Thursday, December 01, 2011

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins


Lola and the Boy Next Door is a novel about the way younger versions of a person influence the way that person lives their life. In Lola's case, she fell in love very early with a boy named Cricket. His sister's budding gymnastics career separated them and created some misconceptions about his and Lola's relationship, breaking Lola's heart in the process. He moves away right after that. This book is written three years down the line from those events, and we see the aftermath of Lola's broken heart. She is doing pretty well for herself though, a budding costume designer dating a 22 year old rocker she's quite eccentric. But when Cricket moves back, what will happen to her life?
This is the companion book to Anna and the French Kiss and (and this is saying something) it is as good or better than its companion. The refreshing language and interesting takes on controversial topics such as gay marriage and marijuana make it eye opening but not to edgy. The main character Lola does many, many things that are not necessarily smart or legal but she is always punished when she does these things and so therefore the book has morals, which is not something you usually see in a book dealing with topics such as these. The best thing about this book is the scenes where Lola is upset. Every bit of raw emotion she feels in these far between moments are felt in our own bodies and it is heart wrenching. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends.
Sexual and drug related content.
Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Exeter , NH USA