Review Detail

Sometimes, therapy can get you in trouble. That's what Ruby finds out when she compiles a list (the boyfriend list) for Dr. Z, her shrink. The list includes any kind of anything meaning, even boys she never even talked to or just wished were her boyfriends. But when the list accidentally gets out at school, Ruby's got an instant reputation&and it isn't a good one.

Besides all of the drama associated with that, in the last 10 days, our beset-upon heroine has lost her boyfriend, her best friend (actually, all her friends), failed a math test, and experienced just about every other social catastrophe you can think of.

But don't think this is the kind of book that will bring you down. E. Lockhart's novel is achingly funny and tragic, in a tragi-comedy type of way. Told in Ruby's voice, it's at times hilarious, a touch introspective, and pretty much always right on target. Annotated with footnotes that read like asides to the text, you'll feel like you know this girl by the end of the book and oh, how you'll sympathize with her even when you want to whack her upside the head.

Similar in tone to Susan Juby's Alice, I Think or Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson books, The Boyfriend List is a good read. It's even bound to make you feel better about your own life.

I recommend this book for girls of all ages, but especially for those 12 and up.