Harmless

I have a feeling that if I were a 14 - 16 year old girl I would have eaten this book with a spoon, and as it was it was a pretty interesting little novel with a Movie of the Week feel to it.

This cautionary tale begins with three unlikely friends in 9th grade, each of whom lie to their parents about where they are going to be when they decide to attend a high school party. To cover their tracks when they arrive home well past the time they should have they concoct a story about an attack being made on them down near a river. They become "heroes" for fighting off their would-be attacker, but after another girl is actually kidnapped and murdered -- and a suspect fitting their vague description is arrested -- things get decidedly more show more complicated.

Not a smash-up read for this 50 year old, but again -- a chewy drama for the audience for whom it was intended! show less

This book sucked me in from the start. I loved the plot of it and the characters were great as well. The way that the story was told through three different narrations made it that much better and the characters of Emma, Anna and Mariah were well-developed and ever-changing.

Emma was the one who came up with the story of "something bad" happening to her, as the victim. She had started out as a pretty confident, if isolated because of her best friend, young girl and ends up being the one who's remorseful and having the most trouble with the lies. From the start of each narration, all three girls say that they should/would have told the truth if they could do it again, but I believe that only Emma really would have done so, if not obvious show more by the way the story runs out.

Anna at the beginning seems sincere, but through the eyes of Emma and Mariah, you begin to realize just how dependent she was on her friends and how much popularity means to her. From being the timid and frantic girl, she gains confidence... but not in a good way. She starts to enjoy herself and even fancies condemning an innocent man because she's finally noticed. Although Anna proclaims throughout the entire novel that she would have came out with the truth, I don't believe it. Even when the truth unraveled, you get the feeling that she's going to be the one who'll miss it the most. She was the one who ultimately ran away, unlike Emma.

Mariah was a little harder to decide whether I liked her or not. But I like her complexity. She was a little poor girl, a little rich girl, and ultimately, a girl who's just confused. Although she was like Anna, enjoying the lies, she eventually gets too caught up in it and you get the feeling she wants out.

I hope I didn't exactly spoil it for readers who haven't read this novel yet. It's a great read with a sense of morals behind it. show less

Mark Twain once wrote the only difference between a cat and a lie is that a cat has just nine lives. In Harmless by Dana Reinhardt, three friends (Emma, Anna, and Mariah), who are freshmen girls at a private school, tell their parents a lie so that they can spend the night with three senior boys from the public high school. That lie worked so well they tell another lie that is seemingly simple by comparison-- that they're attending a Jane Austen film at the local theater, when in fact they're back with the senior boys. This works out fine until Anna's parents decide to see the same film at the same time and realize the girls aren't there. Rather than fess up to the truth, the girls decide to lie again. This time they make up a story show more about the three of them being down by the river when a mysterious man attacked Emma, but Anna and Mariah fought him off and they all ran to safety. The story grows and spreads and takes on-- as Twain so aptly put it-- lives of its own. The girls find themselves in a moral dilemna they never imagined possible when they made up a harmless lie. The story builds as we hear from each girl in the first person, so we get the inner thoughts of each girl throughout the book. Harmless is a cautionary tale about the power of words and trust, or alternately the power of lies and what people choose to believe. What I liked about the book was the very different voices each of the characters have, however the quickly alternating narrative was a bit hard to handle in such a short work. This is a cautionary tale of the evil that can come of something as harmless as a little lie, and should have some appeal at the high school level. I wouldn't recommend this title below high school because of the drinking and sex that occur early on, although I don't think either are substantial enough to warrant concern in high school as long as the mentions are taken in context. show less

Deep subject, good for a high school book group discussion. The characters were realistic and the switching viewpoints was an effective technique.

Emma, Anna, and Mariah are friends. Emma and Anna have always been friends, but as Emma begins to explore who she is physically, sexually, emotionally, etc. her relationship with Anna needs some breathing space. Enter Mariah. Anna, initially jealous of Mariah and what she is doing to 'her' friend's loyalties, nevertheless enjoys the attention directed her way from Mariah's spotlight. Soon Anna tests new ground that are not familiar nor a part of her family history. Soon the girls lie to attend a party. Emma drinks way too much and is way too friendly with Owen. The girls are drunk and out past curfew. More lies are on the way. As teens have done in the past and will do again soon, they concoct a lie. This lie, however, is a whopper that show more targets an innocent homeless man and accuses him of sexual assault. The ripples of how this fabrication changes the girls’ lives is well done. Anna and Mariah see Emma's withdrawal as related to the fact that she is the one chosen to be the sexual victim, to mask the fact that she was drunk. They see her as worried about discovery. Emma’s real worry stems from a dumb decision involving alcohol and her first sexual encounter with the jock, Owen. Owen, however, is a normal teen who allowed himself to overlook clues about Emma’s impaired consent in his quest to get laid. This characterization is very real even if it makes us uncomfortable. In this book readers must accept that the police would allow a homeless person (whom MANY recognized) to be charged and railroaded despite the lack of a case. We can accept one questionable plot device because the book does such a good job of showing the ripple effect of very believable teen choices. Recommended for high school libraries.

It is a good book, and like it would teach you not to lie. My favorite part or when most of the drama went was when their parents were like you weren't at the movie where are you, then they made the lie that they got kidnapped instead of going to DJ's party. Yes, [I was disappointed] because the girls split up the friendship. AHS/SV

If you don't think a little lie cna change you rlife, read this book. Kind of a slow start, but is worth it. It was recommended. AHS/KA show less

Reviewed by Amber Gibson for TeensReadToo.com

Everyone's told lies. Most lies aren't even that bad. They don't hurt anyone...they're just harmless.

One night, Mariah, Anna, and Emma are off at an older boy's house, instead of at the movies like they said they would be. But when their parents show up at the movies and can't find them anywhere, they are caught in their lie. They're okay, but they don't want to be grounded for life. Telling a little lie would be a lot easier than telling the truth, and nobody would get in trouble.

So for fear of getting in huge trouble with their parents, the girls concoct a simple story. They were on their way to the movie, walking along the river, when a man attacked Emma. They didn't get a chance to see show more his face, and they don't remember what he looked like because they were scared. Luckily for Emma, Mariah and Anna threw a rock at the man's head and they were able to get away. The three best friends vow to stick by this story, but they have no idea how much this one lie will envelop their lives.

They didn't count on their parents involving the police. They didn't count on everyone at school finding out. They didn't count on the entire community rallying around the girls and calling them "heroes." And they definitely didn't count on anyone being arrested for their imaginary crime. The girls are in too deep, buried in their lie. The lie that was supposed to be their savior now nags their conscious with every waking moment. But will they be able to find the courage to tell the truth?

I could really relate to the characters in this book, and see how under a pressure situation, I might have made the wrong decision, too. HARMLESS by Dana Renihardt is the story of how a seemingly small lie can take on a life of its own. But, more importantly, it shows how anyone can make a stupid mistake, and that everyone deserves forgiveness. show less

Not as compelling as her debut, but still well-crafted and gripping. Adolescents caught up in a web of lies that keep spiraling about and entangling them in more and more trouble.