Oy. I think I lost a couple brain cells while dragging myself through this one.Why did I keep reading then, you may ask? Why didn’t I just close the book and go do something more fulfilling, like watching the tea water boil or chucking pennies at teenagers from the upper balcony at the mall? Those are fair questions...but what can I say? It’s like opening a bag of Doritos – you take a small handful and you know it’s bad for you, but that cheesy, salty goodness is just too hard to resist and before you know it, you’re devouring the chips and you can’t stop and then the bag is empty, and you’re sitting there (often still hungry) hating yourself and wishing you ate a piece of fruit instead.Gossip Girl is junk food. It’s alluring and fun to munch on, but it’s not satisfying in the end, and you’re disgusted with yourself for actually blowing through the whole thing.Okay. Maybe I’m not disgusted with myself. But I’m certainly not jumping for joy over here. First and foremost, the characters were a huge disappointment. There is no real plot in this story – it’s just a lot of angst and drinking and making out and catty comments. Thus, it was completely left up to the characters and their interactions to carry the story along. Unfortunately, it failed miserably because none of the characters were really up to the task. Let’s meet these awesome people, shall we?Blair: Always described as a bitch by the other characters AND the author (sucks when your own creator doesn’t really like you, huh?). Interestingly enough, she never does anything all that bitchy, and if she does, her attitude is usually justified. Her boyfriend is unfaithful, her best friend gets all the attention while she gets pushed off to the side, her mom marries an immature doofus of a man... I know, she lives a luxurious life and shouldn’t be complaining, but the things she gets pissed about are completely and entirely worth getting pissed about. But nope, Cecily wants her to be the bitch (and she tells – not shows – us this constantly) and that’s just the way it is. Sorry Blair.Serena: Oh, Serena. What’s not to like about you? You are the epitome of author wish-fulfillment – a skinny, beautiful blonde who looks stunning even in an old school uniform or her brother’s ancient cast-offs. Everywhere she goes, men chase her and fall over themselves to win her affections. It’s a rough life, isn’t it, Serena? You can’t walk into an art gallery without the artists themselves stealing you away to make you the poster child for their work. You get the part for every film you try out for. I think I’m supposed to feel bad for you in this story, but…no. Sorry sweetheart. The author clearly worships you, but I’m not going to be there to hand you a tissue when you’re crying because Blair didn’t invite you to her party.Nate: Wait…are we supposed to like him too? He’s hot…he smokes a lot of weed…and yep, I think that’s all I really know about Nate. He can’t seem to hold down a girlfriend for more than a couple days without cheating on her, either. Maybe if he just picked somebody and devoted himself to her. But no, he has to pull a Bella Swan and spend an entire book moping because there are two pretty girls to pick from and he is only allowed to have one. From what I’ve heard, Nate’s list of female conquests only grows as the series goes on. Sad.Chuck: Chuck loves to be a pig and straight-up molests girls whenever he gets the chance, but…he’s just Chuck, guys. He’s rich and we have to love him because of it. Even though he tries to rape ninth-grade girls in bathroom stalls. Oh, Chuck, you little rascal you.Dan: Mopey artist stereotype. Drinks black coffee? Check. Reads obscure literature? Check. Writes bad poetry? Check. Stands on street corners, smoking and wondering why life has to be so hard? Check. Excuse me, I have to go roll my eyes.Jenny: BOOBS. This is apparently important to the story.Vanessa: …Okay, maybe you’re kind of cool. Touche, Vanessa, touché. But please don’t let Cecily turn you into a shallow cardboard cutout of a character like everyone else. Please?? I like your style, girl!There might be other important characters, but I’m too bored to care about them. Isabel and Kati are mildly entertaining, if only because their heads are as empty as the scotch bottles scattered around their penthouse apartments. At one point, these girls had to go online to look up what a falcon was. I think their parents had better start donating a lot of money to their dream colleges now, ‘cause they don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting in otherwise.Take these characters, put them at Barneys and Bendel’s and various parties, and you’ve got yourself a book. Fun if you like tabloids and endless elitist name-dropping. Not fun if you like literature. I wish I could talk about a plot and conflicts and elements like that, but there really isn’t anything to work with here. I’ve heard the show is marginally better, so maybe I’ll check that out if I have nothing better to do.Now if you will excuse me, I have to go throw pennies at teenagers.
Definitivamente no hay como la serie a la que estamos tan acostumbrados. Los guionistas, directores, productores y el elenco, hicieron un maravilloso trabajo mejorando todo en ella, por casi primera vez a parte de Catching fire y Game of thrones la adaptación no se convirtió en un total asco. En el libro sólo transcurre el piloto de la serie, a parte de muchas escenas que para mi gusto, tuvieron poca gracia. A nuestros amados personajes los convierten en figurillas de revista mucho más frivolos, egoistas, superficiales, e insoportables. No sé si este es el principal proposito de la autora, exagerar los comportamientos que encontramos propios en los herederos de Manhattan, pero no me hubiera molestado que en vez de hacer de la historia una comedia incomoda, pudo haberle añadido profundidad y trasfondo a los actores en trama. Uno de los cambios que pensé no me molestarían para nada, fue el hecho de que Serena se mostrara tal cual cualquiera la puede imaginar. Ella nunca quiso cambio, nunca fue a un internado por su hermano, ni por culpa hacia su mejor amiga, ella sólo es una chica egoísta niña de papi y mami, que decidio escapar y volver como si todo estuviera bien, como si nunca el tiempo acabara y nadie creciera. Serena nunca ha sido mi personaje favorito, pero duele saber que la seriedad de la situación que se le dio en la serie en la originalidad del libro desapareciera. Blair sigue siendo Blair, pero con los componentes agregados que ya mencione, y con una bulimia muchisimo más pesada. Además de eso nuestras mejores amigas favoritas permiten que el mundo que las rodean las afecten mucho más, y la muestra de ello, es que jamás logran arreglar su amistad, durante todo el libro sólo recuerdan los buenos momentos, y la única muestra de afecto que hay entre ellas es una triste sonrisa de despedida. "¿O fue una sonrisa triste porque aquel era el final de su amistad?Quizá sonreian porque en el fondo sabian que pasase lo que pasase, al margen de los chicos con los que saliesen, de la ropa que llevasen, de lo que sacasen en el SAT, de la universidad a la que fuesen, ambas estarian bien. Porque su mundo, el mundo de ambas, las protegeria, o eso creian"Quizá Dan si tenía razón, el nunca sería parte de el mundo de Serena y Blair, y no porque el no fuera como ellas, sino porque esa dimensión paralela trataba a patadas hasta aquellos que eran parte de la misma. Chuck... el hombre soñado de toda fan de la serie. Todas sabemos la idiotez que lo inundaba antes de conocer el amor, y hasta despues de él, pero lo triste en que los libros se sabe que el nunca cambia, continua siendo el doble de sex addicted, el doble de idiota, el doble de vulgar, una dosis completa del Bass que nunca se enamoro de Blair en ese bar de Victor Vitriola, y de el mismo del que yo nunca quisiera saber nada.Probablemente no continué con la saga. Prefiero no dañar el cariño que le tengo a la serie, con estos libros. Prefiero dejar lo demás a la imaginacion de los guionistas. You know you love meXOXO, Gossip girl
What do You think about Gossip Girl (2002)?
I really wanted to like this book. In fact, I expected to devour it. I heard the author speak on a panel at ALA this year and found her articulate, charming, and thoughtful about her series. Many of my co-workers at a suburban library hated the Gossip Girl books because of their vapid influence on already spoiled readers, but I wanted to give the books a chance. I’m sorry to say that I have to agree with my colleagues, even as someone whose guilty pleasure is reading highly speculative celebrity scandal on PerezHilton.com. I found most of the "gossip" about Serena, Blair, and the gang tedious and completely without humor, and the voice of the Gossip Girl irritating and intrusive rather than wickedly funny (which seems to be what the author was going for). The writing was uneven and confusing, with the narrator switching POV on a dime, at times representing the Gossip Girl through catty editorial comments and otherwise relying on bland, third-person omniscient. The characters themselves are completely despicable (example: Chuck, who nearly rapes several of the girls, is routinely described as sleazy but harmless – "well, that’s just Chuck!" – for about three-quarters of the book), and those who show a glimmer of intelligence or creativity are patronized.I think a series that examines the truth and consequences of high school gossip could be delightfully controversial and titillating, but Gossip Girl misses the mark. I would never disparage a teenager for reading it, but I might also encourage her to try well written – but still very fun – books like Lola Douglas’ Hollywood Starlet series.
—Kate
Look. I don't want to sound too much like Tipper Gore in the 80's, or too much like Maude Flanders of The Simpsons, tearing out my hair and screeching "WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN!?!?" ... but this book? Are you fucking kidding me? Have teenagers really grown up so much in the 9 years since I was one, when I was content with R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike, and scandalized by Sweet Valley High? I mean, COME ON.Not only is this book written with the intelligence of a monkey on acid, there's just something stomach-churning about a plot-less book about teenagers with too much money gulping down booze, sticking their fingers down their throats, sleeping with each other's boyfriends, and saturating it with deep prose suck as "shit," "fuck," "slut," "bitch," "whore," etc as if it were all normality, you know, just a day in the life. Christ.The actual Gossip Girl TV show is so great that I felt inspired to read the book ... but what makes the program so awesome is that they just stole a premise, a few characters, and a general plot outline from the novel ... leaving the rest as he horrible pile of shit it is. If I ever catch my future kids reading this, I will smack them on the head for being so goddamn stupid. Sucked.
—La Petite Américaine
"Gossip Girl" is a richly detailed look into the lives of Upper East Side teenagers. I enjoyed getting into the more "hipster" characters, the ones who read poetry, drink black coffee, and aren't extravagantly wealthy (Dan, Vanessa, Jenny). Jenny is adorable and likable as she constantly strives for a place in the "It" crowd. Dan is a scruffy hipster with an infatuation for a pretty, popular girl he doesn't really know. As you read through Dan's feelings and narration, you root for this awkward guy with poetic feelings for his polar opposite. As you read through Vanessa's section, you see Dan as an awkward, stereotypical guy who simply likes this girl for her beauty. Each character has a distinct viewpoint that always changes your perspective on the situation. Let's move on to the rich characters. I always get a Gatsby like feeling from this book. All these characters are dirty, filthy rich, and yet always seem to be chronically unhappy. You want to hate them for being spoiled brats, but I usually just end up feeling empathy for them. Blair is constantly plagued by insecurity, (shown through her bulimia) and is left with the feeling that she will always be overlooked when placed next to Serena. Serena has looks and charm, but is hated by everyone, usually out of jealousy. It made me feel empowered and bold when she stopped trying to fit in and decided to make new, unconventional friends. Yeah, they're a bunch of spoiled rich kids. But they have the same problems as the average teenager, just in a more extravagant setting. If you want a piece of escapist fantasy, and your fantasy involves New York, hipsters, and expensive penthouses, pick this up.
—Erika Schoeps
