Von Ziegesar’s latest novel lacks substance, much loved characters

To many avid young adult novel readers Cecily Von Ziegesar is a goddess of fiction. But with this book she fell flat on her face.

On the outside, the book would appeal to college students especially those that were fans of her Gossip Girl books. When one picks up the book and delves inside the reader finds out it is a totally different beast.

“Cum Laude” is the story of five different college students at a fictional Ivy League in Maine. The small size of the school means that these students get easily bored and get into many scrapes as they party and sometimes study throughout their freshman year.

First of all the main character’s name is Shipley. How will that name be relatable to her readers? Also she is not very likable. She was the boring good girl in high school and now she wants to change that. Now that I can see, it happens to many girls in college, but the fact that she is automatically attractive to every male at the college is not a way to be popular with readers. Shipley does get what she wants when her crazy, ether abusing, artist boyfriend paints a picture of her naked. But her reaction to the painting is minimal at best. As a character she doesn’t grow. She cheats on her artist with another boy, the character that I liked the most, but goes right back to her boyfriend with no consequences.

This book tries to approach very real issues, parents’ divorce and being in the shadow of an older sibling, but ultimately fails because it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. No one learns anything from their mistakes and they use drugs without ever getting caught or punished.

The only thing I related to in this book was the fact that you tend to stick with the people you meet at orientation, even if you don’t have anything in common. It’s a safety thing that happens before you find your real friends. None of the characters find those unfortunately.

Overall, this book was a waste of my time so do yourself a favor and don’t bother buying it.

Posted by Danielle Paluga on Feb 17 2011. Filed under Leisure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.