Review-Everything Sucks

When everything sucks,
change everything . . .

And that's exactly what Hannah Friedman set out to do in an ambitious attempt to bust out of a life of obscurity and absurdity and into an alternate world of glamour, wealth, and popularity.

Being dubbed 'That Monkey Girl' by middle school bullies and being pulled out of sixth grade to live on a tour bus with her agoraphobic mother, her smelly little brother, and her father's hippie band mates convinces Hannah that she is destined for a life of freakdom.

But when she enters one of the country's most prestigious boarding schools on scholarship, Hannah transforms herself into everything she is not: cool. By senior year, she has a perfect millionaire boyfriend, a perfect GPA, a perfect designer wardrobe, and is part of the most popular clique in school, but somehow everything begins to suck far worse than when she first started. Her newfound costly drug habit, eating disorder, identity crisis, and Queen-Bee attitude lead to the unraveling of Hannah's very unusual life.

Putting her life back together will take more than a few clicks of her heels, or the perfect fit of a glass slipper, in this not-so-fairy tale of going from rock bottom to head of the class and back again.

About the Author:

Hannah Friedman (Peekskill, NY) is a recent Yale University graduate. She is the daughter of gold-record singer/songwriter Dean Friedman. An article titled "When Your Friends Become the Enemy" about her experiences applying to an Ivy League University was published in Newsweek in 2004. Ms. Friedman is the winner of the Yale 2007 Playwright's Festival, as well as the New York Television Festival's 2008 "Flying Solo" Pilot Contest. Her pilot about transitioning from college student to author will debut at the Festival in September 2008.

My Review:

So Hannah has an interesting story to tell about growing up with her wacky family. Nothing is normal in the Friedman household. Nothing. There's the mostly out of work musician father, the monkey loving mother, the annoying brother and Hannah..the smart daughter. This book was fun to read and kept my attention from start to finish. I really liked it. Hannah's had many opportunities that I wished I could have had. The only problem that I had was that she kinda played the "sucks" card for all it's worth. I know the title of the book is Everything Sucks but do we need every chapter to have the word suck in it? It kinda lost it's charm after about the 4th chapter, which is called Private School Sucks. I did however get a chuckle out of the chapter entitled Periods Suck, because I think every woman will agree to that sentiment! All in all I think this was a good debut. Hannah has a lot of talent in writing and music! Check out her website and watch a few of her videos and you'll see!