Undiscovered Gyrl: The Novel That Inspired the Movie Ask Me Anything

Burnett seems to capture the voice of a teenaged girl pretty well. I'm not a girl, so I can't say for sure, but this book seemingly captures the vulnerable, painful side of the new American teen heartbreakingly well. The book might have been cribbed from blogs on MYSPACE, I don't know, but middle-aged parents HAD BETTER read this book if your children are on the computer all day. It is a realistic story of a coming of age in a dangerous world. Parents: do you remember keeping things from your parents? Stolen kisses, sneaked cigarettes, going to parties you were warned against? You need to read this book, and see what your daughter may be keeping from YOU. This book is an important new morality play, not to be missed by any parent, especially if your daughter is becoming a teen.

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to reading this book at first. I thought that maybe I was too "old" to connect with it, even though I've been interested in YA type novels in the past. I have also not been impressed with email and blog type styles, but that didn't take away from the story like I thought it would. Once I started, it grabbed me and pulled me in. I'm not even sure I can explain why, but I haven't been affected by a book this way in a long time. Katie started her blog when she was 17, following the advice of a teacher to help her learn about herself for a year, while deferring her college education. When starting the blog, she decided to change her name and some details that would give away who she actually was. What follows is an honest (and possibly dishonest) account of Katie's sexual exploits with olden men (often involved with other women) and boys her age, her love for Obama, her ideas on the world at large, and some very funny entries. I laughed out loud many times reading this book. There were also many moments where I was saddened by the story. Katie's loneliness and her excitement of knowing that thousands of people read her blog in one day reminded me of a humans need to connect with others, in any way that they can. The further we go in technology and the advances we make seem to push us away from others in a personal way. Knowing that what someone writes on a blog can be the truth or a "complete lie," makes us all the more vulnerable because we can be taken advantage of so easily. I read this in one evening, and it shocked me that this was written by a man. I had the same feeling when I read She's Come Undone (Oprah's Book Club) I've never seen many men write women (especially teenagers) that well, and it was very impressive because a lot of the feelings she had and the experiences she went through, were very typical of a teenager. Her need for attention, her narcissism, wanting to be "discovered," and being in love with the idea of someone loving her. Though she wasn't the most likeable character at times, I still felt sorry for her, and I had a hard time putting the book down. When I did put it down, it wasn't long before I picked it back up again, because it was addictive. The only problem I had with the book is that I'm not sure if the ending was genius or a complete cop-out. I can only tell you that it came out of nowhere, and gave a whole twist that I didn't see coming. It was comparable to watching some obscure foreign movie, and as you finish watching, think, "What happened?" Maybe we are left to figure out the ending for ourselves. Highly recommended!

This is the brutally honest, beautifully-told, chilling and heartbreaking fictional tale of Katie Kampenfelt who graduates from high school and decides to defer going to college for a year to ponder what she wants to do with her life. She's an average student with no real ambitions, and, at the suggestion of her English teacher, begins blogging so she'll be able to look back on her year off and have a record of what she experienced and learned. The book is written as a mesmerizing series of blog entries by Katie. She's a lonely, only child and lives with her mother and her mother's lawyer boyfriend with little supervision. Her parents divorced when she was quite young and her Dad, who lives with his Indian girlfriend, is an alcoholic, dying of cirrhosis and has never paid child support or had much input into her life. Katie discovers she loves writing on her blog and tells all the sordid, poignant details of her drinking, drugging, sex with older men and other dangerous escapades. I won't even hint at how the book ends, but it was a real O. Henry type ending which left me with my mouth hanging open in surprise. I swear, this story was so realistic and compelling it was like looking over the shoulder of an angst-ridden teen and reading her diary, her innermost thoughts. Ms. Burnett perfectly captures the lingo, the anguish and the stark naked agony of being 18 years old and on the precipice of the rest of your life. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am eager to read more of Ms. Burnett. If you love a smart, well-written, fast-paced read, then this book is for you.

Allison Burnett's UNDISCOVERED GYRL is a must read. Written in blog format, this novel can easily be read in one sitting, but what happens throughout it will stay in your mind for a long time after. Katie Kampenfelt is our blogger: an 18-year old high school graduate, taking a year off before starting college. Katie chronicles her day-to-day life as many teen girls would; however, the content of Katie's blog becomes gradually more intense and disturbing as time passes. Without revealing too much, Katie encounters the highest of highs and the lowest of lows: drug use, success at work, alcohol abuse, betrayal in friendships, passionate crushes, casual sex and death of loved ones. On the surface, UNDISCOVERED GYRL appears to be superficial or over the top, yet Burnett captures the voice of a teenage girl extremely well - whether stable or not. Katie is a perfect candidate for psychological analysis, and much of the text pieces together why she continually makes self-destructive decisions. While her actions are impulsive and indulgent, readers are given her voice, raw and honest, and are shown her vulnerabilities, left to decide for themselves between conflicting emotions: detesting Katie, sympathizing with Katie, laughing at or with Katie, wanting to parent Katie, wanting to stop Katie from seemingly ruining everything in her life and the lives of others around her, etc. It is almost impossible to discuss this book without discussing it in its entirety, so without spoiling it, I can only say that Burnett delivers an ending that would be almost infuriating if it weren't so plausible and effective. Plausible in that it makes sense after all Katie has been through. Effective in that, when you finish, you will not be able to stop thinking about Katie, if that is even her name at all. In the book, Katie says, "Only on the internet can you have so many friends and be so lonely." With the internet as a powerful tool in our lives for building relationships, it is that sentiment that makes this far-fetched piece of fiction feel uncomfortably close to being believable. Whether you think you'll love or hate this book, you just have to read it.

Written in blog form, this book is about a lonely, self-destructive teenage girl. When the book (or blog;-) starts, the un-named protaganist is at a stand still in her life: no ambition for college, doesn't want to work, feels she's been left behind while most of her friends go on to college. As the story goes on, her life starts to spiral more and more out of control. All the while, she's blogging it all for her reader's to get the inside view. I read this book straight through in one day. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. I thought it was very well written, and the plot was like a train wreck: you know things will be bad, but you just can't look away. And, despite some despicable behavior by the main character, you can't help but root for her. It's a good reminder how someone's actions may show one thing, but inside they might be feeling very different.