Pretty Little Liars (review)
2007; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 60; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2007.0092
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Literary Theory and Cultural Hermeneutics
ResumoReviewed by: Pretty Little Liars Karen Coats Shepard, Sara Pretty Little Liars. HarperTempest, 2006 [304p] Library ed. ISBN 0-06-088731-1$17.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-088730-3$16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-10 In the summer between seventh and eighth grades, Alison is the benevolent but slightly dangerous queen bee reigning over her hive of rich private-school girls. Emily, Aria, Spencer, and Hanna hold her in awe, not only because of her beauty, but also because she is the keeper of their most intimate secrets: Spencer's habit of kissing her sister's boyfriends, Emily's budding desire for girls, Hanna's crushing feelings of inadequacy, Aria's father's dalliance with his female students, and a powerful secret, known cryptically as The Jenna Thing, that the five of them share. Then, one night, Alison disappears. For three years, the girls are plagued by both grief and relief; sure, they miss Ali and they don't want to believe she is dead, but if she is, their secrets are forever safe. The friends drift apart in high school, but one day they all start receiving disturbing text messages, signed simply "A." Could Alison really be back? When her body is discovered, they realize that isn't possible, but then who else knows their most damning secrets? Though the premise here is quite close to that of Nancy Holder's Pretty Little Devils (BCCB 3/06), the character development and writing are infinitely better: think The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (BCCB 12/01) gone macabre. The individual dilemma of each girl is compelling for its pending disaster of inevitable disclosure, and it seems that Shepard has closed off her possibilities by actually producing a body, but readers will just have to wait for the sequel(s) to find out who killed Ali, and who or what is behind the text messages. All in all, it's a provocative set-up that promises many decadent pleasures. Copyright © 2007 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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