Pernah nonton serial gossip girl ? Aku pernah, dulu pas masih SMP berkunjung ke rumah nenek yang punya TV kabel. Yang ku tonton nomor pertama pula. Yang paling ku ingat tuh naratornya memperkenalkan kedatangan kembali Serena Van der Woodsen ke New York.Buku kedua seri Gossip Girl ini adalah buku pertama yang ku beli, buku yang jadi penghuni awal perpustakaan pribadi kecil-kecilanku. Tokoh utama novel ini adalah dua orang cewek kelas 3 SMA bernama Blair Waldorf & Serena Van der Woodsen. Sesuai dengan blurbnya, serial gossip girl menceritakan tentang liku-liku kehidupan para remaja kalangan jetset calon sosialita yang kaya dan gaul di New York. Maka seluruh buku ini bertaburan merek-merek pakaian dan aksesoris ternama yang dipakai oleh mereka.Di buku kedua ini, masalah yang diceritakan adalah kegelisahan dan kegundahan para remaja itu saat akan memasuki universitas. Selain kaya, tentu wajib hukumnya bagi mereka untuk dapat diterima di universitas bergengsi. Nah, itu kan nggak gampang. Universitas-universitas ternama tentu punya kriteria yang lebih tinggi bagi para calon mahasiswanya. Selain nilai-nilai SAT, mereka juga harus tampil mengesankan saat sesi wawancara.Selain benang utama cerita di atas, ada beberapa masalah lain yang tengah dihadapi tokoh-tokohnya.Blair Waldorf, cewek elit yang perfeksionis dan kaku. Ia sudah merencanakan keseluruhan masa depannya dengan matang. Ia memilih teman-teman dan pacar yang dianggap sesuai untuknya. Sepertinya hidupnya sempurna, terutama dengan celana kulit dan sepatu-sepatu bermerk favoritnya. Sayangnya, hidup tidak semurah hati itu. Kedua orang tuanya bercerai karena Ayahnya baru menyadari bahwa dirinya gay. Karena mereka keluarga pengusaha terpandang, tentu saja berita itu sangat menghebohkan New York [ Sebenarnya, detail masalah pecahnya keluarga Blair itu mungkin diceritakan dengan lengkap di buku 1 ]. Sekarang, Ayahnya tinggal dengan pacar cowoknya di Prancis. Dan, masalah berikutnya adalah ia masih perawan. Padahal, di Amrik gitu loh. Nggak wajar kalo mahasiswa masih perawan. Saat ia berencana memberikan keperawanannya pada pacarnya, Nate, Ibunya datang dengan kabar yang lebih mengguncang dunia Blair. Ibunya akan menikah dengan pacar barunya dan mengharuskan Blair untuk menjadi pengiring penganting bersama mantan sahabatnya, Serena Van Der Woodsen.Masalah Serena adalah ia tidak cukup pintar untuk masuk ke Universitas ternama pilihannya. Ia pernah dikeluarkan dari SMA bergengsinya di kota lain karena terlalu lama berlibur hingga ia terlambat masuk semester baru. Akhirnya, ia pindah ke SMA di kota kelahirannya. Sayangnya, kabar tentang Drop Outnya itu memperburuk imejnya. Pun teman-teman lamanya terutama sahabat dekatnya dulu, Blair, menolak bergaul kembali dengannya karena Pacar Blair, Nate, dulu sekali pernah tidur dengan Serena. Oh, dan ia juga dikuntit oleh seorang cowok melankolis yang kelewatan romantis, Daniel.Sedangkan Nate sendiri, akhirnya memutuskan bahwa Blair terlalu membosankan untuknya dan tertarik pada cewek montok adik kelasnya yang kebetulan adalah adik perempuan Daniel.Aku sih lumayan suka ceritanya. Cuman memang agak bertele-tele. Dan karakter tokoh-tokohnya. Yah, mungkin karena mereka masih remaja maka karakternya sederhana, tidak terlalu sulit dipahami. Cara bercerita pengarangnya juga membantu untuk memahami pendalaman karakter tokoh-tokohnya. Berasa banget gitu, kalau Blair itu orangnya kayak gini dan Serena itu tipe cewek kayak apa. Tokoh-tokoh pendukung lain juga jelas banget karakternya. Dan, masalah yang diangkat juga ga neko-neko, khas remaja cewek pada umumnya. Galau karena masalah milih sekolah, karena cowok, masalah temen, dsb. Pendeknya, baca novel ini berasa kayak nonton FTV banget. Saking biasanya masalahnya, aku jadi agak sebel sebenarnya. Mereka-mereka itu bertingkah seakan mereka paling sengsara di dunia padahal begitu banyak remaja lain yang punya masalah lebih berat daripada mereka. #JadiSewotDaya tarik buku ini mungkin adalah latar belakang kehidupan tokoh-tokohnya. Kita jadi tahu kayak apa rasanya jadi anak orang terkenal [ meski bukan berarti artis ] yang serba kecukupan, tapi juga penuh tuntutan.Serial Gossip Girl ini terdiri dari 12 judul. Tapi nggak tahu udah diterjemahkan ke Bahasa Indonesia semua atau belum. Tapi aku cuma punya satu ini. Abis toko buku tempat aku beli ini tuh toko kecil di mall. Jadi nggak lengkap.
poor blair waldorf! this book is so tragic and alternately should be titled, 'revenge on blair waldorf for being brunette, short, academic, and not really a scheming bitch at all.' in a mere 200 pages or so, here is what happens to poor, unfortunate blair: (1) her unfeeling, oblivious mother announces she is getting married to a cheesy perv she's known for 3 months, (2) said wedding is to take place on blair's 17th birthday, (3) oblivious mother asks blair's arch-nemesis serena van der woodsen to be a bridesmaid, (3) mother and stepfather unleash the fact that adolescent stepbrother both exists and will be moving into blair's house with big smelly dog (poor kitty minky!), (4) blair tries repeatedly to lose her virginity to boyfriend nate and is unsuccessful, (5) nate cheats on blair with a freshman, (6) nate is too cowardly (and baked) to man up and break up with her, (7) blair shoplifts a present for nate in an attempt to make him love her; nate never opens the gift, (8) blair spectacularly blows her yale interview, due to the stress of the foregoing events, and (9) blair loses the student film competition. PLUS the book ends with a tear-ridden blair, after seeing nate smooching jenny humphrey at her mother's ghastly wedding, saying sadly of her idol audrey hepburn, "i don't look anything like her, do i?" heartbreaking!on the other hand, here is what happens to blond, golden, tall, leggy serena in GG book 2: (1) earnest (though insufferable) scruffy boyfriend dan declares his love for her again and again; serena (perhaps wisely) ditches him, (2) serena inveigles nate on a road trip with her and dan, though nate has promised blair he will not see serena anymore because he had sex with her, (3) serena and nate fall asleep holding hands, (4) serena gets free drinks, her picture taken, her cigarettes lit, her ass kissed at every turn, etc., and (5) serena wins the film contest! with a movie she shot of herself going around manhattan shopping and saying inane things! um. sounds like wish-fulfillment? the worst thing for blair is that it's clear this is just the beginning. because cecily v.z. (hm, coincidental similarity to serena v.d.w.?) doesn't like her and can't even hide it. not only does sad, non-blond blair keep getting crapped on, but it's all spotted with commentary such as, "even though blair had been such a bitch" and "nate knew what blair was capable of," when really, we have yet to see blair DO anything. the conspicuous lack of machinations and bitchiness has been a real let-down for me. why else read a book called "gossip girl"? so far, all blair has done is not to welcome serena back from boarding school after serena left abruptly, didn't keep in touch, and didn't tell blair she was coming back. in fact, the only evidence we have that blair is a bitch is that the author keeps telling us that she is. i'm not sure, but somehow it doesn't seem kosher to talk shit about your own characters. to sum up: unlike everyone else in GG, television, and america, blair doesn't worship serena's golden ass and cvz makes her pay for it repeatedly, reminding us all that if you are not blond, you are less, and whatever you want will always go to someone who is. (on an uplifting note, the girl who plays serena just won 2 teen choice awards for GG! the girl who plays blair won nothing.) (beginning to wonder when i will start wanting to read good books again - this is getting out of hand.)
What do You think about You Know You Love Me (2002)?
Pre reading:Unfortunately I picked up this one before the first one, but I've seen the show so I won't be too confused Post reading:It was so bad! By about 70 pages in, I decided I was going to hate every single second of it, so I live blogged my hate reading and deciding I'm going to read the whole series and live blog it. I just can't take it seriously, but at least I got to laugh at how much I hated it and complain about it on Tumblr?On the plus side, it only took me one day to read so it's not like it took a whole lot of time away from me.
—Beth (Ducky)
Still reading the Gossip Girl series because of my GREAT LOVE for the show. This is the book that introduces us to Aaron, Blair's laid-back step-brother. I totally and completely adore him, and I really hope that Josh Swartz & Co. add him to the show sometime in the future. This was totally one of the more amusing installments in the series, though. Nate's weed-addled love for Jenny is hilarious, and Blair's meltdown after her mother announces her engagement to Cyrus Rose is even funnier. I especially enjoyed Nate's inability to break up with Blair, who completely terrifies him. His lame dodge of her at the wedding will never stop being COMPLETELY AWESOME.I enjoyed the subplot about Serena making a movie with Vanessa. (Really, it's too bad the show decided not to keep Vanessa at Constance; she could have been a great character (or at least a non-annoying one) with a real place on the show.) This is also the book where Dan/Serena ends for good in the series, which is totally different from the show.
—Caitie
I read this so I could continue to badmouth these books knowing what exactly the problems with them are. You know, with the amount of (cigarette) smoking in these books, especially indoors, these books could not take place now. But then there's Gossip Girl on the internet, but not all the characters appear to have or properly use their cell phones. The time period is a bit bizarre. And the characters are insane. Everyone sort of has the same collection of problems. I don't recommend these books to anyone.
—Alexa
