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So Shelly

by Ty Roth (Goodreads Author)

3.26 of 5 stars 3.26 · rating details · 438 ratings · 111 reviews

Until now, high school junior, John Keats, has only tiptoed near the edges of the vortex that is schoolmate and literary prodigy, Gordon Byron. That is, until their mutual friend, Shelly, drowns in a sailing accident.

After stealing Shelly's ashes from her wake at Trinity Catholic High School, the boys set a course for the small Lake Erie island where Shelly's body had wash...more

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published February 8th 2011 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

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Feb 15, 2012 karen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: what-would-byron-do, why-yes-i-ya

just because you can knit a sweater for a chicken, doesn't mean you should.

just because you can write a YA novel about keats, byron, and some mash-up of percy and mary shelley set in modern times doesn't mean you should.

from the afterword:

just as it would be a mistake to study shakespeare's history plays for an understanding of the succession of english monarchs from the thirteenth through much of the sixteenth century, one should not read so shelly for its dogged adherence to historical accurac...more

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Nov 30, 2010 Christie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Christie by: ATWT

Shelves: read-in-2010

So Shelly revolves around the lives of three character based off long dead poetic greats. Anticipating how John Keats, Lord Byron, and Percy Shelly might live and interact if they were teens living in modern day. Shelly is dead, and Keats and Gordon have swiped her ashes from her memorial service. Armed with an urn, a boom box, and an REM CD they set out to spread Shelly’s ashes in a location she chose before her passing. Along the way Gordon and Keats get to know each other better, and take us...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Augusta Leigh rated it 5 of 5 stars

I honestly went into this anticipating to either 1. hate it, 2. enjoy it for the schlocky high school AU cheese its premise is; and while it is as schlocky and trashy as anyone can anticipate out of a privileged high school YA novel, what makes So Shelly incredible as a book is its self-awareness and its criticisms of the genre it models and of the persons it has appropriated to fit its respective roles. Ty Roth clearly knows his Romantics beyond the superficial read-throughs of their works and...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Kelly rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: dramatic, fiction, mystery, young-adult, spreading-stupid, want-those-hours-back, tries-too-hard, pretty-cover-bad-book

You know, I'm not sure what scares me most: that this novel is a spot-on representation of teenagers today or that it might actually influence them. In what can only be called an insult to young adults the world over, Mr. Roth delivers a literary travesty. In fact, the author manages in one fell swoop to: disgrace the names of three beloved poets, murder any/all depth and seriousness to issues facing teens today, and create a cast of characters that are so vapid, annoying, unrealistic, and utter...more

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Sep 22, 2011 Rebecca rated it 2 of 5 stars

Things I liked about this book:
The cover -- it's gorgeous
The idea - the poets John Keats, Lord Byron and Shelley reborn as American teenagers.
The voice - as the narrator, Keats has a really powerful personality that shines through the text.

What I didn't like:
All the sex. This is YA, not some heavy duty bondage novel in an erotica line.
The focus on Byron and his sexual conquests and this in a book titled "So Shelley".

Overall, this book was a disappointment. Ty Roth can write well, but he should...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Hannah Lesniak rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love Romantic poetry. I have always thought that the lives of the Romantic poets would make a good soap opera, or at least a good dramatic novel. So Shelly is a young adult novel written in the spirit of the Romantics that deals with the main ideas of life and death. Instead of anticipating a reenactment of the Romantic poets' lives, just imagine their personalities and characteristics reincarnated in modern day teenagers. True, some of the background of those teenagers and poets are similar,...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Sheli Ellsworth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ty Roth delves into the minds of three teenagers with insight and empathy. High school student John Keats tells the story of two childhood friends that struggle with dysfunction, desire, and death. //So Shelly// is brilliantly engineered and meticulously written. Roth uses the real poets of Byron, Shelly and Keats as character springboards for his modern drama set around Lake Erie. Gordon Byron is the good-looking, confident athlete, Michelle Shelley the girl-next-door crusader, and narrator Joh...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Ed added it

Roth, Ty. (2011). So shelly. New York: Random House/Delacorte. 329 pp. ISBN 978-0-385-73958-0 (Hard Cover); $17.99.*

Of all the debut books I have read this season, this one may be the most adventurous and have the highest degree of difficulty. Essentially this is a biography of Byron, Shelley, and Keats complete with cell phones, ipods, and Facebook. Oh yes, Shelley is a female and something of a composite character consisting of both Percy and Mary, hence her name, Michelle (Shelly). Biography?...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Autumn rated it 2 of 5 stars

I wish there was a 1.5 star option. I saw this in the library and remembered it was an option that I considered when I won a free book a while back, so I picked it up. Cool cover (though I think the lettering was trying to play off another Roth's current popularity), the use of Romantic poets Byron, Shelley, and Keats sounded interesting, and the prologue was well written; I checked it out.

The first third was relatively interesting--in fact, the prologue has the two best lines I've read in a nov...more I wish there was a 1.5 star option. I saw this in the library and remembered it was an option that I considered when I won a free book a while back, so I picked it up. Cool cover (though I think the lettering was trying to play off another Roth's current popularity), the use of Romantic poets Byron, Shelley, and Keats sounded interesting, and the prologue was well written; I checked it out.

The first third was relatively interesting--in fact, the prologue has the two best lines I've read in a novel thus far this year. We meet Shelly (an amalgam of Percy Shelley and his wife, Mary Shelley), Gordon Byron, and John Keats at Shelly's memorial. Byron and Keats are i nthe process of stealing Shelly's ashes in order to dispose of them in a manner she pre-dictated to Byron (the love of her life). The rest of the book takes us on a journey to discover the past relationship between Shelly and Byron, the genesis of her friendship with Keats, and the twisted pasts they individually faced, all very looslly tied together with the narrative string of Byron and Keats' Excellent Adventure.

Except it wasn't. I enjoyed the fatalistic Keats' interjected data on the facts and figures of death and disfigurement (lol), and found some of Roth's writing to be absolutely lovely and lyrical, particularly in the first third of the book. It's too bad that the writing is so irregular in the last two thirds. One thing that piqued my interest initially was wondering how Roth could possibly make the debauched life of Byron anywhere near appropriate for a YA audience. The answer is: he couldn't. My library does not have this book in the YA section, despite the ages of the (nominal) protagonists, and with good reason. These characters are kids much like John Irving's characters were kids in THE HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE, meaning not at all. They're jaded forty year olds in kids' clothing, and I found them wholly unbelievable. Their dialogue was stilted and skewed too far to either their elders way of speech, platitudes, or narrative stream. The life of Lord Byron was scandalous and ugly, laced with incest, pedophilia, borderline rape, drug use... you name the debauch and he tried it, as does the Byron of this story. I have kids 18, 16, and 13; I'm not a prudish parent by any means, but I would not consider this appropriate for the youngest, and would barely recommend it to the sixteen year old. It's ugly, and not for kids--can't stress this enough. My hunch is that the author started with an idea to bring the life of Byron et al into the modern world, and probably conceived of this for adults, but YA exploded and that's all she wrote.

More importantly, he gives us as readers absolutely no reason to care whether these kids live or die. We see what they do, but very little of who they are--character development is nearly nil. I can sort of see where he was going by naming this book SO SHELLY and then focusing the narrative on Byron; it's not su much that he is larger than life (which he is), but it's a sort of subtle way of stressing how Byron and Shelly shaped each other. Each created the other in very bad ways (This is not historically accurate, by the way; nor is Keats' relationship with Byron).

I can see Roth's talent, but it's wasted in this book.(less)

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Oct 08, 2011 Dawn Vanniman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ok, so if I had known this the book wouldn't have seemed so crazy to me! "If Lord Byron, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley were living adolescents today, how would their literary talents, notorious personas and known fates collide?"

I was warned that the story might squick me out. It did. This is most definitely for the older teens, if for teens at all. There's death, drugs, sex, rape, incest, abortion and a variety of other shadowy things gonig on.

To truly appreciate the book, yo...more

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Aug 20, 2011 Gemma rated it 2 of 5 stars

One of the more tragic books I've read in a while.

Tragic because of its storyline? Nooo... Tragic because this book could have been a heck of a lot better than it really was, and the author proved it to me.

It's forward or prologue or whatever was lovely. Beautiful and insightful and genuine. It gives us false hope that this book will be excellent.

So Shelly is supposed to be about dead poets reimagined as teenagers in the twenty first century. I haven't actually heard of any of these poets, but I...more

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Apr 28, 2011 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen, death, friendship, sex

I love this cover. John Keats and Gordon Byron have little in common. Keats is academic, sensitive and comes from modest means. Bryon is wealthy, suave and his charismatic charm seduces women in abundance. What Keats and Byron share is a friendship with Shelly, a loudspoken, determined, and fiesty young woman. Shelly drowns in a sailing "accident," and these two unlikely teens have been called upon to fulfill Shelly's last wishes. Their adventure begins when they steal Shelly's ashes from her me...more

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Jan 09, 2011 Danielle Larca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

This is an ARC slated for release in February 2011.

SO SHELLY explores the lives of the famous Romantic poets, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron and John Keats as if they were teenagers living today. Roth uses the sordid details from their lives to create the narrative for his debut novel. John Keats, the kid preoccupied with death after losing both of his parents in quick succession and who is now watching his brother die of TB, is our narrator, but don't be fooled. This story is about Shelley an...more This is an ARC slated for release in February 2011.

SO SHELLY explores the lives of the famous Romantic poets, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron and John Keats as if they were teenagers living today. Roth uses the sordid details from their lives to create the narrative for his debut novel. John Keats, the kid preoccupied with death after losing both of his parents in quick succession and who is now watching his brother die of TB, is our narrator, but don't be fooled. This story is about Shelley and Gordon; their oddly inter-dependent relationship with one another, their dysfunctional relationships with their families, and the way their blatant self-absorption leads ultimately to their downfalls.

Love and lust, faithfulness and betrayal, and life and death all play key roles in Roth's story. Shelley and Gordon are larger-than-life and rather unsympathetic. It's difficult to really feel for them; Shelley, because of her pathetic infatuation with Gordon and Gordon for, well, just about everything he does. Despite this disconnect, the plot moves quickly enough that you want to keep reading(except for Gordon's time in Greece-that part seemed out of place and I don't think it necessarily contributed to the integrity of the plot). I also felt Keats' role in the novel was superfluous. It wasn't entirely believable that Shelley would divulge the type of secrets she did to him and the fact that he was so removed from the action added to the disconnect between reader and characters (Roth explains his choice of using Keats as the narrator in the Afterward-after reading that, it made a bit more sense to me). Having said that, I do think teens who are drawn to dark, Gothic tales will enjoy this book.

I enjoyed reading the Afterward as much as the novel itself. There, Roth gives us some brief biographical information about the real Shelly, Byron and Keats. While some of the events in the novel seem outrageous, we learn in the Afterward that these things really happened. On his blog, Roth expresses concern that he may face criticism about SO SHELLY's "brutal honesty regarding sexuality". I think the historical base for his novel would provide justification for inclusion of said details. It's interesting to think that if we perceive such choices as scandalous today, how much more so they must have been in the poets' own time.

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Jul 29, 2011 Kyla Crowley rated it 3 of 5 stars

My allegiances usually lie with Poe & Dorothy Parker, but this transposing of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron and John Keats into the modern day (Facebook! YouTube!) was quite brilliant.
This book has everything I love: sex, scandal, love and death. Even though it's supposed to be the modern world, this book feels like a modern world separate from the one we all know. That is because many of the events of Shelley & Byron's lives are put into a modern day context - and we frown on incest...more

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Feb 22, 2011 Missie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

When I first saw the cover for So Shelly, I knew I wanted to read it even without knowing anything about it. Yes, I'm that superficial when it comes to gorgeous book covers. Sue me. :P

It wasn't until I stumbled upon an interview with author Ty Roth on Teens Read and Write that I actually took the time to read what the novel was about and realize the connection to literary legends, Percy and Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Keats.

You can't deny that a book like So Shelly leaves a lasting impre...more

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Dec 16, 2011 Paige rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, historical-fiction, pretty-cover

This was one book I was very interested in reading. I adore classic novels, and I have read some Byron, Keats, and both the Shelleys (the Shelly in the novel is based on both Mary and Percy). So when I heard about the concept and the idea of So Shelly I was immediatly hooked. I checked out the book from my local library, read some promotional things from the publisher -- Random House -- on the novel, and scoured around Ty Roth's website. I put it at the top of my to-read list and stayed up until...more This was one book I was very interested in reading. I adore classic novels, and I have read some Byron, Keats, and both the Shelleys (the Shelly in the novel is based on both Mary and Percy). So when I heard about the concept and the idea of So Shelly I was immediatly hooked. I checked out the book from my local library, read some promotional things from the publisher -- Random House -- on the novel, and scoured around Ty Roth's website. I put it at the top of my to-read list and stayed up until eleven thirty reading the book.

So what did I think? Though I had a few complaints and concerns, I found So Shelly to be a novel that was pretty darn good.

The story transposes the lives of Keats, Byron, and Mary and Percy Shelley both combined into one character (the Shelly of the title) and puts them into modern day. Many of the characters and events remain, as the author explains in a note, and most of the changes were only to make the characters seem more modern and not, well, 18th-century writers.

John Keats, our narrator, has stayed away from Gordon Byron his entire high school career. Gordon is brave, crooning, and all the women love him. Keats finds him terrifying and prefers to stay home and write. The two share one connection, though: both being friends with Michelle "Shelly" Shelley. Shelly has recently drowned in a sailboat accident, and the two recconect at her funeral. Gordon hatches a plan to steal her ashes, and with the container in hand they head towards the lake where Shelly drowned. As they drive, the two remember their memories of each other and Shelly and try to decide what led her to drown herself.

The book isn't about Shelly, though. It's about Gordon. At least 50% of the book is about him. And everything about him is his sexual conquests. Roth heaps on conquest after conquests, telling of Gordon's many affairs, infatuations with girls, and more. Some of it seems a bit unrealistic -- his writing a YA vampire novel as a jab to the current YA industry and the fact that Gordon was on a Greek terrorist squad -- but I had one major concern with the focus on him. It essentially was the same sexual situation over and over. He met a girl, seduced her, they had sex, and then the girl/teacher/friend was either suspended from school, fired, or dumped as quickly as her relationship with Gordon ignited. It was basically the same sexual conquest in every chapter, only with a different setting and time (the book jumps from Gordon and Shelly's childhood until their senior year in high school). He was an interesting character, but I think the author could have shown his many sexual conquests -- which were true to life of the real Lord Byron -- in different ways.

Keats is barely in the story. He narrates and explains things, adding in small little quirks that the readers will smirk at. He "writes" the story as it is explained in the prologue, but other than that is barely in the story. Most of the scenes are about Shelly, Gordon, and Gordon's many women. He barely has a purpose in the story other than to tell it, and his resource for getting the information is contrived. He supposedly got the information from a drunk Shelly over ten hours(!) and the event is mentioned once in the story and then dropped, like the author didn't care. He could have probably been dropped from the story and not much would have changed, or the author could have used third person instead.

I liked the historical details behind the book, and after you read the author's note the events seem much better. The writing is quite fluid and goregous, and I rarely see books about classic novelists in YA. I think that Roth has a chance to improve and when he publishes his next novel I'll be interested in reading it. (It might not be soon, though; he posted on his blog that he had sent a draft to Random House and they had rejected it.)

So some flaws, but a pretty interesting romp through the Romantic Era, with quite a few ties with Romanticism that will remain with readers. I'd recommend it more for history lovers; people less interested in history may get bored, specifically those that know little about Romantic poets (I reccommend reading the author's note first if you don't know much about the Shelleys, Keats, and Byron).
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Jul 17, 2011 Kate rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, age-ya, age-adult

I picked this up at the library because this places Byron, Shelley, and Keats in a modern high school, which reminded me of my friend Janina's work-in-progress.

Keats narrates this tale about the friendship between Gordon Byron, a studly, popular high school student, and Shelly (Michelle Shelly), a beautiful outcast. At the beginning of the story, Byron and Keats are attending Shelly's funeral and stealing the urn of her ashes for purposes yet unknown. Keats then takes us through the entire lengt...more I picked this up at the library because this places Byron, Shelley, and Keats in a modern high school, which reminded me of my friend Janina's work-in-progress.

Keats narrates this tale about the friendship between Gordon Byron, a studly, popular high school student, and Shelly (Michelle Shelly), a beautiful outcast. At the beginning of the story, Byron and Keats are attending Shelly's funeral and stealing the urn of her ashes for purposes yet unknown. Keats then takes us through the entire length of Byron and Shelly's lives to get to how Shelly is dead.

First of all, I was taken aback within the first few pages at how adult the content and writing style of this book was. Byron's sexual escapades are described in such a way that I (a more liberal reader of YA novels) thought this really shouldn't be a young adult book. Byron's nanny, for example, is caught on film masturbating her young charge, but the nanny is fired and the incident hushed up for the family to save face. This sexual abuse, based on the real Byron's life, is never brought up again in the story, and Byron simply moves on to visiting a strip club at age 14 while on a school trip and thus begins his series of sexual conquests. Byron, Shelly, and Byron's half-sister Augusta go skinny dipping several times, as children and as teenagers, and relationships between Byron and several of his female relatives are described without any kind of reason or feeling. Shelly is raped by her drunk father and aborts the resulting pregnancy, and this too is hushed up. All of the sexual relationships are fairly screwed up, and yet the story never delves into any psychological consequences.

Second, I am not sure how familiar a YA audience would be with these figures of literary history. There is a brief biography of the real people the characters are based on, but aside from Frankenstein, I don't think too many teens will be familiar with the works of Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, or Keats.

Third, there is entirely too much telling and not enough showing in this story. The author states in the biography that Keats is the perfect narrator because he is impartial, but this Keats takes impartial to a whole new level - only involved, really, in the storyline where he and Byron steal Shelly's ashes and bring them to a specific place. All the rest is a summary of Byron and Shelly's lives, with absolutely no insight into why the characters behave the way they do, some fairly unbelievable events (for example, Byron becoming an internationally bestselling author at age 15, Byron becoming involved with a Greek terrorist organization, and Shelly becoming involved in a Native American protest) that honestly had little bearing on the characters or plot.

Fans of Byron, Shelley, and Keats might enjoy this one, but I honestly only finished because I feel guilty if I don't finish a book. (less)

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Apr 06, 2012 Ruby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Loosely based on the lives of George Gordon, Lord Byron, John Keats, Mary Shelly, and Percy Shelly, this re-imagining is set in a small town in Ohio, with the main characters in high school. Narrated by Keats, who is both the observer and the minimal participant in the lives of Byron and Shelly, this novel is told in alternating chapters between the present and the past.

In the present, Byron and Keats reminisce about the life of Shelly as they fulfill her last wishes, a "romantic adventure" that...more Loosely based on the lives of George Gordon, Lord Byron, John Keats, Mary Shelly, and Percy Shelly, this re-imagining is set in a small town in Ohio, with the main characters in high school. Narrated by Keats, who is both the observer and the minimal participant in the lives of Byron and Shelly, this novel is told in alternating chapters between the present and the past.

In the present, Byron and Keats reminisce about the life of Shelly as they fulfill her last wishes, a "romantic adventure" that is So Shelly. As they both navigate their own memories of Shelly and piece together the reasons for Shelly's tragic death, a tentative friendship is formed.

In the chapters about the past, we discover that both Byron and Shelly have very dysfunctional families. Byron grows into a pathological, egocentric, and sex-obsessed teen. Shelly (an amalgamation of Mary Shelly and her husband Percy) is more than Byron's best friend with no limitations. As they both dabble in combined and separate endeavors, their relationship never turns romantic (despite Shelly wanting otherwise). Keats observes their mutually destructive friendship from the sidelines.

Keats has his own set of problems. He's obsessed with death. As he narrates, he throws out statistics about death. His father and mother are dead, and his older brother Tom is also on his way to death's door. Keats himself will also die young, this he knows.

I picked this book up initially because of the cover, but once I started reading I was both shocked and awed by the contemporary lives of these great writers. Once you pick this book up, it will be hard to put it down. All three characters are flawed, but their flaws are what make them great. I've only read about Percy Shelly, but it's well worth reading about them all.

My favorite passage is the last in the book from Keats: "So, what I said at the beginning, I'll repeat at the end: learn to deal with the truth of dying, and you'll experience the awesomeness of living. Death and love are real. That's all I know on earth, and all I need to know."

Ages 15+ (mature content)
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (February 8, 2011)
ISBN: 9780385739580
Also available as an eBook(less)

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Jan 10, 2011 BookChic Club rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure what to say about this book. The concept as well as the narrative itself is interesting, but at the same time, I feel like it just didn't work for me. The narrator doesn't do much of anything and is mainly just relaying stories about the past featuring the other characters Shelly and Gordon. Even in the scenes set in the now with Gordon and Keats fulfilling Shelly's final wish, Keats takes a backseat to whatever Gordon does and goes along for the ride, so it can be a bit boring for...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Izamari rated it 4 of 5 stars

Después de que Shelly muere, Gordon y John deciden cumplirle su última petición a su amiga. Armados con una urna, un equipo de sonido, y un CD de REM se dedicaron a esparcir cenizas de Shelly en un lugar que eligió y durante esta aventura, ambos descubren que la “Loca” Shelly les ha dejado muchos secretos y un gran tesoro que ambos tendrán que descubrir.

Aunque el teme central del libro es Shelly, el 95% del libro está centrado en Gordon Byron, el amor de siempre de Shelly. Algunos me han dicho e...more Después de que Shelly muere, Gordon y John deciden cumplirle su última petición a su amiga. Armados con una urna, un equipo de sonido, y un CD de REM se dedicaron a esparcir cenizas de Shelly en un lugar que eligió y durante esta aventura, ambos descubren que la “Loca” Shelly les ha dejado muchos secretos y un gran tesoro que ambos tendrán que descubrir.

Aunque el teme central del libro es Shelly, el 95% del libro está centrado en Gordon Byron, el amor de siempre de Shelly. Algunos me han dicho en las respuestas del sorteo, que no entienden muy bien eso de escribirle a alguien 2letras de amor y de muerte” pero créanme, después de leer el libro me ha quedado claro que a una persona se le puede a mar y maldecir mil veces al mismo tiempo. Es por esto que Gordon ocupa un gran papel en el libro, pues es la droga que acaba de Shelly. Pero no por esto piensen que es malo. Si, es un gran egocentrista y un cab… de primera y la gran mayoria de veces me dieron ganas de matarlo, pero aun así, Gordon Byron es uno de esos personajes que se quedan grabados.

Por su parte, John es un gran observador quien nos narra la historia de principio a fin. El es un año menor que Gordon y Shelly y aunque quizás no fue muy unido a ellos, siempre estuvo ahí para que ambos pudieran contar con él.

Letras de amor y muerte, gira en torno a las vidas de tres personajes basados en grandes poetas muertos. John Keats, Lord Byron y Percy Shelly. La historia nos cuenta lo que podria pasar si estos tres vivieran en nuestros tiempos.
Y aunque la historia me gusto, tengo que advertirles que este no es un libro alegre con un final feliz. Es una historia que puede ser verídica y la verdad es que es muy deprimente. Espero que al decirles esto, no los desanime a leer el libro, porque en cerio merece una oportunidad.

Hay una parte de libro donde Gordon decide publicar su libro y su editor le dice que convierta a sus personajes en vampiros, pues eso es lo que vende ahora. Y si, realmente creo que los vampiros son la llave del éxito en estos días por eso agradezco enormemente al escritor por contarnos otra trama totalmente distinta e innovadora.

Aunque el libro aborda temas fuertes como el incesto, abuso sexual, drogas y demás, la historia de Shelly y su obsesión por Gordon, vale la pena ser leída.(less)

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Nov 22, 2011 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: va-book, books-about-books, children-ya

A fictional YA story based in the real life stories of the major poets of the Romantic era: Keats, Shelley, and Byron. The book is narrated by a high school student named John Keats, and it tells largely of the intertwined lives of his friend Michelle "Shelly" Shelley and her childhood friend and love, George Gordon Byron. Shelly dies accidentally and/or commits suicide, but made her wishes known in part to Keats and in part to Byron for her burial. This causes them to work together to steal her...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Laura (The Zealous Reader) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 100-in-2011

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is a textbook example of how not reading the summary can make for a better reading experience. I had absolutely no idea what So Shelly was about and based on the cover I assumed it was some sort of paranormal romance. Instead I was completely surprised when it was an angst-filled contemporary romance.

I absolutely love analytical reads. You've probably noticed if you're a follower but the majority of my reviews are really wordy and intellectual. I love analysing my books to look for symbolis...more

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Mar 11, 2011 Kelly Bryson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: blech

This book mingled the lives of the poets of Romanticism--Keats, Byron and Shelley--and remade them into modern-day highschool students. The writing was good, but I never wanted to know that much about their lives. Lots of abuse, mainly of the sexual sort, and every variety of that.

Please understand that this is a personal reaction, not literary criticism. I am sure that there will be many readers who have no problem with the actions and situations depicted in this book, but I'm not one of them....more

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Jun 26, 2011 Aimee L. Salter rated it 4 of 5 stars

A stunningly rich debut that will challenge your vocabulary and your social graces.

"Lewd"? Yes. But also dripping with irony, humor and that thing we all feel but can't put to words that makes us afraid we just aren't lovable.

My only complaints were: 1. The occasions when the author's marvelous turn of phrase overtook the storytelling; and 2. A portion of the plot about three-quarters of the way in that felt completely contrived. In an effort to contemporize the classic poet's lives, the author...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Addley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow I’m behind on my debut YA author challenge.

I think part of the reason is that it took me a very long time to finish So Shelley. This isn’t because it’s a bad book by any matter of means. Actually, I found it rather enjoyable. It’s just that it wasn’t the sort of good that made me want to pick it up again and again.

For me, there are two kinds of good books: the really exciting, really good ones that drag me away from my work and make me want to read them because I can’t wait to see what hap...more Wow I’m behind on my debut YA author challenge.

I think part of the reason is that it took me a very long time to finish So Shelley. This isn’t because it’s a bad book by any matter of means. Actually, I found it rather enjoyable. It’s just that it wasn’t the sort of good that made me want to pick it up again and again.

For me, there are two kinds of good books: the really exciting, really good ones that drag me away from my work and make me want to read them because I can’t wait to see what happens next; and the good ones that I’m very happy to have on a long plane trip or family vacation. So Shelley is in a later category, and the problem was that I didn’t have plane trip to read it on.

So Shelley is probably the most obvious YA literary fiction novel that I’ve ever seen – in both a figurative marketing and an oddly literal sense. The main characters are romantic poets and famous friend John Keats, Lord Byron, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mind you, Shelley is a girl and they’re all modern-day teenagers in the Great Lakes, but the heart of the characters is based on those poets.

The book is full of themes pulled straight from romanticism, and it’s all well-written for the most part. The story – in which Keats and Gordon (Byron) steal Shelley’s ashes to fulfill her final wish – is intriguing, and the characters are interesting enough to drive even the long periods of backstory interwoven with the plot.

But once I put the book down, I had very little drive to go back to it. It is definitely not the sort of fast-passed action book that drags you back night after night; rather, it has a slow, leisurely pace that is very satisfying when taken in large chunks. That’s really the only way you can absorb all of the heavy themes and characters involved.

It’s not perfect by any matter of means, but really, any criticism I’d try to give at this point would just be knit picking. So Shelley can be a very fulfilling book, if you’re looking for that sort of thing, and if you have the patience to take it on.

My advice for reading this book: settle down with it over a comfortable weekend and take the time to be immersed in it. At the very least, you’ll come away with a few new thoughts in mind and a relatively satisfying experience.
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Mar 01, 2011 Tee loves Kyle Jacobson rated it 5 of 5 stars

My Cover Thoughts: When this book arrived in the mail I was intrigued because it shows a girl in a long white dress walking off a boat dock. The dock is rickety and looks like it is about to fall apart and the girl is going to fall through it. The girl looks like she is walking right into the water. After looking at the cover I knew I needed to read this book because I needed to know wether or not she walked into that water and drowned.

My Thoughts/Review: From the very beginning I knew I was no...more
My Cover Thoughts: When this book arrived in the mail I was intrigued because it shows a girl in a long white dress walking off a boat dock. The dock is rickety and looks like it is about to fall apart and the girl is going to fall through it. The girl looks like she is walking right into the water. After looking at the cover I knew I needed to read this book because I needed to know wether or not she walked into that water and drowned.

My Thoughts/Review: From the very beginning I knew I was not going to be able to put this book down. The opening line goes like this “Most of us like to believe that we are born to do great things, maybe even to be famous. Truth is, we aren’t and we won’t.”

This book is about three people who have a huge impact on one another’s lives. Shelly grows up with Gordon who is her neighbour and best friend. She loves him so much that it hurts because he does not reciprocate her love. Gordon is a self centred spoiled boy who gets whatever he wants, whenever he wants, wherever he wants. He has no boundaries and is given everything to him by his mother. Then you have Keats who has jumped up in a grade because he is smart but he is also awkward so he shies away from people. But when you bring the three of them together you get a great story about finding true love and true friendships.

This book made me laugh and cry. Shelly loved Gordon but he loved himself so he did some not so nice things to other people. But the one constant in his life was Shelly. She loved him in spite of what he did or how he acted. Gordon on the other hand slept with a lot of women drank alcohol and only thought about what would benefit him. Keats comes along and becomes friends with Shelly because they have the same passion for writing. Keats and Shelly start their own school newsletter and write about their passions and other stories for the school. With their passion for writing ignited they get the school paper published and on-line.

While all this is going on at school Shelly is feeling depressed because Gordon will not give her the time of day and he is busy setting out a name for himself. So Shelly is feeling lonely and a little awkward at school because every time she tries to have some type of happiness Gordon ruins it by telling her he loves her so she will back away from the other person. She finally has had enough and decides to be friends with Keats because Gordon doesn’t deem him a threat. As the story goes on Shelly has her ups and downs and she finally decides she is going to up the ante by doing something drastic which Gordon calls “So Shelly” moments.

This book has so many ups and downs that I can not tell you because I will spoil the book. It is a must read. I promise you, you will not be disappointed. Ty has done an excellent job of spinning the old with the new. This book leaves you breathless and wanting more from the characters. I have read a lot of books but this one captured my heart and soul. Ty weeded a story so good you did not want to put this book down. Who can resist true love and true hatred all at the same time by the same person?

Memorable Quotes: Page 319 Shelly says to Keats “He (Gordon) ignores me because he loves me”
Advice: This is a must read! I am going to buy this book and keep it on my favourite book shelf.
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Jun 04, 2011 Courtney rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-literature, rite-of-passage, high-school-drama

If a reader is looking for a book that has it all, this is the one. It's full of consensual incest (brother/sister, cousins), molestation, reckless and crude sexual acts, incestuous rape, porn, and enough sexual experimentation to make me wonder if some of those acts are even possible. Oddly, that wouldn't have annoyed me so much if there was a point. Somewhere within all of this, there was supposed to be a plot. I've finished the book, and I still haven't found it. As a result, I feel like the...more

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Aug 29, 2011 S.C. Langgle added it

Shelves: favorites

The concept of So Shelly was so cool and unique—a reimagining of the lives of John Keats, Lord Byron, and Percy/Mary Shelley as contemporary high-school students—that I was immediately intrigued.
Once I started reading, the book constantly surprised me—not only with the creative premise, but with each new turn of the plot. This was a book that truly felt exciting to read, not because it was full of suspense and action, but because the author continually took me somewhere new and unexpected. The w...more

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Jun 03, 2011 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

The story was interesting, and there was some great potential, but an overall lack of connection really plagued it from being a great read. All of the incest, frank looks at sex, and the writing set it up for something literary - and indeed, I'd say fans of literary fiction may possibly enjoy this more - but it ultimately felt disconnected. Keats as a narrator doesn't have much emotional purchase behind the story. Byron is an utter douche canoe that you hate and you hate hating him, too. Shelly...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Kathleen rated it 1 of 5 stars

Many times I've been told I should write a book. I assume that the people who suggest this are thinking much along these lines. She teaches English so must know something about books. She knows a lot about a handful of authors. She loves literature and has an understanding of its mechanics. She manages to write pretty decent academic prose.

Yet I've always suspected these simple factors wouldn't be quite enough to write a (really) good novel. And if I ever need to offer proof as to why my litera...more

3 likes · like · see review

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“Unless you learn to wrap your brain around the fact that you are eventually going to die, you'll never wrap your arms around the fact that you are currently living.” — 12 people liked it

“Here's a little secret:love always disappoints. It's the concious choice to love someone or not love someone, despite the disappointment, that makes it beautiful.” — 8 people liked it

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