Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Whitney Hwang

Originally, I read this book when it first came out in 2000. At that time, Ill admit, I was a bit crazy about it. I also read some of the later books in the series over the years, which were surprisingly as good as the first one. Recently, I reread The Princess Diaries, and rediscovered the joy if irony.

Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo is a freshman who, in fact, only referred to herself as Mia Thermopolis before, unknowing that she was a princess, and destined to rule a country one day. Shes feeling stressed. About many things, of course. Even for a princess, she worries a lot. Her algebra teacher is her mothers boyfriend, shes in a fight with her best friend, doesnt have a date to the Cultural Diversity Dance, is failing both in Algebra and her attempts to not be affected by her adversary, the most popular girl in school, and, worst of all, must have princess lessons with her grandmother (but of course, shes called Grandmere!). In this book of self-discovery, Miss Thermopolis is about to find out who she really is.

I enjoyed this book, although a bit bothered by the superficiality. Reality is what this book lacks, and humor is what it has plenty of, fortunately. Meg Cabot tries too hard in trying to think like a unheard teenage girl. She has almost satisfactorily portrayed how a freshman misfit might think. However, it was a bit over-exaggerated, which made it fun to read for its whims. This book needs less ranting and more description; it was hard for me to create an image in my mind of the setting. Put bluntly, there were no truly profound moments to be found in this book. All that there is to be read about is a teenager ranting about her life and then a wave of relief and exhalation as everything turns out alright at the end. Sappy and sweet, in other words. There were many funny moments, which I liked immensely, revenge-of-the-geeks moments. The irony of those incidents really helped me sympathize and yet rejoice with Mia. This whole book was greatly amusing and made me chuckle.

I recommend this book for upper-elementary and middle school girls or high-school girls who want to have a laugh.