I honestly thought that this book was painful. a thirteen year old doing drugs. highly unlikely but somewhat believable. I couldn't believe what happened to one of her friends Sarah. what kind of girl thinks that being noticed is to do drugs? I did not like cassie the main character just because if her willingness to do whatever it took to be "cool." I would have preferred it if the book was in Sarah's pov because of the things that she endured. her doing drugs would have been more believable then cassie Cassie is a genius in a sea of mediocrity. But it doesn't matter, not her smartness, or her old life or what she truly wants. She becomes involved in the popular crowd at her school and her life instantly falls apart.She doesn't have a voice and when she dares to use the one she tries so hard to summon, she's instantly shot down by her "best friend" Alex. Let me tell you something about Alex, and just about every character in this book. They are horrible, the worst kind of people, sociopaths, manipulative, stingy, greedy, the pits really. Except for Sarah. Sarah is Alex's half sister that Cassie finds her self drawn to even though she pities her and fights internally with the need to be nice to her. Cassie's life becomes a rotation of hardcore drugs, alcohol and self abuse. She wants to be needed by someone, yet she doesn't want the attention. What makes her life so sad is that she's just thirteen years old, yet she's surrounded by people who are living such fast lives that she doesn't see fault in what she's doing because she wants to be liked. It's clear before Cassie starts destroying herself that there is some underlying problems. Was she molested when she was younger? Was she bullied in her other school? The book never really says but in her head where everything is vivid and outrageous, she's honest with her self. On the outside she feeds everyone the lies she knows they wish to hear. She hates the crowd she hangs with yet she sucks it up all in the name of being the beautiful seventh grader. there are no back-stories in the book so you have to wonder about some of the things you are reading. Like why Alex's home life is so bizarre, why did Cassie move in the first place, and why does her parents hate each other?This is basically the book form of the film Thirteen. A very interesting movie about a girl much like Cassie who gets involved with the wrong crowd at a young age.
What do You think about Beautiful (2009)?
I think it was a really well written book and i would love to read more books like it
—margie
"It is not hard to change when you never anything in the first place." -Amy Reed
—akil
