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Beige

by Cecil Castellucci (Goodreads Author)

3.65 of 5 stars 3.65 · rating details · 955 ratings · 162 reviews

Dad’s an aging L.A. punk rocker known as the Rat. Daughter’s a buttoned-up neat freak who’d rather be anywhere else. Can this summer be saved?

Now that she’s exiled from Canada to sunny Los Angeles, Katy figures she’ll bury her nose in a book and ignore the fact that she’s spending two weeks with her father — punk name: the Rat — a recovered addict and drummer for the famou...more

Hardcover, 307 pages

Published May 8th 2007 by Candlewick Press

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Apr 19, 2009 Meghan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

Cecil's books go down way fast! I started this one before bed last night and finished this AM. Overall it was an OK time; I particularly liked how she really committed to Katy's feelings about music and didn't necessarily break her wide open for the sake of a good ending. Being inside the head of such an internal girl, though, I guess I expected a little more color? For someone who apparently has everything super-bottled-up, she shrugs a lot in her own narrative. But her manifesto was beautiful,...more

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Jan 25, 2009 Ash rated it 1 of 5 stars

I picked this book up because the blurb sounded interesting, but the main character and the cussing annoyed me to no end. I don't understand why it was necessary to drop the f-bomb every two pages. The main character(Katy)was excessivly annoying and a bit on the naive side. I'm not saying that to be mean but she acted like a total brat through most of the book. I could get that she wasn't happy about hanging out in LA with her punk rocker dad(Rat) who she hasn't been close to. She's pretty much...more

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Jan 11, 2008 Tracy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: awesome-ya

Oooh! I Heart Cecil Castellucci even more. I really dug this book. Just like "Boy Proof," you get a well written interior monologue. But, this time, Castellucci describes a newcomer's viewpoint to a certain L.A. scene. In "Boy Proof," Egg was very much an insider and in-the-know. In "Beige," Katy is a very uptight, repressed Canadienne forced to spend two weeks with her punk rock father in L.A. She has to let loose a new aspect of herself as she adapts to a new situation (not a new theme in YA,...more

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Aug 03, 2009 Adele added it

Beige had been sitting on my shelf for awhile when I read an entry over at Stephanie Kuehnert's where she was absolutely raving about it. That was enough for me...Stephanie can write like a dream and turns out, can recommend like a dream too.

Beige tells the story of conservative and restrained Katy who is sent to stay with her father in LA for the summer. Katy is a complete fish out of water in the grimy world of punk rock, the smell of it particularly permeates through the pages and it allows y...more Beige had been sitting on my shelf for awhile when I read an entry over at Stephanie Kuehnert's where she was absolutely raving about it. That was enough for me...Stephanie can write like a dream and turns out, can recommend like a dream too.

Beige tells the story of conservative and restrained Katy who is sent to stay with her father in LA for the summer. Katy is a complete fish out of water in the grimy world of punk rock, the smell of it particularly permeates through the pages and it allows you to feel as though you are in the world with her. Katy is completely buttoned down, rigid and shut off and as such The Rat's world doesn't really mesh with her standards. Katy is a completely relatable protagonist, she's never been cool or ever been all that into music. This is most likely influenced by her desire and fear of becoming like her parents, both recovered drug addicts. Her need for order and control can be a little distancing at times but it is always justified.

Every character that appears in Castellucci's novel is extreme - whether extreme in their prickliness, obviousness, softness, rigidity or kitschiness - they are all well formed and have unique and sparky interactions with one another. Lake is a character that works as a great foil for Katy, she's the "expected offspring" of a punk rocker but has missed out on the maternal care that Katy has taken for granted. Lake's a cactus wrapped around a pillow with a piece of coal battling her heart for position in her chest cavity. These two rocker babies with diametrically opposed personalities force one another to really confront who they are and their motivations. It's a friendship that is fun, sparky and organic - there are no false notes to be found.

The Rat is a character that really grabs the reader. He's forever trying too hard to win his daughter over. The author takes the great path of not making him compromise himself at any point in his efforts to ingratiate himself into his daughter's affections. He's an immensely flawed man but one with a huge heart and perhaps too sensitive to the world.

Beige is a fast read. You find yourself whipping through the pages to the most satisfying conclusion. It is a conclusion that rejects the need to tie everything up in a cliche ridden, predictable, pretty package. Instead, this coming of age story, which details Katy's personal growth, settles on a complete realistic and satisfying conclusion.

A fantastic start to a (hopefully) long Castellucci reading journey!(less)

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Mar 23, 2009 laaaaames rated it 3 of 5 stars

I actually liked this quite a lot, probably I'd give 3 and a half stars, but since a great deal of that is that it takes place in my neighborhood, I'm leaving it at three stars.

What I liked:
1. Obviously! I've never read something set in Silver Lake/Los Feliz before, some really nice touches, like I got all IF THERE IS NO MENTION OF THE ELLIOTT SMITH MEMORIAL I WILL BE UNHAPPY but that got taken care of. (Totally made me go get a pupusa too, dammit!)
2. Family drama, seemed real within the world...more

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Jan 11, 2009 Jaemi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-fiction

When Katy Ratner discovers she'll be spending two weeks of her summer with her father, The Rat, instead of in Peru with her mother, she's not happy about it. But she figures she can deal.

Shortly after arriving at the airport she changes her mind. Upon arrival at the Rat's apartment she knows she can't do this. Mess, everywhere. Her room, she can tell he tried with her room. Except it's still not her. She pleads with her mother via text messages, but apparently her seriousness has such an edge to...more When Katy Ratner discovers she'll be spending two weeks of her summer with her father, The Rat, instead of in Peru with her mother, she's not happy about it. But she figures she can deal.

Shortly after arriving at the airport she changes her mind. Upon arrival at the Rat's apartment she knows she can't do this. Mess, everywhere. Her room, she can tell he tried with her room. Except it's still not her. She pleads with her mother via text messages, but apparently her seriousness has such an edge to it that it comes across as a joke. She doesn't know how to point out the mistake.

Then comes an even bigger kick in the face. Her two weeks are actually going to be the whole summer. Her mother's on to something in Peru. Something huge. And she wants to stay. Katy wants to be there, be part of the team she's always been included in. But she doesn't say that either.

And so it is. She's stuck in California, looking and feeling out of place, trying to understand this world of people for whom music is everything. For her, music is mostly just noise. Or a good background. If it's the right music. Which makes staying with her drummer father a real dilemma. And being baby-sat by the bribed daughter of the Rat's band-mate, Sam Suck, more of a dilemma. Even Garth Skater, pretty enough to be a girl without his helmet on, gets it. He promises to make her a mix CD, by way of introduction to the scene.

True to his word, he delivers the CD while Lake is visiting. Katy isn't interested until Lake points out that it's actually a good mix. Then it starts to seem worth it.

Slowly, Katy starts to feel less Beige...or at least that Beige isn't a bad thing to be. She starts to understand her dad. And his girlfriend, Trixie, proves to be a good friend. Even Lake isn't all hardness, like she seems. And even music starts to make its own kind of sense.

As summer draws to a close, leaving Beige with one more huge obstacle and disappointment to get through, she knows she can do it. It really will be OK. She has a place in this world, and she doesn't have to take it quietly. Maybe she is her father's daughter; and that's not a bad thing to be.(less)

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Apr 11, 2013 shanice malik rated it 5 of 5 stars

i decided to read this book because as i was looking for a book in the library, it stood out. i felt like i needed to read it because it felt like it was calling out. its creativeness with the guitar on the cover grew attention. its sound grew louder as i get closer. as i pick up the book and get it out, i knew i had made the right choice of picking that book. i think this novel fits under the category of our class theme friendship. i think this because its about how Katy spends two whole weeks...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Yensy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Everybody looks for something interesting to read. Beige by Cecil Castellucci is a very entertaining book. It exhibits the process of someone being in an awkward situation and overcoming it by keeping an open mind. Whether is an adult or a young person at some point everyone can relate with this story. Castellucci gives the characters personalities that can be reflected in every human. This is the reason people can identify with many of the character and understand it better.
Beige by Cecil Cast...more Everybody looks for something interesting to read. Beige by Cecil Castellucci is a very entertaining book. It exhibits the process of someone being in an awkward situation and overcoming it by keeping an open mind. Whether is an adult or a young person at some point everyone can relate with this story. Castellucci gives the characters personalities that can be reflected in every human. This is the reason people can identify with many of the character and understand it better.
Beige by Cecil Castellucci is a captivating book. The book is about a young girl being in an unfamiliar environment and how she deals with it. While staying in that environment she just thinks that “There is not thread for [her] to hang on to, which makes [her] zone out.” (Castellucci 39). At some point everyone has felt that way, kind of awkward and uninvited. At the same time people want to make us part of the world but is not where we want to be. Going to the process is what makes the book captivating. While some people can walk away from their problems and move on as fast as they can, there are many other that are just stuck in the situation. The book demonstrates how much can someone handle in a place where it doesn’t fit. Beige is the perfect book for someone trying to find a different and entertaining story.
From the book beige I can relate to the main character. Katie never lived with her father and one day she had to go live with him for a long time exactly what happened to me. She felt about her dad the same way I feel about mine. Just like Katie “I [wanted] to remind him that to me he is just e-mails, phone calls, some letters, and a bunch of awkward presents.” (Castellucci 7). When I read the book I could understand how Katie felt by being with someone she didn’t know. My dad has always been a stranger to me; someone that I talked on the phone with, but that’s it. Like Katie I called that person father, I didn’t mean it. Therefore I didn’t find the book boing, the fact that we can relate to the characters in a book make it interesting.
Many families separate for different reasons. Beige has a real story which deals with a problem that many people are going through, disintegration of the family. Katie’s mom and dad separated. She didn’t know exactly what happened but she knew who left who, it was her “Mom, because she had a reason.” (Castellucci 22). Katie was the reason for her parents’ separation. Like Katie’s mom many mothers get away from their relationship to protect their children. Just like this many families disintegrate because one of the members is not taking the best decision for the family. We can see this problem happening everyday therefore it is a real conflict with which people can entertain themselves because it is something they know about.
In conclusion, Beige is an amazing story. It has the characteristic a reader looks for in a book. Castellucci incorporated the factor that can make a person read the book straight to the end. Beige is realistic, everyone can relate to the story. Despite not everyone has the punk star father Katie had, people can still relate to it because there is always something that bother us about our parents. Beige is a captivating book with which people can relate and entertain themselves.
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Dec 09, 2011 Erin Forson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Beige
by Cecil Castellucci
What if your dad wore thrift-store clothes (unwashed for days) a tiny little cowboy hat and smelled like B.O. and cigarettes? What if you also were forced to spend part of your summer "getting to know" him because he split before you could walk? And what if all of this was so your mom could go to Peru and take in the sights? Then you'd be Katy, a.k.a., "Beige" who blends into every environment...that is except Los Angeles where her dad, "The Rat" plays punk rock for the...more

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Sep 11, 2010 YA Reads Book Reviews rated it 3 of 5 stars

Katy and her mom are a team. They’ve always done everything together – everything. So when Katy’s mom tells her that she’s going on a research trip without her, Katy can hardly believe it. She really can’t believe it when she learns that she’s being shipped off to L.A for two weeks to stay with her dad.

The Rat aint going to be winning any prizes for Father Of The Year any time soon. He’s barely had anything to do with Katy her whole life. He tried to cross the border into Canada to see her once,...more Katy and her mom are a team. They’ve always done everything together – everything. So when Katy’s mom tells her that she’s going on a research trip without her, Katy can hardly believe it. She really can’t believe it when she learns that she’s being shipped off to L.A for two weeks to stay with her dad.

The Rat aint going to be winning any prizes for Father Of The Year any time soon. He’s barely had anything to do with Katy her whole life. He tried to cross the border into Canada to see her once, but he got kicked out for life for attempting to carry drugs into the country. That’s the kind of guy he was – the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll type. He may have kicked the drugs and the booze now, but rock ‘n’ roll is something you just can’t kick. For The Rat, rock ‘n’ roll is in his blood. There is no living if you’re living a rockless life. He may still drum for a living, but he’s clean now and The Rat is determined to show Katy that he’s just a normal guy who wants a relationship with his only kid. As normal as any punk rock drummer can be, anyway.

But Katy isn’t having it. No sir. Why would she bother? He got her mom hooked on drugs. He was never there for her, ever. Apart from the fact that he’s the drummer in a pretty successful L.A based punk band, she barely knows anything about this guy. Why does she have to play the father-daughter game now?

Then she finds out that she has to stay for the whole summer, instead of the intended two weeks. Oh man. What a freaking nightmare.

I swear, my heart goes out to The Rat. He really does try and make a good go of it with Katy, but their lives are so different, so disconnected, that bumpy times are unavoidable. Katy could use a bit of a slap around the ears if you ask me. I think her reasons for being so bitter are genuine, I really do, but is all the whining really necessary? In a very fifteen-year-oldesque manner, Katy finds the darkness, the terrible, in absolutely everything. Having said that, I’m actually pretty glad that Beige was written through Katy’s perspective rather than anyone else’s. I identify with her more than any other character – crazy, unbearable whining aside. I enjoyed her journey a whole lot, and towards the end I actually felt a little excited about her triumph. The kid learns to loosen up a little and see life for what it really is – life. This isn’t a happy-go-lucky read, but it certainly left me feeling good.

If you’re into a bit of punk rock, then I think you’ll get an extra kick out of this one. The chapters are titled with awesome rocking song titles and punk rock references pepper the pages of this contemporary read. When the book kicks off, Katy’s affiliation with music or punk rock is zippo. Nada. Zilch. She knows nothing music, and doesn’t want to know anything either. But as her personal journey is carved out in the pages of this story, so is her musical education. At the back of the novel, Castellucci has compiled a playlist of punk rock tracks that Katy – I’m assuming the Katy that emerges at the end, rather than the beginning – gets down and rocks out to. I had a whole lot of fun downloading and listening to her journey, as well as reading the words on the page.

Beige is like any good punk rock song should be – dirty, angry, and straight to the point. Cecil Castellucci will rock your socks off with this one.(less)

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Jan 10, 2010 Susan Helene Gottfried rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: rock-fiction

I'd heard good things about Cecil Castellucci's Beige, so I attempted extra lengths to get my hands on it. A copy popped up at Paperbackswap.com before I could get to a bookstore and wouldn't you know, but it's the latest in a year-long epidemic of books showing up with water stains (despite my clear request that these sorts of books NOT be sent my way. Sigh).

Still, a little water will only prevent me from re-listing the book at PaperBackSwap. It won't prevent me from reading it... with a canis...more I'd heard good things about Cecil Castellucci's Beige, so I attempted extra lengths to get my hands on it. A copy popped up at Paperbackswap.com before I could get to a bookstore and wouldn't you know, but it's the latest in a year-long epidemic of books showing up with water stains (despite my clear request that these sorts of books NOT be sent my way. Sigh).

Still, a little water will only prevent me from re-listing the book at PaperBackSwap. It won't prevent me from reading it... with a canister of albuterol handy. Water damage invites mold into a book, people!
It was hard to put Beige on the Read Soon pile (as opposed to the ToBeRead mountain range in my office). It didn't linger long, a scant two months. Maybe two and a half.

In the end, I have to say I was disappointed with Beige. It's not that it's not a good book. It is. It's not that you can't feel the music in these pages. You can.

It's that it reminds me so much of one of my all-time favorite books, Fat Kid Rules the Earth, that Beige seems like a derivative female version of the same story. Oh, there are differences: Katy comes to LA, expecting to spend two weeks with her father the legendary punk rocker. She meets a cast of characters who should have been vibrant and wonderful, but didn't live and breathe as much as I'd have liked them to. I left this book wanting to know more about Garth. More about Trixie, and her relationship to The Rat. And I left it hoping that Lake would become less of the cliche she is in these pages. Leo, too. Talk about the perfect jock who's into one-night stands before he loses his virginity.

Still, if you either can't draw the comparison with Fat Kid or if you don't want to, the way Castellucci draws the music for the reader is well done. As Katy begins to understand it, so do we. It's a slow surrender, a slow realization of what music is and how it operates. And why it's so important to so many of us.

I loved, too, the idea of the pool as the gathering place. In fact, I wish the final group scene had been set down at the pool. It became a strong metaphor for Katy's transformation. But not just Katy's. Her friends, such as they are, transform also, as the best characters in the best books do. Lake grows. Garth changes, although he's still too much an enigma. I want more Garth! (I can easily see him holding court in his own book, in fact.)

In a switch from most plots aimed at kids and teens, I honestly thought there was one adult who stole the show: The Rat. Man, the visual I drew of him was of Tommy Lee, all skinny arms and legs and tattoos. But he's also a man struggling with a past that continues to stalk him, a past that he built his legacy on. It can stalk him all it wants; he's going to continue to find ways to work it. His band wasn't a flash-in-the-pan. They're coming back.

And still, The Rat bangs his drums to deal with his addiction cravings. He bangs his drums because he doesn't get his own daughter. He wants, he needs, he can't wash his dishes.

Here is one point where Castellucci doesn't sink into the cliche: Katy doesn't clean up The Rat's apartment. She finds a way to dwell in the filth -- and eventually, it stops bothering her. Maybe she even grows comfortable in it.

Fat Kid definitely ruined this book for me. The two are very similar; there's no doubt about it. Overall, I think the themes of acceptance within an often ill-regarded subculture were better done by KL Going. But there's plenty going on within Beige to recommend it, also. This is one of those books that could spin off sequels and series entries -- although part of its magic is that it's complete as is. We close the cover and wonder what's ahead for these people. And we hope it's all good.

One last note: Yep, I recommend this book, despite finding it falls short. I've been talking about it since I finished it, I've been thinking about it. Above all else, that is what sets the great books apart.
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May 23, 2009 Jodysegal rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-school, realistic-fiction, young-adult

I'm not sure how realistic this one is but it tries and it's fun. When Katy's mother ships her off to spend time with the father she doesn't know, an aging punk rock star named Rat, Katy feels miserably out of her element. Beige, the name bestowed upon her by the too- cool daughter of a band-mate, seems to fit this fourteen-year-old, who prefers order and quiet to the excited chaos of the music scene. But Katy and the rest of the cast grow to appreciate and care for each other over the course of...more

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Mar 31, 2009 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, young-adult, read-in-2009

This is probably somewhere between 3 and 4 stars but it's not quite 4 so 3 it'll have to be.

At one point I was really into this book because I felt like I was finally getting to know and like the characters and I was anticipating something happening. Then it seemed to become less interesting again. Beige/Katy is an 16-year-old French Canadian who comes to live with her dad for two weeks (although those two weeks turns into the entire summer) while her mom is on some seemingly random research dis...more

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Nov 05, 2010 Maddie rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book Beige by Cecil Castellucci is a fiction novel. It is geared toward anyone, preferably the age for teens and older. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book at first because the cover looked different. Never judge a book by its cover. So I decided to read it and im glad I did. It was funny, loving, and very good. This book relates to me in a way because the main girl in the book Katy has to live with her dad for two weeks in the summer because her mom is on a business trip for work...more

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Apr 06, 2009 bjneary rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: funny, ya, realistic-fiction

Katy's mom goes on an archeological dig in Peru and she is sent to spend 2 weeks with her father in Los Angeles. Her father is a recovered addict who was banned from Canada and seeing Katy when she was very young. "The Rat" as he is known in music circles is the opposite of his daughter. He talks nonstop, has tattoes up and down his arms, is scruffy and Katy doesn't think she has much in common with him. As she smiles, she thinks all kinds of things. Katy meets Lake, Sam Suck's daughter and has...more

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Aug 02, 2010 Sue Larson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: coming-of-age, families, family-relationships, misfits, young-adult

Katy is sent to Los Angeles to stay with her estranged father, The Rat, drummer for the punk band Suck, while her mother goes off to a dig in Peru. Katy hates everything about LA and her father’s filthy apartment. Katy is nicknamed "Beige" by Lake, the daughter of another member of Suck who is being paid to spend time with Katy. Katy tries to deal with all of this while keeping her polite “nice girl” status. She’s lonely, she and her father have nothing in common and she is desperate to leave. W...more Katy is sent to Los Angeles to stay with her estranged father, The Rat, drummer for the punk band Suck, while her mother goes off to a dig in Peru. Katy hates everything about LA and her father’s filthy apartment. Katy is nicknamed "Beige" by Lake, the daughter of another member of Suck who is being paid to spend time with Katy. Katy tries to deal with all of this while keeping her polite “nice girl” status. She’s lonely, she and her father have nothing in common and she is desperate to leave. When her mother's return is delayed, Katy learns to deal, loses some of her “beige” ways and learns to like punk a tiny bit.
The chapter titles are all from punk band song titles, giving clues to the action in the chapter. The relationship between Katy and Lake is well-written and the story as they both learn and grow was believable. Castellucci has created characters that the reader comes to genuinely care about by the end of the book.
I felt that this book met a good number of them and deserved to be named a “Quick Pick” of 2008. These criteria included:
• Physical Appearance – The cover of the edition I read was black with the neck of a large pink guitar forming the “I” in the title. The bold image makes the book stand out on the shelf. There is also a Booklist review quote describing the book as “pure Nirvana” as a lure to music fans.
• Format – The chapters were short and snappy, with song titles introducing them. The pages weren’t crowded or overwhelming for readers and although the book is 320 pages, the short chapters move the story along quickly.
• Style – Castellucci’s style is easy as she relates what is going on in each of her character’s heads. The writing is clear and the vocabulary is straightforward, even some music business terminology. Because Katy/Beige is an outsider who is learning the “punk world,” the reader gets the explanations too, and I thought the story flowed very effectively.
In terms of high interest, the book definitely hooks the reader in the first 10 pages as Katy is plunked in the middle of her father’s strange world of punk-has-been-stardom. Music and father/daughter tensions are familiar themes that appeal emotionally to teens. Kathy’s humor is quiet at first, but grows as she finds her voice and develops more colors to her personality and presence.
I thought that a real strength of Beige is that it is a good recommendation for so many teens. Music-obsessed teens will enjoy the punk scene, while more conservative minded teens will relate to Katy's feelings of being an outsider in this environment. Boys will enjoy it, too, because of the well-written male figures, including the quirky character of Kathy’s father, The Rat. Each chapter lists the name of a band and song that teens could listen to while they are reading the book. This book would make a great book group read as a part of the 2010 Teen Read Week "Books with Beat" theme.

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Jul 29, 2009 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

I'd really want to give it 3.5 stars, but I tipped the rating because I liked the setting of the book so much.

"Why does everyone want to be a musician? Music is dangerous. You could end up like Elliott Smith, stabbed right in the heart."

This book combines some of my favorite things - Los Angeles (especially the neighborhoods of Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and Hollywood), punk music, libraries, and French (due to the main character's origins in Montreal).

The story is fairly predictable, but the ch...more I'd really want to give it 3.5 stars, but I tipped the rating because I liked the setting of the book so much.

"Why does everyone want to be a musician? Music is dangerous. You could end up like Elliott Smith, stabbed right in the heart."

This book combines some of my favorite things - Los Angeles (especially the neighborhoods of Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and Hollywood), punk music, libraries, and French (due to the main character's origins in Montreal).

The story is fairly predictable, but the characterizations were spot-on. Castellucci isn't afraid to delve into the psychology of addiction - almost all of the adult characters in the book are recovering drug addicts, and you can see the very real consequences of life after an intoxicated youth. The Rat's struggles to stay sober seem real; you really cheer for him when you see him making model airplanes or drumming to escape that urge to use.

The teenagers in the story (Beige, Lake, and Garth) all seemed determined to make their own way in the world, not falling into the same traps as the previous generation. I especially liked Lake; her dedication to her craft reminds me of a lot of musicians I know, but her practical approach to making her own success isn't as common. Garth seemed like a shoe-gazing sweetheart. Of course, I'm always partial to characters who are clumsy, but sincere. Beige, the main character, is actually the least engaging despite our hearing her inner monologue. She's a little too whiny about being sent to Los Angeles at the beginning. I can't relate. Los Angeles has its problems, but I couldn't imagine being that negative about such an interesting city.

As others have mentioned, each chapter heading is really a punk song. I liked this - I'm not the biggest punk afficianado, but Castelluci picked some real stand-out classics. Others have complained that they're not underground enough for the scene that she was describing, but I disagree. Beige was a baby in the punk world - how would she know about the very obscure punk songs? It makes sense that the songs used were a little more accessible.

The best part of the whole novel, like I stated in the first line of this review, is the setting. We have a concert at the Sunset Junction street fair(which is coming up soon, despite some neighborhood protests and permit issues); they have breakfast at Millie's every day (and I've totally had the eggs florentine there); Beige meets Garth at the Casbah Cafe (located next door to my favorite crafting store, ReForm School); Beige is dragged to the Hollywood Guitar Center, just down the street from my old apartment; and Lake plays a show at Skooby's Hot Dogs, home of some of the best fries in Los Angeles. Reading the novel was like visiting old friends again - and a reminder of some of the things that I need to do, like properly visit the Elliott Smith memorial.

Overall, a great read. It was recommended for our teen's summer reading club, and I definitely concur. It's a great Los Angeles book, and an interesting view of the punk scene. (less)

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Jan 30, 2012 Coralie added it

This was another good one that I read in one sitting. Katy, a quiet, well behaved young lady, goes from Montreal to Los Angeles to visit her punk rocker father, who she only vaguely remembers. When her parents were together, they were punk rocker drug addicts. Her mother left her father to go back to Montreal after she got pregnant, he stayed on the punk rock scene and got clean from drugs many years later. Mom made a life for herself in Montreal. In fact, she is studying to get her PhD in Arche...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Maria rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I absolutely love this book. Thsi book is a book about a girl named Katy and she lives with her mom in Montreal. Her dad is a drummer in a band called Suck. He and his mom used to use drugs and drink when they were Katy's age (15). Her mom is going to Peru for her job becasue she has to dig for her thesis that she is working on. Her mom cant take her to Peru, so she send her to The Rat, her dad's stage name, who lives in Los Angelos. She makes a bunch of new friends and she gets played by her cr...more

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Feb 24, 2010 Miriam rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've never read anything by Cecil Castelluci before, but she spoke at one of our Young Adult librarian meetings and her talk led me to believe I was going to loovve her books. Instead I just liked this one pretty well. I found the main character/narrator a tad implausible. She seemed younger than nearly 15 and I thought her complete indifference to music was an unecessary and pretty unbelievable extremism of character. I've never known anyone who has thought of all music basically as background...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, fiction_ya

My first book of 2009! I liked all the punk rock references in this book (each chapter begins with a song title and the band that performed it). I also liked how Castelucci didn't seem to soften things up for her audience - she doesn't dance around topics like drugs or addiction, and she doesn't clean up or censor her language. This is a great quality in teen novels, because if it's too squeaky clean teens are going to hate it. I don't know about the ending to this book, though - Katy's turnarou...more

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Jan 09, 2009 Obisbooks rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

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Apr 17, 2009 Abby rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: punk, teen

Yet another teen book set in the punk scene that made me cringe with embarrassment and left me wondering who the author thinks she's writing for. Not punk teens, certainly -- they'd laugh at how desperate this author seems to prove that she's got punk cred by dropping constant references to punk bands and culture. Yes, we get it: you know who Minor Threat and X are. Good for you. Too bad you didn't do more research before you had your main "punk girl" character namedrop a list of "women who rock...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars

PROS:
Unique plot and setting
Memorable characters (especially Garth and Trixie)
Chapters named after punk rock songs (if I had been more into the story I would have looked them up and listened to them to see if they actually related to the chapters-hopefully they did)
The author incorporated real-life issues without sugar-coating them

CONS:
Extremely halting writing that didn't flow well and constantly reminded me that I was reading (pulled me out of the story)
Some situations in the book (basically...more

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Apr 25, 2011 Amy Wilder rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: CC, Cheryl

Recommended to Amy Wilder by: Tanya Allen

Shelves: young-adult

I'm reading a lot of paranormal YA lately but it's nice to take a detour into something more emotionally honest and deeper. It's not that paranormal can't tap deep feelings - but they tend to tap deep feeings like fear, anger, denial and overwhelming desire. Emotions on the scale of regular human teenagers just don't register when they fall between action scenes that make your heart stop beating for a second.

So a book like Beige in which focuses minutely on moments between an estranged father an...more

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Aug 17, 2010 - - rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed, reviewed

I borrowed Beige from my friend Hannah from Hannah’s book Wonderland about two weeks ago, and I finally got around to reading it.

Beige is a really fun read. Its the classic 'exiled teen' plot, but its also a great coming of age novel (which if you haven’t guessed by now I love coming of age novels) about a girl who never really got to know her father growing up, who suddenly finds herself in the position of having to go live with him for a while.

Beige is about identity, throughout the book Kat...more

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Nov 16, 2010 Scott To rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 9th-grade

Beige by Cecil Castellucci is an staggering book. the main character, Katy, also known as Biege, meets her very own father that she mainly knew from a bunch of postcards and e-mails. After having to stay with him, she got to know that her father is a rock star, in a band called Suck, an that he's actually a cool person. But in the beginning of the book, Katy doesn't even know the meaning of music and doesn't really listen to music, but towards the end, Katy learns that music is in her blood and...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Lindi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: about-writing, young-adult, indy-girl

Good book about finding one's voice. Katy is seriously unhappy about her summer -- she's been sent to stay with her father in LA while her mom is on an archeological dig in Peru. She and her mom have always been a team and she barely knows her dad, so this seems crazy to Katy. Plus her dad is a punk rock musician and recovered heroin addict. It all just seems like a train wreck waiting to happen. Katy likes things orderly and quiet. As the book and the summer unfold, you realized just how repres...more

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May 03, 2011 Marianne D. Wallace rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Katy's mom is going off a research trip and cannot take her along. So she's sent to live with her aging punk rocker dad in Los Angeles for a couple weeks, a dad she hasn't seen in years and years and feels no connection with. Katy's life in Montreal was predictable, clean and calm, much like Katy herself. But the whole punk rock scene is so "out there," Katy feels the outcast and is even named Beige by Lake, the daughter of a guy in the band. Lake is "assigned" to be Katy's companion for the vis...more

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Apr 19, 2009 Janet Lynch rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Protagonist Katy is considered "Beige" because she is so prim and proper compared to her punk rocker father who goes by the name Rat and lives like one. He is on the wagon for drugs and alcohol because those of his friends who are not, are dead. He's somewhat of a "has-been" but continues to rock on, not for fame or fortune, but for the sheer love of music-making. More engaging to me than Katy, is her gutsy sidekick for the summer, Lake, second-generation punk rocker, driven to succeed in a ruth...more

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Music

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Young Adult > Teen

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Contemporary

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About Cecil Castellucci

Cecil Castellucci is an author of young adult novels and comic books, most notably Boy Proof and The PLAIN Janes. Upcoming in 2012 is her new hybrid prose / graphic novel The Year of the Beasts illustrated by Nate Powell.

She is also the author of First Day on Earth, Rose Sees Red, Beige, The Queen of Cool and Janes in Love. Her short stories can be found in various anthologies such as After, Teeth...more

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Quotes from Beige

“My name is Lake Suck and this is my manifesto. I swear to be myself. To think for myself. I will not be led by social conventions. I will make my own way through the world. I will live on my own terms without conforming to society's expectations of who they think I should be, I will be the visible minority.
By being myself, I will help to save the world. I swear to always look, listen, learn, think, ask, act, and speak for myself.” — 4 people liked it

“Everyone got older but forgot to grow up.” — 4 people liked it

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