Amandine

This book is an amazing story about the dark side of human nature that we typically keep hidden from that world. All of us have a little Amandine and a little delia in us somewhere its alittle like the two oppisite sides of the spectrum. You have Amandine, the little devil on your sholder and then you have Delia who is more like the angel only she is being pulled every which way and must learn to be stronger. This is a great analogy to the way things are in real life, the bad always seems to prevail until the good can find its voice. I really suggest this book to anyone.

*Amandine* is a well-crafted look at adolescent female friendship between two outcasts, one needy (Delia), the other manipulative (Amandine). For a while the friendship works: the flamboyant, unconventional, artistic Amandine enthralling the school newcomer, Delia. Then, slowly at first, complications arise that test the friendship, complications brought about by Amandine's unpredictable, attention-seeking behavior, her mysterious and dark nature, and the girls' tense relationship with their parents. Competition, envy, lying, and deceit all start to eat away at the friendship. A third girl, Mary, is pulled into the increasingly complex web Delia and Amandine have constructed and is used as a pawn. The situation turns ugly as bad behavior, revenge and self-protection stretch what was once a positive relationship to the breaking point. Adele Griffin realistically portrays the inner feelings and vicissitudes of teenage friendship within the pressure cooker that is modern-day high school. The writing is elegant and understated, the narrative illuminative of the toll dishonesty in all its forms can take on a relationship. Griffin has a real feel for what makes each main character tick, which makes them come alive for the reader. I should know: I taught high school English for 15+ years and am now a middle school librarian. I see elements of all these characters in many of the students I work with, and will recommend this book to both kids and adults as an honest look at a very important slice of teenage life.

After reading the other reviews, I have to wonder if Iread the same book. People are calling this simplisticand contrived, unoriginal and boring. Someone else(whose emotional state I'm worried about) says lonely, awkward Delia is "the nut case" and claims Amandine,who is pure sociopath all the way, "doesn't do anythingwrong." Sorry, but I think intentional lies used as "punishment", damaging libel and playing two people offeach other is "doing plenty wrong."Maybe this story struck home with me because I had anAmandine in my high school past. She was also a master ofplaying her few friends off of each other, dramatizing horrorsthat never existed for the benefit of teachers and parents,and telling outrageous lies about herself in order to be thecenter of attention. And, like Amandine, she had lots of talent that went wasted because it was more fun to destroyother people's lives.No, the story is not loud and melodramatic. It is quiet andsubtle as Delia tries to sort out what her friend expects of hertries to please parents who expect too little of her (and whoare clearly disappointed in her) and who has only one reallysympathetic adult to whom she can turn. If you haven't read it, please don't go by the other customer reviews. If you are trapped in a friendship like the one Delia has with Amandine, it might help to know that you aren't alone.And if you DON'T know an Amandine, consider yourself lucky and read this as a true horror story of what can happen in such afriendship.

Amandine is a very interesting book. You will really anjoy this book if you like reading about how someone's friendship works out. This book is very easy to get into. You can start reading and read for hours. I can relate to the friendship in this book. Amandine and Delia are two totaly diffrent people who get along really well.Most guys will probably consider this a "girly book" because the main charcters are females. Girl readers, on the other hand, can relate to their friendships to Amandine and Delia's

Pure EntertainmentI read this book in a couple of hours, it moves fast, I really liked it. The writing is tense and magnetic. I'm kind of doubtful the gist of it meant to concentrate as a "friendship genre" book --whatever that means-- since Amandine is the center of her story, and it's really how she manipulates and seduces the friend's dad. But it's not about a real girl-girl friendship at all, or about the other girl, Delia's "issues." Actually, its themes kind of reminded me of "American Beauty."