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Apr 16, 2010

Annalisa rated it:

In the voice of Kyra, AKA Goth Girl: Geez, Barry you had this like totally awesome character in Fanboy and he was cool and sweet and awkward and I liked him, well not like like, but you know he was a cool character that I could get into and then you have to eff it up with this story about this totally angry chick who isn't so much a real girl as much as a girl the way a guy thinks a girl is. I get that teenage girls are angry and narcissistic and way harder to write than guys but I like totally More...

16 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Kim rated it:

Barry Lyga impressed the fuck out of me with Boy Toy and amused me with The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl so I was relatively excited to see this sequel that I must have somehow overlooked during my Lyga-mania stage.

Relatively Excited…. That usually isn’t a great state. I mean, super-excited, or moderately interested and there’s that chance of being bowled over or pissed off. Relatively excited usually leads to ‘meh’.

And meh (which is so 'meh' to say More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 29, 2010

Claire rated it:

I'm the first to admit, this book has a lot going for it -- strong writing, interesting characters, pop culture cred, "edge" (whatever that means). And that maybe, from other people's perspective, the good outweighs the bad. But the book hit on a few personal pet peeves and I couldn't get past them.

1) Creepy Freudian portrayals of women. I've had this problem with other books by this author, but it's amplified when a girl is the main character and narrator. She just doesn't More...

4 comments like (9 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2011

Cory rated it:

This was not as good as the original. It was too long, there wasn't enough Fanboy, and Kyra wasn't as smart as she used to be.

I think Fanboy and Goth Girl needed a sequel, but not because the fans convinced Barry Lyga to write one. It should have come naturally. This whole book could have been compressed into fifty pages, then we could have had the rest of the story devoted to Kyra's growth as a character. As it stands, this is 400 pages of rage and self-hate.

Also, since More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

akibird rated it:

Lyga, Barry.
Goth Girl Rising.
Oct. 2009 (galley). 388p. Houghton Mifflin Books.
Grades 9 and up.
REVIEW. First published August 9, 2011 (Akibird).

After a stint in rehab, Goth Girl Kyra is back with a vengeance and aiming for Fanboy for putting her in the hospital. Occurring six months after Lyga’s popular The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl, Goth Girl Rising switches to Kyra’s narration and shows a lost teen who must transition back into More...

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May 10, 2011

Rhiannon rated it:

As I mentioned yesterday, I unequivocally fell in love with Kyra, otherwise known as Goth Girl.

Set six months after The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, Goth Girl Rising joins Kyra as she's wheeled out the door of a mental health unit, six months after being committed. She feels good and is ready to face her life again, until she gets to school where she realises Fanboy has comitted the capital sin, he seems to have forgotten her, and appallingly- gotten popular! So More...

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Jan 12, 2011

Leanna rated it:

The first YA I've read in awhile! I loved "The Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl," and I have to say, this was a disappointing "sequel." I would have preferred more from Fanboy's point of view! Or, if from Kyra's, the story told differently. I think I am tired of the romanticization of crazy female protagonists (we begin with Andre Breton's Nadja...and it just keeps coming. And it's the men who write women this way. Oooh, those men). Kyra is 16, out of control, reeling from More...

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Dec 30, 2010

Karissa rated it:

This is the sequel to the "Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl". You wouldn't absolutely have to read the first book to understand whats going on in this one, but reading the first book gives you Fanboy's perspective on things and helps this book make a lot more sense. So, I guess I would recommend reading the first book before this one. This was a pretty darn good book by itself. I had a lot of trouble putting it down, Goth Girl is a very engaging character.

Afte More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 29, 2010

Bruce rated it:

Kyra Sellers, Goth Girl of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl is back from her stay at the Maryland Mental Health Unit, sent there, she discovers, because of her condition: a severe case of DCHH, Daddy Couldn't Handle Her. Her mom went to the hospital and died, but Kyra figures she’s tougher than her mom. So watch out people at South Brook High. Kyra swings between sad and angry. Sad is hopeless, powerless and confusing, but anger, anger gives you the power to do something and a More...

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Apr 19, 2010

Timnah rated it:

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

1 comment like

Apr 03, 2010

Laurie rated it:

Six months after the end of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, Kyra- the goth girl- is getting out of the mental hospital. Sent there because it was wrongly thought she was going to try and kill herself (something she *had* tried before), she is angry at everyone. Not that this is unusual for her- she was pretty much angry at everyone before she was sent away, too. But now her anger is amped up to the nth power, and most of it is directed at Fanboy, who she did not receive a sin More...

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Feb 06, 2010

Jessikah rated it:

3.5 Stars
I have to admit I was reluctant to read the sequel to "The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Gothgirl", as I was not a fangirl of the novel myself. However, I was eternally curious, in spite of my criticisms, about Kyra's background.

As the story goes, Kyra/goth girl is out of the mental hospital in which she was placed after Fanboy narc-ed on her for having a bullet. He was afraid she would try to commit suicide, and apparently so was her father.
More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 07, 2010

Cindy rated it:

Kyra is back from the mental institution where she spent six months after her dad thought she wanted to kill herself. She’s been released to return home and go back to high school, because she’s not considered a threat to herself any more. But that doesn’t mean life is easy. Her dad, whom she calls Roger, is keeping a tight leash on her, she hates school and gets in trouble her first day back, and she’s very angry. Angry at Roger, angry at her mother who died of cancer a few years ago, and most More...

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Jul 20, 2009

Ann rated it:

It's six months after the end of The Astonishing Adventure of Fanboy and Goth Girl. Kyra has spent those six months in a psych ward, dubbed DCHH by the nurses because Daddy Couldn't Handle Her. During those six months, Fanboy was incommunicado. Why did he stop caring? To Kyra, it doesn't matter. All that matters is getting her revenge.

I love Barry Lyga's books. I love the voices of his characters. This one is no different. 4.5 stars, I think.

An important question to ask More...

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Feb 21, 2010

laaaaames rated it:

I know, I know. I've read two books by Barry Lyga at this point and deemed them both misogynistic. So I should stop! YES. But he read a passage from this at a reading I attended (not on purpose - I was there to see someone else) and at the time I thought, OK, maybe he figured out how to write from a girl POV without being, you know, so women-hatey.

But then I read two of his books. I had a bad feeling. But I had to find out for sure. No. Lyga has no idea about women. I could knock thi More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2010

Julia rated it:

Kyra tells her own story in this novel and she is one effed up cookie, as she herself might say. (She swears like a sailor, with the exception of that word, and she and her friends think a lot about/ have sex, as a heads up.) After her friend Fanboy (Don) got hold of her father to tell him she had a bullet— and a history of suicide, she spent six months in a mental hospital. The nurses and orderlies tell each other she has DCHH; Daddy Can’t Handle Her. And it’s no wonder to me; she is a hot mes More...

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Oct 02, 2009

Karin rated it:

By the time GOTH GIRL RISING hits the shelves it will have been three years since THE ASTONISHING ADVENTURES OF FANBOY AND GOTH GIRL was published. For those that haven’t read it, do so now! You will probably enjoy GOTH GIRL RISING even without the backstory from TAAFGG, but not nearly as much as you could if you take the time to read it.

Unlike TAAFGG, this story is told from Kyra’s point-of-view. Six-months have passed since the last time we saw her. Because of something that hap More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 31, 2011

Barky rated it:

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

0 comments like

May 09, 2010

Susan rated it:

Be careful what you wish for...in my review for the Astonishing Adventures of the Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl I wanted to know more about Kyra. This book is the Kyra Show--and it's not exactly easy to watch. This picks up after Kyra's stay at the treatment facility as she's rejoining the high school social scene and reuniting with Fan Boy. Since his tip-off to her dad landed her in treatment and she believes he didn't even try to contact her when she was away, this isn't exactly a happy More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 19, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Goth Girl Rising, companion novel to The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, picks up Kyra’s story after her six months in a mental institution, where she was committed after Fanboy told her Dad she was suicidal. Back at school, her primary agenda is ruining Fanboy’s life, as he has ruined hers, though she struggles with feelings toward him that range from loathing and resentment to love. She also struggles with mixed feelings toward her best friend, who initiated a romantic relation More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 25, 2009

Stefani rated it:

This sequel switches narrators from the first book. Kyra, AKA Goth Girl, tells us what happens after she is released from the mental hospital. We learn more about her father, her friends, and her take on her relationship with Fanboy.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. I loved how real Kyra was, namely how she could be thinking "This is what I should say and do" and then do something completely different. We've all been there. She tries to rationalize her feelings and stay More...

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May 27, 2011

Lloyd rated it:

I LOVED The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl and am happy to be able to immediately jump into this sequel!

[update] I think. Only 15% in and I already want to slap her. (Is it okay to slap fictional characters?) Stupidity just makes me angry. She's not a dumb character, yet she's acting like an idiot. It's kind of shame. I used to have some empathy for this character. Now I'm just "You are an idiot". We'll see how things go. Seriously - this may be one of the d More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 18, 2011

Maria rated it:

This book is a sequel, but I read it anyway without reading the original. I loved it. Kyra's voice is biting, her anger, her self-destructiveness, and self-loathing are obvious. She's lashing out at everyone who she thinks has abandoned her. The scenes with her father are heartbreaking, and so real.
I was amazed that Barry Lyga created a female character who felt, so authentic. She's not your typical happy girl, but she rang true to me, in almost all ways. That irrational mother/daughter co More...

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Jul 09, 2011

kb rated it:

This was unbelievable!!! I like this even better than the Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. I am completely floored at how Barry Lyga has come up with a sort-of sequel that is as equally amazing as the first, and has written it in such a convincing voice and perspective of a complicated teenage girl. And the plot and everything else were just perrrfect. I've long wondered and ~theorized about what was wrong with Kyra, what was her story, and what Lyga offered was just way off the c More...

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Feb 01, 2010

Anne rated it:

I thought this book was depressing and pretty boring. I wouldn't have finished it but I wanted to see if things were ever going to turn around for Kyra. For most of the book she is a miserable, self-centered, obnoxious brat that you just want to strangle. I get so sick of teen books where the main character is just soooo screwed up but doesn't want to do anything or talk to anyone. She does have her shrink, but aside from him she's just going to be all mysterious and weird and mean to her fr More...

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Jan 10, 2012

Samantha rated it:

Goth Girl is back, after being sent back to the hospital for a supposed suicide attempt. And she wants revenge. Revenge against Fanboy, the one who she helped, and the one who betrayed her in the end. Once she returns home, though, things still are pretty bad: she constantly has fights with her father, who she hates so much, and she feels like she missed so much that happened. Then she returns to school, and things become worse; her friends act so different, which confuses her, and Fanboy, who u More...

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Aug 19, 2009

Anne rated it:

Barry Lyga's Goth Girl Rising is the best YA book I've read in a long time. It's been a while since I've been this excited about a book. A sequel of sorts to Fanboy and Goth Girl, this is Kyra's story. The main characters, especially Kyra, are nuanced and complex. I could completely relate to Kyra's motives and behavior, to her fears, her anger, her confusion. In a lesser writer's hands, this kind of angst would be cringe-worthy, but not in Lyga's. I wish I could express how much I needed t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 08, 2009

Sandi rated it:

I have been eagerly awaiting this book for a while and was finally able to get my hands, er, eyes on a (completely legal) digital copy. (I still want the book!)

Goth Girl Rising follows Kyra after she is released from the mental hospital after attempting to commit suicide. When she returns, she expects things to be exactly like they were before- particularly that Fanboy is still an outcast. When she discovers that he is anything but, she get pissed and wants revenge.

Goth G More...

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Nov 29, 2011

G. Donald rated it:

GOTH GIRL RISING and THE ASTONISHING ADVENTURES OF FANBOY AND GOTH GIRL are two perfect bookends to be read all in one sitting, if possible. They are so delicious, the reader will likely gorge on the pages like Thanksgiving Dinner. Book 1 is from the perspective of Fanboy. Book 2 is from the perspective of Goth Girl. All the unanswered unspokens in book one come thundering back to the surface and are answered in full color (metaphors, so to speak). To balance Fanboy's comic book obsession, Goth More...

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Jan 17, 2010

TheSaint rated it:

I almost put this book down at about page 100. Goth Girl, although an admirably three-dimensional character, was just too unlikeable. This continuing story (see Fanboy and Goth Girl) picks up after Goth Girl returns home after her stay at a mental hospital; an exercise which seems to have done little to help exorcise her demons.
Her stated goal is to destroy Fanboy, her erstwhile friend who she thinks ignored her during her absence. Such a lot of drama.
But drama that will appeal to i More...

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