REVIEW for Gorgeous

Thank you to the wonderful Scholastic Canada for sending me this book.

TITLE:                       Gorgeous

AUTHOR:                  Paul Rudnick

GENRE:                     YA

RATING:                  

Firstly, I have to say that I am seriously in love with this red cover.  I love beautiful covers – it always puts me in a great mood to read the book.

Secondly, I have to say that I had no idea what to make of most of this book – at times fairy tale, at times smacking you upside the head, this book is a riddle, tied in a question mark.  You basically never really know what the author (and his main character) will come up with next and I LOVED IT.

Becky’s mother just died and she is not doing very well.  Life is hard until she suddenly meets a top designer who promises to turn her into ‘the it’ girl.  Well, it works – now Rebecca is the center of everyone’s attention and even manages to meet the heir to the British throne (never been a dream of mine – but for some this is ‘the’ whipped cream on top of the world).  Except that now, Rebecca/Becky is suddenly discovering that being ‘all that’ may just not be ‘what it’s cracked up to be’.

There are some serious humor in this book, but there is also some strong language – depending on the situation and the author’s mood that day.  Here, once again, I love the irreverent way the author writes the storyline – while the main character is right on board.

Having said all of this, this book also forces us to ask some tough questions about our role, as a society in feeding the machine when it comes to beauty, fame, celebrity, love and self-esteem.  All wrapped up with a big, red GORGEOUS bow.