12 Oct 2012

REVIEW: Sophomoric by Rebecca Paine Lucas



Title: Sophomoric
Author: Rebecca Paine Lucas
Publication Date: March 30th, 2012
Publisher: Untreed Reads
Format: E-book
Pages: 104
Rating: 3.5/5
Blurb: Bizza Johnson has just started her sophomore year at boarding school. Struggling with the idiosyncrasies and irritations of high school that every teenager faces, she also experiences and voices life's fears and insecurities; the roommate who touts homemade lasagna and Bible verses, the parents who won't get off her back and the girls everyone publicly hates and privately envies. Her occasionally dry sense of humor and irreverent observations point out the nearly universal, but often unacknowledged, experiences that make up the life of the most tortured creature on Earth: the teenager.
 Review: When first picking up this book I did not have the highest expectations, the blurb had drawn in me but there was that usual nagging sense in the back of mind as to whether this book would be filled with clichés or not. Luckily for me, it was nothing like I expected. It was a bit heavier than I expected- there were more solid foundations behind the main character, Bizza Johnson than other main characters of boarding school main characters that I had read. One of the biggest points for me was that she wasn’t perfect, nor was she too messed up. While there were parts of the book I couldn’t relate to (the more mature aspects, such as the smoking and alcohol), there were parts such as the stress Bizza experienced and her almost envy of her friend Cleo, that held some relevance in my life. 

Furthermore, while on the topic of smoking and alcohol- I feel like it wasn’t ‘glamourised’ like in some other books, Rebecca Paine Lucas included how everything wasn’t perfect and romantic, it was just real.
Dev, the leading guy, was seemingly like most other boys in teen literature- perfect, hot, but secretly messed-up and while he did fit into some of those categories, there were aspects of him that gave them that ‘real’ factor which meant I soon adored him as much as Bizza. 

While I found try to figure out what point in her schooling life Bizza was in (the downfall of not being American), I never found myself bored with the book or characters and most the time I had to literally close the book to force myself to stop reading and get my homework done. Overall, I really enjoyed ‘Sophomoric’ and would recommend it to others.

2 comments:

  1. You guys are so awesome! I am so happy you two are friends because of something as beautiful as books. Me and my best friend also came together that way. Gladly followed back and I just love how cute you two are. I am also in high school, and it is great seeing other teenage girls so keen about books and blogging & reviewing them. :) <3

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  2. Aw thank you so much! We're so happy you like reading and blogging/reviewing books too- we haven't met many people our age that do :) Hope to see you around, hopefully to discuss some awesome books.

    x Ely and Chami

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