Please Don't Kill the Freshman: A Memoir
by Zoe Trope (Goodreads author!)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 218)
Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
see my review because I'm exceeding the character limit over here
"teenagers who think they're better than that/people who used to be teenagers who thought they were better than that and now think they're better than teenagers"
Probably my favorite book, and that's not just a "I just finished this book and omg" thing, because I read this two years ago and have basically been reading it since then, but yeah so I just read it all the way through again and, yup, it's still my favorite. Everyone else who tries to write about being fourteen...more
Probably my favorite book, and that's not just a "I just finished this book and omg" thing, because I read this two years ago and have basically been reading it since then, but yeah so I just read it all the way through again and, yup, it's still my favorite. Everyone else who tries to write about being fourteen...more
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Read in August, 2004
When i finished this book for the first time, I immediately flipped back to the first page and began reading it again. I read it four consecutive times. Needless to say, I loved it.
Most of the time, when I read a memoir, I feel guilty like I'm reading someone's diary, or I feel in awe of whatever great thing the author had done with his life. This one was different because instead of awe or guilt, I felt reassured.
I went to school in Mississippi and had always been considered somewh...more
Most of the time, when I read a memoir, I feel guilty like I'm reading someone's diary, or I feel in awe of whatever great thing the author had done with his life. This one was different because instead of awe or guilt, I felt reassured.
I went to school in Mississippi and had always been considered somewh...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
Lovers of angsty, poetic prose
My feelings about Please Don't Kill the Freshman are a little mixed. It was written interestingly enough, and had the potential to be an amazing novel.
This is the real diary of Zoe Trope, a high schooler struggling with the monotony of school and falling in love among other things. There are many semi-confusing rants in the diary, and Zoe seems to love using sexual references (dick, cunt, fuck, some odd fantasies.)
I'll probably need to read the book a second time around to fully confirm ...more
This is the real diary of Zoe Trope, a high schooler struggling with the monotony of school and falling in love among other things. There are many semi-confusing rants in the diary, and Zoe seems to love using sexual references (dick, cunt, fuck, some odd fantasies.)
I'll probably need to read the book a second time around to fully confirm ...more
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Read in August, 2004
recommends it for:
teenagers, adults who think teenagers are ignorant
I find it funny how some people who review this think its supposed to make sense.
It's not.
It's a diary. Its a confession that being a teenager is difficult, and something I think that many adults seem to forget. We teenagers think life is so difficult that no one can comprehend it, except for other teenagers. And for most of my generation's parents, they tend to write us off as complaining little children who don't know what we're talking about.
This book, I think, is one of those thi...more
It's not.
It's a diary. Its a confession that being a teenager is difficult, and something I think that many adults seem to forget. We teenagers think life is so difficult that no one can comprehend it, except for other teenagers. And for most of my generation's parents, they tend to write us off as complaining little children who don't know what we're talking about.
This book, I think, is one of those thi...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommended to E by:
best american non-required readingrecommends it for: people who like reading about other people like them.
When you look at the cover, and you hear that it is a memoir written by a highschool freshman, you expect something horrible. But luckily, as I was reading the best american non-required reading (insert hipster accusations here) I read a passage from it and I immeadiatley went and purchased it. It is an interesting prose-y account of this girl's daily life. I was immersed in it completley. Parts of it get a little stagnant towards the end, since Trope accounts how she is offered a publishing de...more
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Read in May, 2005
I found this at times it was a bit pretentious (as only a teenage writer can be) but for the most part, I thought this was quietly profound. I was most grateful of the things it reminded me of from my own tumultuous adolescence: everyone feels like they're the only one going through riotous changes, and love is above all the most important thing. I hear that loud and clear, even at twenty-five. I love how BIG everything is in high school, and how it all becomes fondly smaller on the other side. ...more
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
disaffected high school geniuses
Interesting and heartfelt. But Ms. Trope kept writing and writing, and never told me anything. The diarist format led to many gaps, and no story. It was a stream-of-consciousness blast straight out of high school, but who wants to return to the uncertainty and shifting relationships of high school? Especially if you have to be someone else, and you have no idea what led up to the events, and you never find out how they end. I did enjoy reading about my city, and wondering about the people a...more
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Read in December, 2004
This is the real memoir of a highschool student, and it does read like one -- the same concerns that plagued you when you were in highschool are here and are just as dramatic as they were back then... If you pick this up, I strongly suggest you read at least fifteen pages or so before you decide whether you like it or not -- I admit I kind of hated Zoe for the first five pages, and then I was sucked in entirely. When I finished the book I was left with the feeling that I knew Zoe and her friends...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
everyone
This was probably what got me through the worst year of school, seventh grade.
I've always read above my level and when I found this it was just perfect. I loved how honest it was and how it was real, it wasn't just another novel.
it made me feel like being different was more normal than being all the same and it was just amazing.
I recommended it to a load of my friends and the ones who read it loved it too. It's just one of those books that makes you want to re-read it again and again.
I've always read above my level and when I found this it was just perfect. I loved how honest it was and how it was real, it wasn't just another novel.
it made me feel like being different was more normal than being all the same and it was just amazing.
I recommended it to a load of my friends and the ones who read it loved it too. It's just one of those books that makes you want to re-read it again and again.
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Working with Zoe Trope, publishing her chapbook version of PDKTF, and helping her get her deal with HarperCollins before she was even out of high school are probably the most exciting moments I've had as a publisher. To top it all off, Zoe remains a funny, sweet, and talented young woman. If you can find the old Future Tense pamphlet version you're lucky. There were only about 3,000 made (I'm not sure because I lost count...so much stapling).
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Read in February, 2005
I remembered a book I thought deserved one star! I read this for a class, and then I read it again for another class. This book is, just. I think the subject matter and writing style would make it attractive for some teenagers--it deals with homosexuality and transgender issues, there's a lot of cursing and references to sex--but it's just not well-written at all. Also, there's not really a plot, so it's just plain gratuitous.
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Imagine Catcher in the Rye written by an actual teenager. Terrible, right? Well, yes. But there's something to be said for seeing all the self-pity, self-righteousness, and lack of self-awareness of a real teen laid out in book form. It may be interesting only in the way car wrecks are interesting, but hey - we all slow down and rubberneck, right?
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Read in January, 2003
Super cryptic. I think the author actually wrote this book while she was still in highschool which definitely makes it more authentic, although some parts are hard to follow. The teenage paradox of wanting to be understood, but not feeling comfortable enough to really share your thoughts and feelings.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in November, 2004
recommends it for:
sad 12 year olds.
So disappointing. The original chapbook (published by Kevin Sampsell of Future Tense Press) inspired me when I was fourteen (four years ago), but this extended version overstretches Trope's initial charm and takes the reader nowhere. She is talented and could have done better.
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Read in September, 2007
Zoe has a way with words. For me this book was at least as much about the rhythm of the sentences than the actual meaning. Definitely plenty of teenage angst, but conveyed with a substantial amount of maturity. It's especially fun to see her writing then as compared to her blogging now.
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Read in May, 2008
Maybe if I were closer to my teens I could enjoy this book, but as it is i just found it disjointed (well, it is a diary after all.) and not very interesting.
Maybe I will try again later....Maybe it is just not the right time to read it. I'd heard such wonderful things about it.
Maybe I will try again later....Maybe it is just not the right time to read it. I'd heard such wonderful things about it.
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Read in January, 2003
I finished it, which says something, but was kind of put off by all the teenage histrionixx. was expecting something totally acerbic and witty, especially due to the amount of hype behind it & the author, but it was more like my own high school diary entries. oh well.
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Read in August, 2008
I tried. Twice, even.
I couldn't get into it. Perhaps because I'm the mother of a freshman. Perhaps because the style was so choppy. I can't come up with any coherent reason for not liking it, which makes me suspect that it's more about me than the book.
I couldn't get into it. Perhaps because I'm the mother of a freshman. Perhaps because the style was so choppy. I can't come up with any coherent reason for not liking it, which makes me suspect that it's more about me than the book.
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Read in January, 2003
there was a spiffy sticker included in this book, which is cool because not many books come with stickers. sadly, my conscience wouldn't let me take the sticker since i had checked the book out from the library. stickers aside, it's a good book too.
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Read in January, 2005
This felt a lot like a way better version of my own high school journals--all the embarassing stuff, the emotional highs and lows. I was mostly interested in it because the author had the first version of this book published when she was 15.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.51 (218 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.55 (153 ratings) number of reviews: 37popular shelves
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"apathy is a disease and some days i long for it."
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