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Jun 23, 2011

Valerie rated it:

Complaints:
-Viola seems like your typical spoiled only child -definite stereotype.

-There is continuous mentioning of how GREAT NEW YORK IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (New York may be a great place yes but constant mentioning of anything gets annoying after a while)

-Acronyms are overused. Using acronyms on the computer for instant messaging and such is fine but she goes a little overboard with the BFFAA thing. When I was in elementary and middle school girls used BFF (no More...

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Jan 07, 2010

Cara rated it:

Viola feels like her life has been taken away from her. Her parents are both documentary makers and are going to make a film in Afghanistan. Well that’s all fine and dandy but that means Viola has to go to boarding school in Indiana. From her life in Brooklyn that is going to be a huge change. She has to leave her friends and all the things she has known her whole life. To put more into the mix she will have to live with three other girls. Marisol- the smart Hispanic on scholarship, Romy- the b More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 22, 2011

Nicole rated it:

Many girls are furious to find themselves packaged and shipped off to boarding school, and are sure that they will hate it. But no girl was ever more determined to detest her home-away-from-home than Viola Chesterton, a New York City freshman who is forced to spend a year at Prefect Academy while her parents film a documentary in Afghanistan. "Viola in Reel Life", while an easy read, had such painfully unrealistic characters that it is difficult to continue reading. Viola's feelings a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 05, 2011

Kailyn rated it:

What can I say about this book?

Well, to start off it was a different kind of book than I usually reed. I'm into the fantasy books mostly, but because I won a HarperTeen writing contest and got to choose three books, this was one that I chose. And boy, am I glad I did.

I loved that Adriana Trigiani wrote a story about a young girl who knew what she wanted. Viola is a strong character, but a downer as I say. She's positive that she's going to hate Prefect Academy and there More...

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May 23, 2011

Alexa rated it:

Viola is a teenage girl from Brooklyn, New York. She attends LaGuardia High School until one day her parents decide to send her to a boarding school in Indiana. She now attends Prefect Academy for Young Women, or PA. Viola is a filmmaker, and that is how she gets to have a good time at PA. At first she hated it and wanted to leave, but after filming a couple of things for the school, she really enjoys it at PA. She also starts to like it at PA when to get to know her roommates, hanging out with More...

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May 09, 2011

Jodi rated it:

I really wanted to like this story. It started off pretty strong - a girl, Viola, is shipped off to boarding school in Indiana while her parents jet off to Afghanastan for a documentary. She has to get used to small town life after growing up in Brooklyn as well as learn how to share a room with other girls. Viola seemed like a likeable character at first - trendy and snarky - and it seemed like she would be a lot of fun to live vicariously through. Then, Trigiani started throwing all these diff More...

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Mar 25, 2011

Mary Catherine rated it:

There are some books that capture one’s attention and grips onto the reader for the length of its entirety.

Then there are the books that a reader flips through slowly, in a relaxed manner, while lounging at any given time.

Adriana Trigiani’s first foray into the young adult world, VIOLA IN REEL LIFE, fell into the latter category for me.

The writing is fluid and there’s nothing wrong with the book.

My problem lies more in the fact that I didn’t think anything More...

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Nov 21, 2010

Marleen rated it:

Junior fiction: age 12-14

I love everything by Trigiani. She could write about potatoes growing, and I would marvel at her way with words, This book didn't let me down.
This story is about 14 year old Viola. When her parents have to go to Afghanistan for a year for a movie project, she's send to the Perfect Academy boarding school, much to her displeasure.
She's convinced that she will be miserable, having to spend a year amidst strangers in Indiana, away from everything she kno More...

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Nov 16, 2010

Jodi rated it:

I really wanted to like this story. It started off pretty strong - a girl, Viola, is shipped off to boarding school in Indiana while her parents jet off to Afghanastan for a documentary. She has to get used to small town life after growing up in Brooklyn as well as learn how to share a room with other girls. Viola seemed like a likeable character at first - trendy and snarky - and it seemed like she would be a lot of fun to live vicariously through. Then, Trigiani started throwing all these More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 21, 2010

Rebecca rated it:

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

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May 18, 2010

Bianca rated it:

Viola In Reel Life is a book is a wonderful, fast-paced read. It's original and isn't the usual cliché boarding school book.

I knew that this book would be about a girl and her love for filming, but I hadn't thought it would talk so much about theatre. I absolutely love theatre and this book has mentions of Buster Keaton and other silent film actors, Arsenic and Old Lace..It was very interesting to read about.

Adriana Trigiani does a great job with the characters. Viola wit More...

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Feb 28, 2010

Amber rated it:

My silent reading I had chosen is “Viola In Reel Life” by Adriana Trigiani. The reason I really in enjoyed this book from this certain author, is because the author makes you feel like you been in that situation. The Summary in “Viola In Reel Life” is a girl name Viola. Which loves making movies just like her parents. Her parents sent her to a boarding school in Indiana. While she in boarding school, her beloved parents travel across the world to get some footage of their movie as a job. Why sh More...

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Feb 18, 2010

Erin rated it:

This was a very cute coming of age book about a 14 year old girl named Viola, who gets sent to a all girls school in Indiana while her parents film a documentary in Afghanistan. I really enjoyed the film aspects because that is something that I don't know a lot about.

I related a lot to Viola, she is very stubborn and she seems to never understand that she is acting a certain way until someone points it out to her. I went into this book wanting to read a teenage romance, but as this More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 29, 2010

Jlaurenmc rated it:

You know it's been a good book when you find yourself marking passages that just seem to speak to you. It was that way with Adriana Trigiani's latest novel, Viola in Reel Life. Although the book is Trigiani's first foray into the young adult literary world, she either had some good YA editors or a good head for what should be included in a young adult story because this book is an excellent example of the genre.

Viola, the main character, is 14-almost-15 (as she describes herself) and More...

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Jan 09, 2010

Donna rated it:

This book gets ten points alone for not being Tall Tales of the Moron Girls and How to Talk Like a Douche. There was literally a sigh of relief as I started reading this because it wasn't stuffed sausage-tight with so-hip-you-need-a-new-one slang and absolutely ridiculous situations.

But . . .

I started getting antsy, anxious, for something to happen. It was so boring and . . . ordinary. I can understand the realistic aspect to it and trying to make that kind of connection More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 13, 2009

Louise rated it:

On September 3, 2009, fourteen-year-old Viola Chesterton finds herself unhappy after being dropped off in South Bend, Indiana which Viola refers to as the: “...dust bowl of Indiana”, at “The Prefect Academy For Young Women Since 1890.” Viola’s parents are off in Afghanistan for a year making a documentary about Afghan women forcing them to pull her from her home in Brooklyn, New York. This was not going to be an easy or comfortable change for Viola.

Convinced she was going to be unhap More...

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Aug 21, 2009

Denise rated it:

Normally I don't read young adult novels....I did enough of that while studying to be a teacher in college. But with Adriana Trigiani as one of my favorite authors, I had to make an exception.

This book is about Viola, a fourteen year old girl from NYC, who has been sent away to boarding school because both her parents are off in Afghanistan filming an independent film about the conditions there. Viola's personality is so cleverly woven by Adriana that I felt as if I were reading ab More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 28, 2010

Cecile rated it:

Why did I even bother to finish this book? I'd like to think it was a combination of stupidity and insane boredom from staying at a hospital with my mom for hours with only this book at hand. The beginning was ok... I really loved the transition from Brooklyn to Indiana. I could really understand the frustrations after my own move just recently. I really couldn't stand Viola at the end though, her brattiness and arrogance were just mind-numbingly aggravating. The boy character was interesting, b More...

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Mar 06, 2010

Adriana rated it:

I picked this book up for only three reasons: 1) I had a 30% off coupon and wanted to get my money's worth by getting a hard back but not an expensive hard back, 2) I've been wanting to give this author a try for only the same-name solidarity factor, and 3) I wanted something that would be easy to get through.

If I ignored the inflated, ingenuine syntax, this was easy to get through because it didn't really get into anything too deeply. It's almost as if it was an idea the author bri More...

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Jan 07, 2010

Erin rated it:

I know I'm not exactly up on the teen reading scene, but if I had a teenage daughter, this is the type of book I'd like her to read. I've already recommended it to my teenaged cousin - and with good reason.

I've been a fan of Adriana Trigiani since she gave my commencement address at our shared alma mater, Saint Mary's College, which the general reader will see mentioned in this book. The SMC grad will see in many of the descriptions of the Prefect Academy - from the tree-line aven More...

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Apr 26, 2011

Andrea rated it:

Several members of the local Friends of the Library group were excited to see that I had checked out Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani. Adriana did a book signing in Richmond, and everyone just loved her. With raves about her writing and her personality, I was excited to start reading!

Viola Chesterton is an aspiring filmmaker from New York. She lives, breathes, and loves her Brooklyn neighborhood.

She's also a teenager, which means she has to attend high school. Much to h More...

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Apr 12, 2010

Kathy rated it:

This is a wonderful coming-of-age book by Trigiani in her first ever Young Adult book. Fourteen-year-old Viola Chesterton loves making movies as much as her parents do. They make film documentaries. Viola’s grandmother, “Grand,” is an actress, so it’s safe to say it’s in Viola’s blood. Viola is sent to “The Prefect Academy for Young Women Since 1890” in South Bend, Indiana because her parents are off to Afghanistan to make a documentary about Afghan women. It’s a big change for the native Bro More...

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Aug 20, 2009

Sharon rated it:

Viola in Reel Life worked for me despite the fact, that it sounded to me like the type of book I usually do not like. The thing about Viola in Reel Life is the pace is extremely slow for most of the novel, but in the words of a dear friend, “slow is not always a bad thing. “ In the case of Viola in Reel Life the slow pace was easy for me to deal with because of Adriana’s ability to bring all of her characters to life.

Adriana Trigiana truly does bring all of her characters to life. Vi More...

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May 31, 2010

Nina rated it:

When I read the lovely review that Luisa wrote, I immediately knew that this book was so right for me. I knew it would be a fun, cute and adorable book, filled with drama that teenagers can relate too. Luisa send me a copy of the book and I read it on my train rides to college and back home again. In three days I finished the book and it was everything I imagined it would be.

Viola is sent to live at Perfect Academy, a boarding school far away from home and friends, her parents More...

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Jul 03, 2010

Debbie rated it:

I like the writing style of Adriana Trigiani and try to read all that she puts out there. This is her first YA book but I totally enjoyed it. It was a fast read and very touching.

Imagine being 14 and being sent to a boarding school far from home. Your parents are headed off to Afghanistan on assignment for a year and your only other family member, your grandmother, Grand, is busy with her own career. You have no choice and the year is your's to either embrace or remain bitter abo More...

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Jun 14, 2010

Natalie rated it:

Overall, I really liked the message of this book and the style it had in it. Some things that got a little old was the termonology and exclamation points. The author really toned it down after the first 20 pages which was good. If you could get over that part, I think the book had a quality message. To really fall in love with a book, I think you have to connect with the character, and I kind of did that. Another thing that kept on nagging at me was the fact that these were supposed to be freshm More...

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May 14, 2010

Erica rated it:

I’m an easy sell when it comes to stories set in a boarding school, and I love filmmaking, so this book was right up my alley. This had ample amounts of both.
It took me a while before I felt comfortable with Viola. As the book begins she is very hostile to the idea of boarding school, but there’s really no choice as her parents are leaving the country for work. Instead of viewing this as an opportunity to try something new, Viola dwells on what she left behind in Brooklyn. This is unde More...

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Sep 23, 2009

Mary rated it:

Viola In Reel Life is the story of Viola Chesterton, age fourteen. Viola's parents are documentary film-makers who are going to film in Afghanistan. They'll be gone a year and Prefect Academy is the perfect place for Viola to spend that year. She hates leaving her BFFs back in Brooklyn - how will she ever get along without them?
At first, I thought Viola was a spoiled, self-centered girl. But I reminded myself of her age and the fact that her life was changing virtually overnight. I thought More...

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Oct 01, 2009

Melissa rated it:

Viola in Reel Life is a YA novel that is very charming and clean. A reader won't find sex within its pages (how refreshing!), yet the book still manages to speak about teenage relationships in a way that I found to be very honest and true. Viola is a wise heroine who bravely handles being away from home and her parents for the first time with class and spunk. She keeps true to herself and her relationships, all the while being smart, funny, and artistic. She could be a great role model for More...

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May 15, 2010

Nicole rated it:

Viola in Reel life
By: Adriana Trigiani
288 pgs
isbn: 0061451029

a young girl, Viola, is sent to boarding school where she is convinced that she is going to die at. she hates it, and theres no way out. she makes friends but soon replaces them with her camera in which she now lives her life behind the scenes.

the book shows how viola is in real life when people get to know her as her and not as the girl behind the camera. shes been using this camera as a way to not b More...

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