them. Def. a book to look out for. Great review.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a pretty good book! I have it from Netgalley but haven't read it yet, but I will soon! Bullying makes me uncomfortable for some reason. Thanks for sharing!
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