This outrageously entertaining expos� chronicles the true adventures of Jeremy Iversen, a 24-year-old investment banker who passed himself off as a...
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Jun 06, 2008
Cynthia
rated it: 
I was at the bookstore and looking over the bargain bin when a woman saw me reading the inside of the book. She told me her nephews attended the school in the book and that basically the author "exaggerated" the events (like I haven't heard that about memoirists before) and other inside info. I figured for $2.99 I would read it. I am on a roll reading "trash" lately. Sigh, I need a break every now and then.
This is supposed to be really trashy but I have to get through t More...
This is supposed to be really trashy but I have to get through t More...
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Dec 28, 2008
April
rated it:
As I was reading this I kept going back and forth between feeling like I was reading the next screenplay for a Larry Clark/Harmony Korine movie & feeling like all that Iverson discovered wasn't that different from when I went to high school and therefore not that interesting. (Maybe it hasn't been long enough yet...in fact, I can't tell if I am technically a part of the Millenial generation that he writes about or Gen X!) Plus the way he described the kid's speech really reminded me of my own hi
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Dec 09, 2009
Emmy
rated it: 
This book was condescending, egotistical, and mostly a fictionalized caricature of the students he meets. Iversen writes that his book is a "guiding star" to the "world of high school" and you can "explore at your own pace" (or something like that...I gladly returned the book the library, so I can't quote word for word), and then basically indicates that all of the characters and situations are just representations of what actually happened.
And while More...
And while More...
Apr 15, 2009
Gail
rated it: 
The more I read this book, the more I thought, "I am getting old." Having graduated from a urban public high school in 1981, I thought I had a realistic look at what high school was.
Taking place some 25 years after Cameron Crowe went undercover to research what would become Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Jeremy Iversen went undercover at a California High School to record high school life today.
Think you know that sex, drugs, and rock and roll go on at our nation's high sch More...
Taking place some 25 years after Cameron Crowe went undercover to research what would become Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Jeremy Iversen went undercover at a California High School to record high school life today.
Think you know that sex, drugs, and rock and roll go on at our nation's high sch More...
Mar 22, 2008
Lisa
rated it: 
Very good read. Amazing that this dude was able to get permission to go into a high school and do this. Or that the administration seemingly 'forgot' who he was or that he was even there. It really drove home how old I am, and how isolated my high school was. Or maybe it was just me who was isolated, maybe shit like this book detailed really did happen where I was, and I was blind.
Read the book. It opens your eyes a little.
Read the book. It opens your eyes a little.
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Jun 26, 2010
Josh
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A detailed account at a typical public high school in California from the students point of view. It is meant to be shocking with all the drugs and sex and things like that; but anyone with half a brain knows that these things are rampant in high school. Some adults even support this with a wink and a nod and a "back in the day" sort of attitude. What I found most striking about the book was the complete lack of academics of any sort. Academics appeared to account for about 2% of the a
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Mar 25, 2007
Summer
rated it:
Interesting expose of contemporary high school culture. This book would have been better if not for the extensive literary license taken (the experiences of many students compressed into a few archetypes, the use of statistics in building character portraits instead of actual experience). Reading the inevitable drama fallout on Amazon is pretty entertaining.
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Jul 26, 2011
Matt
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Is this an accurate portrayal of high school? High school in America? High school in Orange County? Or, is this a mashed-up mosaic of a small group of stereotypical popular kids? I'm not sure we ever find out.
Truth be told, as a high school teacher myself, by the 400th page, I was invested in the story. However, a day later, I couldn't care less about the composite characters and piecemeal narrative. An interesting read made palatable by Iversen's detached voice and narrative style, th More...
Truth be told, as a high school teacher myself, by the 400th page, I was invested in the story. However, a day later, I couldn't care less about the composite characters and piecemeal narrative. An interesting read made palatable by Iversen's detached voice and narrative style, th More...
Jan 27, 2008
Kelley
rated it: 
Loved it! Really understand perspective about how the author begins to feel loyal to his subjects. Reminds me not of my hs but the district where I teach.
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Dec 27, 2008
Anna
rated it:
Jeremy Iversen went to a Manhattan prep school, and never had what he considered a "typical high school experience." So when he graduated from college and stared down the fate awaiting him (i.e. the job, the career, the house, the wife, the family) he wasn't ready. Perhaps as a way of avoiding that fate, he chose instead to conduct a cultural experiment where he went undercover at a suburban high school in Orange County, CA to see what a real high school is like. It was engrossing, and
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Oct 28, 2011
Leah
rated it:
High School Confidential is an interesting autobiography about how it's author, Jeremy Iversen, went undercover for one semester at Mirador High School to find out just what it is that makes teens the way they are in society today. While the book does have some faults, such as possible over-exaggeration of certain events and confusing flashbacks/flash forwards, it definitely will keep those high school drama-loving people turning page after page. The footnotes in the back also offer explanations
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Jul 19, 2010
Sarah
rated it:
So far I can completely relate to what Iversen is trying to convey with his book. I am currently in my mid-20's, which he was when he went undercover, and I am the generation that he "infiltrates." There are always times when I wish to remember what daily high school was like but the memories are clouded with the large events, Spring Fling, Prom, Beach Week and graduation. However, by reading Iversen's book I reminded of the daily grind of high school, and how badly it could suck.
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May 10, 2009
Bookstax
rated it:
Blah............
This books isn't bad, but it also isn't good. I'm sad that the "undercover in the high school world" experience that brought us Jeff Spicoli and Mark "The Rat" Ratner introduced us to a group of people that can only be described as ho-hum. These kids are stupid; they are boring and have little substance-- or the author didn't find it. The one interesting one, Thea wasn't fleshed out enough. Derrick-- the smart one-- was covered enough, but in th More...
This books isn't bad, but it also isn't good. I'm sad that the "undercover in the high school world" experience that brought us Jeff Spicoli and Mark "The Rat" Ratner introduced us to a group of people that can only be described as ho-hum. These kids are stupid; they are boring and have little substance-- or the author didn't find it. The one interesting one, Thea wasn't fleshed out enough. Derrick-- the smart one-- was covered enough, but in th More...
Apr 10, 2009
Scott
rated it:
It sure is an interesting idea for a book (posing as a highschool student and then hitting us with an "insider's look"), although as the author points out, Cameron Crowe did it first when he posed as a highschool student to get some insider info for "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" (and honestly, this author deserves a lot of credit for pulling this off, since Cameron did it back in the late 70's when nobody had heard of liability yet & schools could still do pretty much whatev
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Sep 23, 2008
Audrey
rated it:
I find it hard to believe that high school in Kentucky and high school in California can be SOOOO different. Perhaps I'm still operating under the idealistic worldview common to younger teachers. Iverson's book really stretches in terms of credibility, in my opinion. Since we follow the antics of only a handful of students at a pretty large So Cal school, I'm assuming that what we have here is the most "dramatic" of the bunch -- because otherwise it would be boring. Only a handful of t
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Jun 08, 2008
Christy
rated it:
The opening parts of this book were fairly interesting, although Iversen comes across as a little holier-than-thou in his discussion of why he chose not to enter the corporate world. Basically, the author managed to parlay his undergraduate degree in social sciences into an opportunity to live out his John Hughes/Cameron Crowe fantasy of going to an all-American high school--at the age of 24. The earlier sections, in which Iversen describes the process of getting into a school and then deals w
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Oct 29, 2007
Michelle
rated it:
Hmm, not so sure how I felt about this one.
So Jeremy Iverson goes undercover as a senior in an Orange County high school to expose what high school is like these days. Well, actually not really. He really wanted to go because he didn't want to get a normal job after college, but hey, I don't really blame him. And he wanted to experience high school as part of the "me generation" instead of his generation, which was apparently anti-teenager (right in between the John Hu More...
So Jeremy Iverson goes undercover as a senior in an Orange County high school to expose what high school is like these days. Well, actually not really. He really wanted to go because he didn't want to get a normal job after college, but hey, I don't really blame him. And he wanted to experience high school as part of the "me generation" instead of his generation, which was apparently anti-teenager (right in between the John Hu More...
Apr 09, 2008
Emily
rated it:
I struggle with the rating on this book. In some ways it was a 5 star book. I read it (over 400 pages) in just a few days because I couldn't put it down. But it wasn't what I wanted or expected it to be from the cover description.
I wanted it to be an analysis, rather than an observance, of current high school life. High school kids are dramatic and this read like a Gossip Girl novel sans all the name brands thrown in.
The author stood back in his writing as if he w More...
I wanted it to be an analysis, rather than an observance, of current high school life. High school kids are dramatic and this read like a Gossip Girl novel sans all the name brands thrown in.
The author stood back in his writing as if he w More...
Jan 31, 2009
Roxanne
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 22, 2011
Porsche
rated it:
Long, but worth it! I personally went to a very small school so this was a fun (and I KNOW, exaggerated, made-up, whatever, blah) insight into a large high school, and Iverson's writing style is very funny. I read it as more of a satire of high school than anything else. Use two bookmarks for this one - you won't want to miss the footnotes in the back.
Feb 21, 2010
gwen
rated it:
This book had a bad-car-wreck level of can't-look-away-ness. I kept wanting to criticize the author's "reporting," but it's probably worth noting that he's not a journalist and isn't really pretending to be, so those standards don't apply. The behavior from the kids and the teachers is so horrifying that it's almost unbelievable; even if Iversen was exaggerating by half, it's still horrifying, and I couldn't put this down for the last 100 pages or so.
Dec 27, 2009
Mike
rated it:
Im sure this was a good book, but I just could not finish it. I got bored real quick, and to tell you the truth, it's kind of a played out idea....I'm pretty sure everyone has seen Never Been Kissed. This book just talks about the same thing, but tries to add the more edgey spin of todays youth. I'll pass thanks
May 31, 2008
Sandra
rated it:
I was a bit troubled to find that this was the second best public high school in America. Clearly, I learned a lot more in my classes than what was being taught at this school...didn't I? Also, was sex, drugs, and alcohol so prevalent at my school and I was so nerdy that I didn't even know.
I liked that the author stepped out of the story to tell the tale from the viewpoint of the different kids he'd befriended. It made me feel a lot better about my high school experience after r More...
I liked that the author stepped out of the story to tell the tale from the viewpoint of the different kids he'd befriended. It made me feel a lot better about my high school experience after r More...
Nov 07, 2008
Cassi
rated it:
Hmm... the author was really trying to capture how the Millennials are different from Gen X, or the in-between generation. Having gone to high school in Southern California, I didn’t find the stories so far off from a decade ago... more that he just picked the most "dramatic" people to follow in his story.
There are always issues, drama, illegal activity in every high school. I think you could find it anywhere and at any time, just depending on how much you sought it out a More...
There are always issues, drama, illegal activity in every high school. I think you could find it anywhere and at any time, just depending on how much you sought it out a More...
Apr 22, 2010
Sandi
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 30, 2009
Amy
rated it:
Maybe this book just failed to shock me because I graduated with the class of 2007, but I mean...I thought everyone knew high school students drank and had sex. Definitely not something I needed an undercover author to tell me.
Nov 28, 2007
Kewpie
rated it:
A 24 year old journelist poses as a high school senior transer student to get a look on the inside of what it's like. Having gone to boarding schools, he missed out on the high school experience, so he wanted to check it out. I was quite disappointed in this piece. It read more like someone trying to recapture his youth than a journalistic effort. He simply lived as a student and recorded all of the drama of his high school friends. As a high school student, I might enjoy this work. As an ad
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Dec 06, 2009
Matt
rated it:
It's probably a little more than a 3 on the 5-star scale, but it's not enough to bump it up one more.
Iversen is a skilled writer, or had a skilled editor. But the problem with a book like this (and yes, I am letting post-publication reports influence my opinions) is the question of utter accuracy. The disclaimer at the start of the book lets the reader know in advance that some of the characters are conglomerations, and that it was written to the best of the author's ability, some such lan More...
Iversen is a skilled writer, or had a skilled editor. But the problem with a book like this (and yes, I am letting post-publication reports influence my opinions) is the question of utter accuracy. The disclaimer at the start of the book lets the reader know in advance that some of the characters are conglomerations, and that it was written to the best of the author's ability, some such lan More...
Apr 08, 2011
Susan
rated it:
I had high hopes that this book would show what it's really like to be a high school student in the 21st century, but he can't seem to get past a single traditional stereotype.
Aug 22, 2009
Farrah
rated it:
This was a fun book and it was definitely an eye opener for what all of the kids walking the halls are doing and saying when they aren't within earshot of a teacher. The beginning was a little slow, but by the end I was rooting for all of the kids in a way that no teacher (or adult) ever should.
A note for teachers who read this one: I hope you are as disturbed as I was when I read about the behavior of the teachers and most of the administrators in the book. It makes me really an More...
A note for teachers who read this one: I hope you are as disturbed as I was when I read about the behavior of the teachers and most of the administrators in the book. It makes me really an More...
