I mostly enjoyed this book. There is one male character that the authors seem to think we should find sympathetic who is in point of fact a jackass. Benny has some unresolved issues that remain that way, which is probably more realistic if not more satisfying. A fun, fast read. Pamie can really write. ( )

Though I'm a blog reader from way back (i.e. the on-line journal era) and was aware of Pamie's stellar presence back in the day, I didn't get on-board reading her site until she made her journaling come back. And though I've enjoyed the site, I've never become an avid reader.
I read Why Girls Are Weird when it was firs published, and thought it was all right but not much more than that.
So this was a pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed this novel, especially the tone of being personally spoken to by an self-admitedly odd narrator.
As an aside, I wonder exactly how much of this book was autobiographical. Perhaps if I was in fact a more dedicated reader of Pamie's site from the start, I would have a better idea. I do know that Pamie's father, like her heroine's, passed away from cancer.
And I suspect that Benny's outlook on romantic relationships being born in the confines of her car are also Pamie's (though I do not know as much; it just rang true). And Pamie did lose weight, too, but I don't know whether she'd carried extra weight from childhood and whether that had been a source of tension with her parents. Did Pamie just reveal even more of herself in this novel than she has on her site? I simply don't know. In any case, her heroine, Bennie (aka Boobs) rang true and that goes a long way in a novel. ( )

I was very curious about this book as I really loved the other one I had read by Pamela Ribon, 'Why Girls are Weird'.
This book is less funny. It's a good story, good writing, keeps us interested but it just doesn't have the "it" the other book had. Or maybe I just had too high expectations. Anyway, a good book. ( )

http://kdegelau.blogspot.com/2006/09/... ( )