This book both broke my heart and made it soar. The author followed a handful of high school outcasts for a year and chronicled their experiences, and the stories they tell are so reminiscent of what I (and quite a few other people, I'm sure) went through that the long-dormant, but very familiar, feelings of anger, resentment and despair bubbled up inside me as I read. Danielle, the "Loner", is almost my perfect foil. When she detailed how her books were better friends to her than most people had been, I burst into tears...I can remember saying the exact same thing. But you knew that they would all turn out alright, that they'd finally find their niche and come into their own, and how could you not smile with pride when the book closed on just that note?
It would have been nice to read a study like this back when I was in high school, just for the reassurance it offers. I may have been one of the more grounded ones, able to let things roll off my back and tell myself that life would be so much better once those four years were over, but to have that reassurance printed right in front of you in black and white would have made things a bit easier. Hang in there, all you geeks and nerds and outcasts...it may not seem like it at the time, but you will be a much better person for what you endure in that hell known as high school.