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Headlong

3.17 of 5 stars 3.17 · rating details · 111 ratings · 33 reviews

What sets Vaughn apart is the quality of our girls. We do draw from all over, girls from every kind of background, girls for whom Vaughn is a major life experience. And not every girl is the right girl for Vaughn. You can often tell, early on, who these girls are.

The Vaughn School. Home of domed ceilings, gleaming checkerboard floors, and the Vaughn Virgins: the upper str...more

Hardcover, 208 pages

Published October 28th 2008 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

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Dec 04, 2008 Becky rated it 1 of 5 stars

I wanted a record somewhere that I'd read this book, but I didn't want to blog about this one. For obvious reasons. This book felt disjointed and off. I don't think the author could have made this book any more confusing if she tried. After 195 pages all I know for sure is that it is a story of a teen girl, Lily, who fails at love and friendship. Okay, her failed love relationship wasn't really love. Just lust. And it is her choice completely to give up on this guy--Kells. So she's not unhappy a...more

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Nov 09, 2011 Kayla_greeley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Headlong by Kathe Koja is a very interesting novel that takes the reader through the mesmerizing story of Lily Noble. Although many times it is hard to relate to Lily I found some small details that apply to myself. The novel itself has some dense writing that is difficult to understand but is more lucid throughout the story. This novel should only be recommended to someone who really enjoys reading and will take the time to figure out all the intricate findings of Lily Noble. I enjoyed readin...more Headlong by Kathe Koja is a very interesting novel that takes the reader through the mesmerizing story of Lily Noble. Although many times it is hard to relate to Lily I found some small details that apply to myself. The novel itself has some dense writing that is difficult to understand but is more lucid throughout the story. This novel should only be recommended to someone who really enjoys reading and will take the time to figure out all the intricate findings of Lily Noble. I enjoyed reading headlong but it is a very controversial novel that many people may not enjoy as much as me.

Headlong by Kathe Koja is a novel that focuses on the friendship between two girls going to the Vaugh School. Lily Noble is the classic prep school girl until she meets Hazel Tobias, a hard core down to earth teenager. Lily is mesmerized by the way Hazel acts and how she portrays herself. Throughout this story Lily is able to find herself with the help of her new friends and Hazel. Lily tries to fight the stigma everyone at Vaughn expects her how to act, and achieves this. But, in the end she may lose the closest friend she has had to the exact same cause Lily was trying so hard to fight. Hazel falls into the glory of being a “Vaughn Virgin” but leaves Lily confused and affected. Their friendship fought to stay strong through there high school career but like most things, it did not last. Lily and Hazel wanted to find themselves but what that only meant was they would have to lose each other.

In my opinion I thought this novel was extremely hard to fallow, also there was a lot of loose ends the author did not tie up. I do like this aspect of the novel because it allows you to imagine in your own mind what happened. When reading the book, I was incessantly finding myself guessing what would happen next, but I never was right. There were a lot of twist and turns throughout the novel that I did not except. I picked to read this book because I expected it to be about a friendship that lasted all through life, but there was a deeper meaning. There were many morals and themes if you were able to read in-between the lines. For example it was hard to pick up on it, but the main point of the story is for Lily to find the true meaning of friendship, and how to live her life with her whole heart, and whole soul.

I would not recommend this book to a person my age because it was hard to pick up the slight details the author writes about. One has to pay very close attention to it all. Also throughout the novel Koja uses metaphors to explain how Lily feels, some of them are very complex. For example Lily continues to go swimming in the river which is forbidden by the school, and is a bit dangerous, not till the end did I realize this is a metaphor of her trying to find a deeper meaning of everything, regardless of the rules. The author wrote this in the style of writing that is a stream of consciousness; also the writing goes back and forth from conversations in the past and what Lily is thinking. The writing is hard to fallow but the meaning is very authentic, although this novel was not as long as many others it was still difficult to read because of the complex writing.

Headlong is a novel that digs deep within Lily Noble’s sub-conscious. Many friends and family members affect her life, and what she thinks about it. She is a multifarious person, who is trying to find “her path”. In the end she thinks she has found “her path” but as the reader it is easy to interpret her path will always be changing. I could not really relate to this story immensely but I did realize that we all are just trying to find “our path”, but it is harder said than done because the road is always changing and no one’s future is set in concrete.
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Jun 13, 2013 Andy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't know if I am not reading the right "adult" novels, but the YA novels I have been reading are more wrought with emotion, realistic story telling, and coming of age greatness, I'm beginning to think that if any reader wants to be emotionally moved by story, characterization, or theme, then YA is the way to go, and Headlong is no exception. Yea, the book is a little short, a little cheesy, here and there, but overall, the characters are solid, and the discovery of oneself is so much at the...more

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Mar 21, 2009 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, young-adult

Summary: Lily Noble has always gone to private school. In her sophomore year, a misfit named Hazel shows up and makes Lily rethink the way she’s been doing things her whole life.

Review: The back-and-forth nature of this book took a little time for me to get used to. The chapters alternate between snippets from the beginning of the school year and the end of the year. A few times, I got confused about whether it was a “later” chapter or a “before” chapter, but I chalk that up to my own work-induc...more

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Nov 16, 2008 Suzanne rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: youngadult-fiction

Um, I guess this book was ok, although I am not quite sure what it was about. It seemed like a lot was missing, like I was reading a 200 page summary of a book. There was no meat, just "this happened then this happened then this happened and the end." I almost threw in the towel around page 60 but figured "What's another 140 pages?" Parts were interesting but overall it was lacking.

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Feb 12, 2009 Cera rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I really liked this book, and was sad that I couldn't love it. Koja's a beautiful writer, and she is very good at adolescents; her heroine, Lily, is self-absorbed and enthuasiastic, sometimes cruel, compassionate and thoughtless, intelligent and incredibly unable to see beyond her own narrow scope. The novel is about that narrowness of her vision, the surprising ways she's able to see past it despite a lack of encouragement on the part of her community, and also about the ways she completely fai...more I really liked this book, and was sad that I couldn't love it. Koja's a beautiful writer, and she is very good at adolescents; her heroine, Lily, is self-absorbed and enthuasiastic, sometimes cruel, compassionate and thoughtless, intelligent and incredibly unable to see beyond her own narrow scope. The novel is about that narrowness of her vision, the surprising ways she's able to see past it despite a lack of encouragement on the part of her community, and also about the ways she completely fails to understand what's going on around her.

The plot has an unfortunate tone of 'white girl is saved from her whiteness by non-white girl' -- Lily is a student at a very elite upper-class girl's school, who is suddenly made aware of her own class & race privilege by the arrival of Hazel. Hazel is an orphan being raised by her gay older brother & his partner, and unfortunately is something of a Magical Brown Person, serving as a vector for Lily to eat new foods, meet new people, experience a rawer urban environment, and so forth. But for me, the book was saved from racism by two things:

1. Hazel's family, although unconventional, is shown to be highly economically privileged; it's clear that they're not living in any sort of poverty, and thus there's no romanticisation of class difference.

2. Koja seems aware of the problems inherent to this sort of story, and brings them to the forefront in an awesome scene in which Hazel demonstrates conformity with Lily's family's values & Lily throws a fit, leading to a huge fight between her & Hazel which is never really explained within the text. My reading is that rather than Koja telling the story in which Hazel is a Magical Brown Person who is freeing Lily from class/race constraints, it's *Lily* who sees the story that way. Thus, when Hazel demonstrates that she might, perhaps, aspire to be part of Lily's world & is willing to conform to the rules, Lily flips out because Hazel is no longer in the right role. How dare Hazel aspire to be upper-class and WASPy rather than being a rude, rebellious, earthy brown person? I felt this reading very strongly, but since the argument is never deconstructed by the characters I'm not sure how much of this is just me and how much of it is in the text.

I liked the book, and I want to read more Koja.(less)

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Jan 11, 2012 Shelby Finger rated it 1 of 5 stars

One star, because 0/5 stars isn't allowed. This book was terribad. I actually got into a high speed internet arguement (that's right, I'm a bad ass with a key board) with some chick on a book club website over this. She said that this particular book wasn't the best portrayal for this author, who is apparently capable of so much more. I SAY, if she was willing to write and publish this, I want nothing to do with her (but in all seriousness, I respect all author's who follow their dreams, yadda,...more

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Aug 31, 2009 E. Anderson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Not your typical boarding school tale of hook-ups and hijinx, Headlong is the story of Lily Noble, a lifer at Vaughn - a school known for its “Vaughn Virgin” social elite. Lily has always fit in with the girls at school - the pretty ones with perfect grades and wealthy families. But then Hazel comes to Vaughn on scholarship, bringing her alternative family, her hot cherry licorice, and punk-rock style. Soon Lily is drifting away from her old friends, and as she spends more time with Hazel, she c...more

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Feb 20, 2009 T.V and Book Addict rated it 4 of 5 stars

Aww, this book was very ...nice/different/special/touching/sweet. I have never read a book in this kind of writing style, I loved it! I miss it :(
This is a wonderful story about friendship that will stay in your mind for a long time, long after you've read it.
I loved the way the author, Koja, wrote this book. She did it in such a creative way, that it made the whole book even better, I have never read another book written in this way which makes this book stand out-something I really like. (read...more

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May 01, 2013 Owen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Despite the fact that this is one of Koja's lowest rated books on Goodreads (and I know that doesn't really mean anything but I still take it into account), I do think it is one of her best. If I'm not mistaken, it is her most recent YA book and you can definitely feel how modern it is.

Ok, I'm looking now and it was released in 2008, which was 5 years ago (holy crap) and actually not that long after her other books. But still, it feels different. And I think that is because she was sort of going...more

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Apr 09, 2011 Mely rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, contemporary-fiction, 2011-read, bechdelpass, class

Lily Noble is a sophomore at the exclusive Vaughn school; she has the right parents, the right friends, fits in all the right circles, does all the right things. But she doesn't feel like she quite belongs. She befriends Hazel Tobias, new girl, punk attitude, lots of previous schools, misses her last one, Bertram, much more brown. (I couldn't figure out whether Koja meant Hazel to be black or not; I think not, but I decided to read her as black anyway, why not.--Okay, having read other reviews,...more Lily Noble is a sophomore at the exclusive Vaughn school; she has the right parents, the right friends, fits in all the right circles, does all the right things. But she doesn't feel like she quite belongs. She befriends Hazel Tobias, new girl, punk attitude, lots of previous schools, misses her last one, Bertram, much more brown. (I couldn't figure out whether Koja meant Hazel to be black or not; I think not, but I decided to read her as black anyway, why not.--Okay, having read other reviews, a lot of people read Hazel as black; there was a moment that threw me when Hazel described herself as "not blonde," where I'd expect "black" or "African American," but maybe it's a stray trace of white writer being reluctant to name people's races outright.)

Koja's prose is as distinctive as ever, but this didn't grab me, maybe because I never really warmed up to any of the major characters. Koja is really good on the obliviousness and selfishness of teenagers, especially privileged ones: Lily's unthinking cruelty to her roommate, for example, and her contempt for her kind of meaningless social class circle, which she doesn't recognize comes from having a choice to belong or not, which not everyone has; her disregard of people outside her social circles (I raised my eyebrow at a lot of the "ESL" comments). It's notable most of the girls in the book are bitches, that the sweetest people Lily knows -- or notices -- are male; the mothers are awful, the fathers reserved but actually care; some of the female teachers are okay. There's a great emphasis on female friendship -- sometimes "friendship" -- but the ending and the treatment of minor female characters undercuts taht for me.

It's a pattern I've seen before in Koja's work, these really intense romantic female friendships that suddenly or not so suddenly flame out (Skin,Kissing the Bee Library ), and I can't decide whether or not I'm judging them fairly or not, because here and in Skin the narrator/POV character clearly isn't quite reliable, and it's not as simple as one girl's good and the other's bad. (And you can only rely on men in the end.) But I'm not sure they get far enough away from that pattern, either.

And it might just have not grabbed me because I don't get the boarding school fascination. It seems like a lot more (American, anyway) YA books are set in boarding schools since Harry Potter and ... I don't share the fascination. They kind of creep me out, actually. Like wasps' nests (WASPs' nests, wow, that was not on purpose).

So now that I'm writing it up, I think a lot of the things I disliked -- especially about Lily's cruelties, and her choice, which seemed really not set up at first but makes more sense the more that I think about -- are purposeful. (Except for the gender stuff.) This may be the only one of the boarding school books I've seen really take on class, except for Holly Black's Curse Worker's series, and this one is ultimately much chillier about it.

Random yay: Magnus went to my high school! Sorry, I just kind of love it when anyone's heard of it.(less)

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Jul 09, 2010 Monica rated it 5 of 5 stars

The prestigious Vaughn school houses the best of the best...the wealthy, the intelligent, the elite. Lily Noble, a "lifer" (she's attended Vaughn all her life, should be satisfied with her position. She knows the rules and she's followed them all her life. Until this year.

Formerly a day student, Lily decides she wants to be a resident student. She meets Hazel, a new sophomore scholarship student who just doesn't fit the mold. She's got an unusual family, comes from an inner city high school, an...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

Lily Noble has been attending the Vaughn School since pre-K as a day student. She has been discontent with her life there. To try to appease her, Lily's parents decide to let Lily be a boarder at school sophomore year. Thinking the change will help Lily's restlessness, Lily moves into the dorm. She is stuck with a roommate that has severe allergies and is overwhelmed with the pressures of life at Vaughn.

Lily notices the new girl, Hazel Tobias, in her Lit c...more

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Dec 28, 2008 Donalyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-realistic-fiction

Lily Noble has attended the exclusive Vaughn Prep School for eleven years, but the school does not seem like home to her anymore. When a new girl, Hazel, who is not "Vaughn material" arrives, Lily starts to question her identity and her relationships with her boyfriend, classmates, and parents.

Most of the characters fell into stereotypes-- Hazel's hip photographer brother and his understanding life partner, the jock boyfriend, the snobby mom, etc. The only character I felt was complicated was Li...more

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Dec 23, 2008 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Seminary students

Shelves: young-adult

There are a lot of teen books with the character of the eccentric girl who is friends with the narrator (e.g., Patron Saint of Butterflies, Stargirl). This follows the formula with Hazel being the outsider at the boarding school where Lily attends. This is a great book about the pressures of perfection and how to find your own path. Read this if you've ever had trouble fitting in, tried to please your parents, failed to please your parents, hated or loved your school, and so on. A lot of YA book...more

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Jan 11, 2013 7709julia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Headlong was an uninteresting read. The whole story just felt a bit off. For example, it is supposed to be a coming of age story, and is ablout lily noble realizing who she truly is, but iut just came across like the author was trying too hard. If you want a coming of age novel, search further.

I reccommend this book to any readers of The Clique, or Pretty Little Liars.

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Aug 06, 2010 Alison rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction

First off, the way this story is told confused me for a while. Flashing back to the past and then to the present messed up the story's chain of events. The plot is boring most of the time and only vaguely interesting at others. We've seen all these characters before in some form or another. The ending was pointless, with a bunch of buildup to a disappointing conclusion.

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Apr 29, 2009 Alexa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: teenbooks

I thought the way the timeline worked in this book was interesting. There's one chapter from June (end of the school year), one from September (beginning). The chapters move through the school year forwards and we continue to hear about June. Except that I thought there would be a bigger reveal somewhere in the middle. That would have made it a better book.

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Mar 03, 2011 Kali Keish rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

The book seemed confusing at some times. I didn't really understand why some of the parts were included in the book. It was interesting following through seeing where Lily's life was during certain months then going back to the summer, yet when it first started doing that I had no idea what was going on. But all in all, I actually did enjoy the book.

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Mar 09, 2009 Ricki rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 23, 2009 K Nolfi rated it 4 of 5 stars

i loved this kinda waspy boarding school book. reminded me of 'someday this pain will be useful to you' 'maybe 'prep' and the maxine swann book i read. i can't see a lot of our teens reading it. it's not about much. seems so old fashioned.

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Feb 02, 2009 Melody rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not usually much for boarding school books, but I couldn't resist the jacket copy on this. And I'm glad I didn't. It's written with a breathless immediacy that rings true and overcomes some odd plot holes. I liked it. A lot.

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Dec 14, 2008 Laura Gardner rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: drama, ya

The situations at the private school didn't seem completely authentic to me... I did like the structure of the book, though, and the relationship between Hazel and Lily; this is a great book about friendship.

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Dec 19, 2008 46milestogo rated it 1 of 5 stars

There's no doubt that Kathe Koja writes beautifully, but this plot is so whisper thin and obvious that I found it impossible to care about the characters or what happened.

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Mar 23, 2009 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contrealfic, teen

Lily becomes friends with "ghetto girl" Hazel at their private boarding school high school and it affects them both. I love how Koja takes you into their world.

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Feb 01, 2009 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 15, 2012 Amber Oliphant rated it 1 of 5 stars

The audience for this book is high schoolers. Not appropriate content (drugs, sex, homosexuality). Poorly written.

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Jul 04, 2010 Cher rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

This author is very talented at creating mood and believable, interesting characters but there just wasn't anything truly interesting about this particular story.

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Dec 21, 2011 Lauren Silver rated it 3 of 5 stars

While I enjoyed the way this book was written... It was rather confusing. Is it bad that I can't even really remember the ending?

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Feb 06, 2009 x.Lithium.x (Cappy) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction

This book is good but disappointing...

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About Kathe Koja

I've been writing since I was very young, just about as soon as I could read. It's more than what I do for a living: writing is who I am, the way I see the world, the way I try to make sense of what I see.

But it wasn't until I attended the Clarion Workshop that I got serious about my writing. At Clarion I met writers, real live writers whose books I had actually read, who read my stories, offered...more I've been writing since I was very young, just about as soon as I could read. It's more than what I do for a living: writing is who I am, the way I see the world, the way I try to make sense of what I see.

But it wasn't until I attended the Clarion Workshop that I got serious about my writing. At Clarion I met writers, real live writers whose books I had actually read, who read my stories, offered helpful critiques, and most of all, took me seriously as a fellow writer. That changed my life. A few years later, I sold my first novel. Four more novels and a short fiction collection for adults were published in the '90s.

Writing straydog, my first book for young people, ushered me into a world I knew already as a reader. Many of the characters I love best in fiction -- Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet, J.D. Salinger's Holden and Franny and Zooey, Francesca Lia Block's Witch Baby -- are people who say what they think, show their bewilderments, struggle with hard ideas, love with all their hearts; exasperating, funny, intense people. Young people.

I'm a strong supporter of animal rights, so I'm especially proud that straydog was honored by both the ASPCA and the Humane Society. I believe that you can learn everything you need to know about a person by watching the way s/he acts with animals and little kids, the powerless ones. Which is what Buddha Boy is primarily about: power. Who has it, who abuses it, and what it's really for.

Writing fiction is a discipline not only of words, but of vision: I have to see a thing clearly in my mind's eye -- a character, a situation -- before I can begin to write about it. The Blue Mirror is about vision, and what can happen when we finally open our eyes.

Talk looks at freedom: the freedom to think and act and choose for yourself, to live the reality of who you are inside -- and about freedom's greatest enemy, fear.

Going Under explores the boundaries of trust and of loyalty: how far into the darkness can you -- should you -- go, even for someone you love?

Kissing The Bee examines the power of growth and inevitable change, how to reach for what you want without betraying who you are. And the novel that follows -- Headlong, coming in fall '08 -- looks at social class and aspirations, and what "having it all" it might mean for two very different girls

I'm a proud native Detroiter, growing up in an east side suburb. I still live near the city with my husband, artist Rick Lieder, and our three cats.(less)

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