My Original Post Warning: SPOILERS!Hello Dear Readers! And Happy Lazy Sunday!I'm at Scruff's this weekend but I thought I would break up the monotony of my weekend with one of the book reviews I promised you in this post. As most of you know, I was a huge fan of the Gossip Girl television series and I had been wanting to read the books. Well, I finally got a hold of them and started reading them at the end of January. I finished up book 11 recently and am finally ready to write out the review. As a fan of the show let me start by saying that the artistic license taken by the WB was wonderfully applied. I found the books to be severely.... Lacking. In everything that the show was about. For a series that is touted to be about spoiled rick kids who drink, do drugs, have sex and betray each other over and over - all before noon! - I felt like this series could have been written about the MHS class of 2000. Honestly, I'm no Upper East Sider but my friends and I accomplished just about as much as the main characters in the book series did. We just didn't do it at Barney's or on our own private sail boat. Let me explain:Blair Waldorf, Nate Archibald, Vanessa Abrams, Dan & Jenny Humphrey & Serena van der Woodson all live in posh houses in the equally post Upper East Side of Manhattan, NY. They all attend private schools an they all have parents they wish would just leave them alone. Focusing on the senior year for each of them and the summer prior to heading off to their respective Ivy League colleges, we learn what it is to be a snob as seen through the eyes of an anonymous blogger calling herself "Gossip Girl". Despite the television portrayal of these high school (into college and then post college) kids as ego eccentric, rich snobs doesn't come close to the cigarette smoking, fashion unconscious (unless it's for a party), rude and undeveloped characters. Although we are told a small bit about each main characters background, the truth is that each is vapid, clumsily written and underwhelming. I won't outright call it a waste of time to read, but at least go into expecting the series to defy all your expectations. If you are a fan of the show, don't read the books.And then there is Chuck Bass... Oh Chuck. What did they do to you in transition from book to TV heartthrob? I honestly don't know but somewhere down the road Chuck became a leading man and not just a secondary character who had absolutely no character development other than his acquisition of a per snow monkey. Straight? Gay? Rapist? High School flunkie? Ms. von Ziegsesar certainly can not be held accountable for the Chuck Bass we all fell in love with. Her version of chuck was more underwhelming than the character of Dan Humphrey. I don't know. Maybe it was simply that I fell in love with the actors playing the characters or that the show had a six season run but I honestly felt that in 11 books, she could have created an environment that would suck the reader in an not push them away. Unfortunately, if you read the books before starting on old reruns of the show, you will probably hate the show. Which is unfortunate because it really was a well written television drama. WTF?All in all I have to label this series as read at your own risk. It only took me a week to finish all 11 books and that was with having a life and reading other things as well. It didn't grasp my attention the way The Clique (Lisi Harrison) did. And those books are aimed at YA readers with a splash of snobbery as well. But at least the characters weren't one dimensional. The show will go down as one of my favorites with Chuck Bass being one of my favorite leading men. It's such a disappointment I couldn't fall in love with the books the same way.
How I Came To Read This Book: I read about the Gossip Girl series all over the place, and picked up the series - although I dropped out by the last few books that were ghostwritten.The Plot: The book picks up right after the previous one, and also spans a very short amount of time. Really the plot of Gossip Girl books is extremely frivolous - Jenny and Serena are suddenly superstars at high school (although Serena was already) thanks to a photo shoot and rock star connections. Blair takes up residence in the Plaza Hotel, and Dan and Vanessa go through some interesting changes apart from one another.The Good or Bad: Based on my retro review, I'd say the big complaint I had on this book was the fact it spanned a ridiculously short span of time. The first few GG books were excellent because they spanned a realistic length of time - months - yet the later books got increasingly shorter to stretch out the series. I also think it was around this book I started to lose interest in the series, the next book was either the first ghostwritten one or the last real-written one and you could tell Von Zeigesar was running short on ideas either way. Still her books were always fun and electric, hence their popularity.Anything Memorable?: In general I have a memory of lending Gossip Girl books to Sarah and Robyn and having two funny/embarrassing encounters. The first was when our British professor commented in them vaguely in front of the class saying his 12 year old read them. The second was one of our very intellectual writer classmates also grabbed one from my friend to see what us folks were reading. Ugh.Bottom Line: The beginning of the end for GG in my memory.50 Book Challenge?: Nope.Retro Review: The 7th book in the Gossip Girls series picks up almost right after the other one - and probably spans the shortest amount of time of any of the other books. I suppose author Cecily von Ziegesar didn't realize how successful her books would become and that is why she flew through the first few months of the school year in three books, and has dragged out the second half of the year in the previous few books.Still "Nobody Does It Better" is another great Gossip Girl book, fits well in the series, but sort of stalls...almost all of the occurances in this book or in the previous one come crumbling down, and only a few new seemingly semi-permanent changes have occured.Basically you get to see how people react to Serena and Jenny after their fashion photo shoot, and you get to watch Dan go for it as the new lead singer for a rock band. Blair & Nate's relationship, which is back on track in the last book, goes through more turbulence. Blair, Nate, and Serena finally figure out where they are going to college. And Vanessa goes through some exciting and interesting changes for once! The book wraps everything up nicely at the Senior Spa weekend...with much more drama to come of course! Looking forward to the next one which will likely feature prom.Just wondering how far von Ziegesar is planning to take the series since she could potentially at this point continue the books for sometime after high school if she wanted. We'll see - hopefully yes.
What do You think about Nobody Does It Better (2005)?
I think I'm getting repititive with the "unrealistic and predictable" thing. So let's just discuss the book:Jenny's desire to go to boarding school becomes (annoyingly) apparent (just in case you didn't know there is a spin-off series with Jenny at a boarding school called "The It Girl." After photos of her and The Raves' drummer and guitarist appear, Mrs. McLean, the headmistress, suggests that she do the remainder of her schooling elsewhere, as she is tarnishing Constance Billard's reputation
—Steph
Nobody does it better is the seventh book in the Gossip Girl series and is not one of my favourites. I felt like the book just dragged on with the current story-lines from the previous book and the stories weren't really going anywhere.After receiving there acceptance letters to college the upper east siders are preparing themselves for college and deciding which of the many schools they got into they should attend. That is with exception to Blair, who is still waiting to see if she can get into Yale and like Blair does best she has found a way to hopefully get herself in without all the hard work. Serena and Jenny find themselves hanging around with Dans band the Raves and are having a great time until the Humphreys father finds out about there plans. Vanessa is looking for a new roommate after her sister has left and she finds it hard to find the perfect person. I found my favourite part of this book was with Vanessa finding a new roommate as although she has never been a character I have been interested in I was surprised at who she chose and her decisions whilst looking for a roommate. Another story I enjoyed was seeing Blair cope in a busy house and leaving to go and stay at the Plaza, it's a shame we all can't afford to do that when times at home get tricky.It was good to see Jenny have a main storyline as it has been focused a lot on the seniors but it shows she can get up to just as much mischief as anyone else and still strives to be just like Serena. This book didn't seem to have much of Chuck in which is a shame as he hasn't been in the stories much lately and is still a main character I would like to follow, even if he isn't in the Upper East Side at the time.Overall I think this is book was ok but it only started to get interesting at the end. Maybe the next book will be better.
—Jade
Ay yi yi. Where do I even begin? Blaire and Nate's relationship is like the original Ronnie and Sweetheart of Jersey Shore. How many times are they going to break up, cheat, and get into fights? At this point, it's getting a little ridiculous. Also, Serena, once again, has to be the "slut" of the book like always. Girl needs to learn how to be classy and be a better role model for Jenny. Speaking of Jenny goes with a mention of her pathetic brother Dan. That family, seriously. I'm glad he got kicked out of that band. His poems are certainly not worthy even as songs. He just needs to come up with a whole new interest entirely; it would better suit him. I hope, as a reader, I learn more about Chuck. I feel like he's not even given a fair chance. I hardly know anything about him besides his entrance into military school and his infatuation with his pet monkey. Give me more Chuck! Also, has anyone else noticed that the author is totally beginning to loose sight of her own storyline? For instance, Vanessa didn't win the video contest, Serena did. HELLO! Pay attention Cecily!
—Ericafoferica
