Book Blog Mod. 14: A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl
Stone, T. L. (2007). A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl. New York: Random House Children's Books.
Three different girls meet one bad boy. He is magnetic, charismatic, persuasive, a great lover... but he's only in it for the sex. Once the relationships starts to feel at all like an actual relationship, he bolts. That or the girl finds out he's using her, in which case she dumps him. Written in free verse, the girls deal with their roller coaster romantic life, then recovering from his treatment, and learn Important Lessons.
In case you can't tell, I didn't like this book. A lot of it can be covered by the title: it's A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl, not A Douchebag Can Teach a Girl About Who Not To Date. Maybe it's just me, but when I see the term "bad boy," I presume a boy who might be rowdy, rebellious, rough-edged, but still a decent human being. The "bad boy" of this book is none of the above. He is a junior version of a pick-up artist, interested only in sex but getting it by pretending he's interested in something more. I found this book hard to read because I hated him right off the bat and couldn't see what any of the girls saw in him, except someone who was pretty and charming. The book doesn't work unless the "bad boy" has some sort of appeal, and since he never gets any personality fleshed out, he is paper thin, a screen on which girls throw their fantasies upon.
It didn't draw me into the love stories at all. I kept waiting for the guy to show some redeeming characteristic that would show why the girls adored him so, but no. We're told he tells girls all his secrets, except none of that is ever shown on-screen, leaving me to wonder if it's just another fantasy the girls have given him to run with.
Also, I never understood how he was supposed to be good for these girls. Michele Winslip of VOYA says that each girl "learns difficult lessons from their bad-boy experience and come out stronger, proving that a bad boy, in some cases, can be good for a girl," but I never got what these difficult lessons were supposed to be. Keep your legs together? Beware superficial charm? Cindy Dobrez of Booklist describes the lesson as thus: "the girls realize they'll be hurt again, but they are now Forewarned / Forearmed / Forever."
...that's the lesson? "Sure, the guy was a douche, who used you for sex, but hey, you survived it, and now you'll know better next time!" Seriously? That's how the guy was good for them? That's like saying eating rotten food is good for you because it'll teach you to never ignore the expiration date again! AARGH!
I seem to be in the minority opinion of this book. Dobrez said the book "packs a steamy emotional wallop" (I must've missed the memo). Susan Oliver of School Library Journal says that "this is not a book that will sit quietly on any shelf; it will be passed from girl to girl to girl," and Winship says that "Stone's intimate and honest work accurately depicts both the agony and ecstasy of teenage relationships from the inside out."
That said, the free verse does flow fine and it's perfectly readable. I agree with Oliver that "the free verse gives the stories a breathless, natural flow." I have no ear for poetry, and the verse worked just fine with me, though I read it pretty much as prose. The form is good, the coming together of narrators is good, it's just the content that drives me bats. I am obviously not the intended reading audience for this.
This book just seemed to push the same tired lines that girls only like jerks, nice guys finish last, and that girls want love, not sex. There are better cautionary tales of pick-up artists, I'm sure. Don't bother getting this book. If you want bad boy romances, go see James Dean flicks. I seem to be in a minority opinion here, but I found the title just plain misleading.
Three different girls meet one bad boy. He is magnetic, charismatic, persuasive, a great lover... but he's only in it for the sex. Once the relationships starts to feel at all like an actual relationship, he bolts. That or the girl finds out he's using her, in which case she dumps him. Written in free verse, the girls deal with their roller coaster romantic life, then recovering from his treatment, and learn Important Lessons.
In case you can't tell, I didn't like this book. A lot of it can be covered by the title: it's A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl, not A Douchebag Can Teach a Girl About Who Not To Date. Maybe it's just me, but when I see the term "bad boy," I presume a boy who might be rowdy, rebellious, rough-edged, but still a decent human being. The "bad boy" of this book is none of the above. He is a junior version of a pick-up artist, interested only in sex but getting it by pretending he's interested in something more. I found this book hard to read because I hated him right off the bat and couldn't see what any of the girls saw in him, except someone who was pretty and charming. The book doesn't work unless the "bad boy" has some sort of appeal, and since he never gets any personality fleshed out, he is paper thin, a screen on which girls throw their fantasies upon.
It didn't draw me into the love stories at all. I kept waiting for the guy to show some redeeming characteristic that would show why the girls adored him so, but no. We're told he tells girls all his secrets, except none of that is ever shown on-screen, leaving me to wonder if it's just another fantasy the girls have given him to run with.
Also, I never understood how he was supposed to be good for these girls. Michele Winslip of VOYA says that each girl "learns difficult lessons from their bad-boy experience and come out stronger, proving that a bad boy, in some cases, can be good for a girl," but I never got what these difficult lessons were supposed to be. Keep your legs together? Beware superficial charm? Cindy Dobrez of Booklist describes the lesson as thus: "the girls realize they'll be hurt again, but they are now Forewarned / Forearmed / Forever."
...that's the lesson? "Sure, the guy was a douche, who used you for sex, but hey, you survived it, and now you'll know better next time!" Seriously? That's how the guy was good for them? That's like saying eating rotten food is good for you because it'll teach you to never ignore the expiration date again! AARGH!
I seem to be in the minority opinion of this book. Dobrez said the book "packs a steamy emotional wallop" (I must've missed the memo). Susan Oliver of School Library Journal says that "this is not a book that will sit quietly on any shelf; it will be passed from girl to girl to girl," and Winship says that "Stone's intimate and honest work accurately depicts both the agony and ecstasy of teenage relationships from the inside out."
That said, the free verse does flow fine and it's perfectly readable. I agree with Oliver that "the free verse gives the stories a breathless, natural flow." I have no ear for poetry, and the verse worked just fine with me, though I read it pretty much as prose. The form is good, the coming together of narrators is good, it's just the content that drives me bats. I am obviously not the intended reading audience for this.
This book just seemed to push the same tired lines that girls only like jerks, nice guys finish last, and that girls want love, not sex. There are better cautionary tales of pick-up artists, I'm sure. Don't bother getting this book. If you want bad boy romances, go see James Dean flicks. I seem to be in a minority opinion here, but I found the title just plain misleading.