Who: Sarah Darer LittmanWhat: Want To Go Private
Where: Scholastic
When: August 1st, 2011
Why: Author Interest
How: For Review
Abby and Luke chat online. They've never met. But they are going to. Soon.
Abby is starting high school—it should be exciting, so why doesn't she care? Everyone tells her to "make an effort," but why can't she just be herself? Abby quickly feels like she's losing a grip on her once-happy life. The only thing she cares about anymore is talking to Luke, a guy she met online, who understands. It feels dangerous and yet good to chat with Luke—he is her secret, and she's his. Then Luke asks her to meet him, and she does. But Luke isn't who he says he is. When Abby goes missing, everyone is left to put together the pieces. If they don't, they'll never see Abby again.
Want To Go Private is the story of Abby, who's feeling isolated and alone after she starts high school. Add to that the fact her best friend and her don't have much in common anymore, her parents don't understand her, and she has absolutely no self-esteem. So when she meets "Luke" in an online chat room, he understands her like no one else does...and you can see where it does from there.
This is a hard review to write for me because i'm fifteen, guys. Abby, in the book, is fourteen. And I spent most of the book just thinking and getting frustrated and going: "How could she do that? How didn't she see it coming? I was her age last year!" And it's...strange to know that it happens, because it does, and it happens to girls that are the same age as me. Reading this book, I couldn't relate to Abby, because i'm just not that type of person (you guys know me, i'm perky and all AHHH, and I couldn't imagine my self confidence dropping enough to put myself in that situation) but her story was real and raw and something that happens, every day.
Seeing her evolve from this normal girl to someone who just became consumed by this "boy" was expertly written and engrossing, due to Sarah's amazing writing and her ability to just dive into the mind of a character. Once you get to Part Two and the perspectives start changing, was really when the novel completely sucked me in. Lily, her sister, was well-rounded as well as her best friend Faith and Billy. Billy charmed me from the beginning, and the plot and construction of the novel really speaks for itself.
Overall, a well-written and heart-breaking story tinged with hope for not only Abby, but her family and friends, but something that was just hard for me to read.
Happy Reading!
