This book caught my eye because I saw that it took place at UConn. I was excited to read a book set somewhere I was so familiar with, and references to certain buildings and places on campus gave me a good laugh. I could picture exactly what the narrator was talking about based solely on my own knowledge of the campus. That was about the extent of the appeal I saw in this book. It was a bland plot with one-dimensional characters. It was repetitive and boring, and the only thing that kept me turning the pages was the desire to be done with the book so I could read something else. The last few chapters were mildly interesting, but there was almost no detail and it was very rushed, almost put in as an afterthought. I would maybe recommend the book to another UConn student, solely because it was kind of cool to see places like Homer Babbage, McMahon, and Carriage pop up and some of the references to the culture of the school were spot-on. That aside, I saw few, if any, redeeming points in this book. So let me tell you a story, a story about a girl and her book. She bumped into it one day when wondering along the aisles in the library. She picked it up, not because of the cover or the description, but because of the title, College Girl. She herself was a 'college girl' and though it would be a fun lighthearted read. For a few days it sat on the desk in her room, ignored. She was preoccupied with other works of literature. But then she picked it up, tentatively at first. It only took a few pages, a single chapter, and she was hooked. She had fallen in love with a book, which for her was a common, though not as common as she wishes, occurrence. Okay, so I always find myself stumbling with books that I love. Patricia Weitz did an amazing job her or created this deep and dynamic character in Natalie. She's troubled, that's for sure, and even though she's considered "beautiful" she has insecurity issues. The book itself was well written and had amazing pacing, I didn't feel rushed or to slow at any point. But perhaps what my favorite part about College Girl was how greatly Weitz captured Natalie's emotions. The girl is falling apart, day by day, through actions of her own and by those of a guy. And it's just out of control and she doesn't know what she is going to do with herself. I'm sure everyone has found themselves in the situation before and College Girl did a wonderful and clever job at capturing those emotions, how complex and haphazard they all seem. They wasn't a single emotion in there uttered that I couldn't relate to. And yes Natalie has so many flaws, and I love her so much for her flaws, and for overcoming them. She's a very strong character. So in short, a fabulous read.
What do You think about College Girl (2008)?
Fun book. Little too much detail at times, but great ending.
—sherin
Has a strong start, then dives into whiny and predictable.
—evo
this might be the worst book I've read this year.
—sweetmona
