Walking Naked

by Alyssa Brugman

After being in detention with a girl called "The Freak," Megan finds herself torn between the developing friendship the two share and her involvement with a popular clique.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Friendship, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Australia

171 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Alyssa Brugman was born in Rathmines, Lake Macquarie, Australia in May 1974. She attended five public schools before completing a Marketing Degree at the University of Newcastle.

Alyssa has worked as an after-school tutor for Aboriginal children. She taught management, accounting and marketing at a business college, worked for a home improvements company and then worked in Public Relations before becoming a full-time writer.

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

In one scene of this book, a literature professor tells his students to consider the context of the times in which a book is produced. That is useful in considering this book, published in 2002 - it was the time of Queen Bees and Wannabes, Mean Girls (a few years later), and general hand-wringing about how awful high school girls are. This book very clearly emerged from that time, with its familiar storyline of a popular girl who surprises herself by finding The Freak of the school is an interesting person, and then has to choose between her popular friends and The Freak. Unfortunately there is little to like about main character Megan Tuw, none of the sharp wit of Mean Girls, and I'd just rather see a book that celebrates positive friendships (even including their challenges!).

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointed with this book. But then again it is aimed at young adults (and I'm not one) so maybe it's just that I was reading outside my zone. I found the writing very simplistic (but it is meant to be a young teenager telling the story), and the storyline was quite thin. Wouldnt bother with this one unless you're a 12 yr old girl.

[Alyssa Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was SO bad. Technically with the CAWPILE rating system I used, it gets a 0 for the full star rating or barely a 0.5 for half star ratings.

I wanna preface his with I like YA and even middle grade books. I can appreciate books that weren't written for my age group, or have a more simplified message for younger readers. This book covers a hard topic, an important topic for a younger audience. However, it was done well beyond poorly. The characters are shallow and bitchy from beginning to end, and Megan makes Perdita's suicide about herself, which I feel is completely the opposite of the message! . If your book is meant to be about character development, then develop the characters!

I'm also surprised that the author has a degree from a pretty good university and can include such lovely poetry in her book when the writing is just so, so bad. It's awful. My seven year old stepson strings together better sentences than that. I've read some middle grade and YA with stunning prose, even with simplified language for a younger audience. This book, it's writing, and its message are worse than shallow and simplified. Truly atrocious.

If this book wasn't only 200 pages and took me all of 2 hours to read, I would have DNFed. To be honest, I really should have.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Megan Tuw is popular. She has always been popular. Her friends are all popular. Megan and her friends keep others in their place.

Perdita is not popular. She is the Freak. She is loathed in the school. Megan and her friends hate Perdita.

And then Megan and Perdita spend time together in detention. Megan comes to know Perdita. Respect her intelligence. Acknowledge her brilliance at poetry. Megan becomes friends with Perdita.

Megan's friends must not know.

A powerful story of the pain of high school life.

One of the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read.

[Nancy Valentino]

It’s funny how people talk about young adult fiction, or junior fiction or whatever, as if it’s somehow lesser. It’s not. This was a hard read for many reasons. But a good one.

[Ladyhunniepuss Smythe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this . Simple easy read . Good story line . Truth in how our teens act and behave in order to fit in ... Without realizing the consequences .

[Laa di da · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll be honest, I only begun reading this because I had to for English. But it was way better than I thought it was going to be. I liked how in the end there suicide but I didn't like the characters very much. I thought Megan Tuw was self absorbed and even in the end she managed to turn everything about her. And I didn't like Perdita, while she was the person that you were meant to feel sorry for and angry at the way everyone else treated her, I didn't like the way she acted. While yes she had been through some hard times and in the end I did end up with having a bit more empathetic towards her, I just thought that while the book was about being yourself and Perdita was meant to be the ultimate "being herself" I didn't think she was. She put on an act to everyone in the school and tried to fit in, but not with the norm, in with the "Freak" category. She was smart and funny but to everyone she acted almost crazy. While yes she was probably just being defensive, if she had the opportunity I feel she would have jumped at being like everyone else, and anybody else in her position would have done nearly the exact same as she had. I didn't feel that there was anything special about her, just that she was in a difficult situation and she had tried to cope with it in a bad way and then finally ended it.

[Kewpie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Serving detention together, a supremely popular girl befriends the school freak. I am a big fan of Alyssa Brugman and was very disappointed with this book. I found the characters shallow and the message simplistic and preachy. The message seemed to read "Be nice to geeks or else it will be your fault when they die." There are so many other books that cover suicide and feeling like an outcast and peer pressure so much better than this book.

[Margrét · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book in the library and decided to check it out and I'm glad I did, because it is a really good book. I stayed awake until 5 o'clock this morning because I just could not stop reading it. It was much better than I had expected. The characters felt real, I liked the story and the writing is good, sometimes amazing. I'm not good enough in English to understand all the word games and poetry fully but I liked it anyway.

[Blue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can remember clearly that high-school me was thoroughly disappointed at picking this one up from the library.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was just... dumb. Poorly written, poorly executed.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was boring, and too short which meant the storyline was rushed and the characters underdeveloped.

[Louie · Rating 3 out of 5]

that wasn't at all predictable! *sarcastic tone*

[Tess · Rating 1 out of 5]

Studied this in 2010.
I really, really did not like this book.
I did 100% on my essay on it though. Explaining why I didn't like it.
Success!

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh this book was ok. i kinda saw that coming in the end cuz its a typical way to end a book.. ohwelll

[Sparksfly510 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a very good novel, poor and typical, therefore unrealistic storyline.

[A Allyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read Walking Naked by Alyssa Brugman 20 years ago in high school and was ecstatic to find it again for $1 at the op shop. It was a life changing book for me back then, and rereading it two decades later, I bawled my eyes out just as hard.
This book shaped the way I navigated school, early friendships, how I became conscious of how I perceived others and how I learned to accept other people’s perceptions of me, and ultimately, life itself. With twenty years of perspective, I can say with certainty that its impact has stayed with me. I dare say it helped shape a significant part of who I am today.
While the story is set in a time very different from now, the themes of school, identity, and social hierarchies remain all too familiar. These dynamics haven’t changed nearly as much as we’d like to believe.
A lot of people speak negatively about this book, but I think that if you haven’t lived these experiences, it can be hard to relate to them. This story seems to do one of two things: it either makes you feel seen, or it makes you uncomfortable. For me, it did both.
Having been both “popular” and a “loser,” I could see how fragile and performative those labels really are. This book helped me step outside them altogether, and that perspective stayed with me long after school ended. Rereading it 20 years later only reinforced how temporary, and ultimately pointless most high school social hierarchies and friendships are, and that’s exactly why this book works. It’s written for young people, at a time when those things feel like everything and at a time where we don’t understand how our actions have consequences and can really affect other people.
Walking Naked is a story I truly wish every child entering their teenage years was required to read.

[Olivia Fortner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very good but there were some spots that affected my overall view of this book. The reason for my rating was because of the description, the storyline, and because of the entertainment aspects of the book.

One of the reasons I think this book deserves four stars is because the description in the book is very well done. The author goes into a ton of detail about every little thing and it assures that you will know everything about everything. The facts and information you get about every detail help you understand the storyline. I think that the book went into a lot of detail but it might have been a little too much.

The storyline was a factor in what I thought about this book. It got a little repetitive at some points but other than that it kept me interested in what was going on in the book. The same things happened over and over again but it didn't bother me too much. The story of the book was really well-formed but I just think that instead of the same things happening that something else could have happened to make the story end up the way it did.

I also really like how the author made this book entertaining and how she made it so you could keep reading it without getting bored. I would give this specific section about 4 stars because it got a little repetitive and boring at the beginning but other than that it was very well written.

As you can see, I gave this book 4 stars for the storyline, the description, and the entertainment. It could've easily gotten 5 stars if there were certain aspects in the book but all in all, it was a very good one and I enjoyed reading it very much.

[Caitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walking Naked is about a girl named Megan. Megan is in the top group of her school with a loving perfect family. Megan goes by a strict schedule and set of rules set by her group. When Megan and her best friend Candice get in trouble for talking in class, Megan finds herself in detention along with the school freak Perdita. Throughout detention Megan starts to realize Perdita was an amazing writer, especially with poetry. Megan and Perdita began to become good friends, but Megan knows she cannot be friends with The Freak. Her group would disown her. Megan had to choose the group of Perdita. Did she choose correctly or will this be something she will regret her whole life? Throughout the novel it tells the struggles of Perdita finding her father, friendships, and hardships. The book was slow in the beginning although keeping you on the edge of your seat in the end, not knowing what Megan will do next. This book shows the power of words and what happens when every choice can make a difference in the future. The main character Megan at moments was my favorite character but overall throughout the novel you watch her make all of the wrong decisions. I believe this book would be a very good lesson to students, showing what words can do and how you never know what other people’s life is like outside of school. This novel was heart wrenching throughout the entire story. I would rate this novel four out of five stars.

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 3.5/5
I got this book through a blind date with a book, so I had no idea what it was about when I bought it. This book wasn’t bad by any means, it was just… bland. It was somewhat repetitive, and honestly a little boring. It didn’t waste my time, because of how short it is, but I could have survived without reading it. I do think this talked about an important topic of how you treat other people. I feel like this could be a better book for someone else, but it just wasn’t the best book for me. I don’t regret reading this, but it just isn’t a favorite of mine!

[Emily Darby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this at 13 and this was the first book I ever remember going "I feel this in my soul. I want to wrap this book in a box and gift it to every person in my life to just help them understand how I feel as a person" (I'm okay I promise!!) This book was so...I want to say tender - even though that's a weird word I'm sure. I felt it from Perdita's side because I was Perdita, yet I completely understood why kids like Megan couldn't openly be friends with us. I remember saying to those "secret" friends "don't worry. I get it" and thinking I was doing THEM a favour!

[Linda Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow I read this fast. For a YA novelist really enjoyed it. A sophisticated mean girls plot with a tragic ending. Plenty to learn and reflect on in this book. It reminded me of how tough school can be, how mean girls are sometimes and the importance of teaching our children to be themselves. Loved it

[Sarita · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved that the entire novel was really a letter, in a way. There’s a mystery at the center so I can’t say too much more. But this YA book was short and sweet. I really liked it.

[Destinee]

It is a really good book

[Coco · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read. A few twists and turns. Surprisingly I had no idea how the story was going to end and it shocked me. Would read again.

[Adhe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy reading, good for killing the time

[Readingval · Rating 5 out of 5]

the story

sixteen year old Megan: smart, beautiful, popular - simply perfect. Megan has good friends, she and her stuck-up girls (also called “the clique”) are the superstars of their high school. everyone longs to be a part of “the clique”. everyone? well, not everyone.
and there’s also Perdita, not that popular as Megan and her group of girls. Perdita is also called “the freak” - not only by Megan, in fact by everyone at the high school.

but Megan isn’t as perfect as she seems and that’s why she has detention for a week.
fortunately or unfortunately, Megan isn’t alone, Perdita was also kept in after school. for one week the two girls had to spend an hour a day together in the same room. Megan felt uncomfortable. she gossiped a lot about the freak, but was never actually that close to her nor spoke to her.

plot twist: in a really unusual an odd way they become friends, even though it’s a very uncommon kind of friendship.
of course, Megan is keeping it as a secret but this doesn’t work for a long time. her friends find out about her meetings with Perdita. the clique is shocked. Megan has to chose: the clique or the freak?

the writing style

the book is very thin and therefore the author didn’t take a lot of time to characterize each character or place individually. I don’t think this is a problem because the most important things are described anyway. throughout the book, you can read everything of Megan’s point of view. she’s shallow and stuck-up, but still she gets affected by Perdita and her behavior and finally changes, especially because of the last plot twist.
the author didn’t write in a way to actually like the main characters, or to even like the protagonist. but it’s written in a way that you always want to carry on reading, though there’s not a lothappening in each chapter. the words are really simple, a lot of dialogues. by the many talks between Megan and other persons of the book you can also get to know the characters a lot better.

the title

the original title is “Walking Naked”, but in my first language it was actually “Zeig dein Gesicht”, which means “Show Your Face”.
I think the author has chosen the right title cause there’s a thread through the whole story. it starts with a boy from Megan’s high school that gets arrested for walking naked at night on the streets. the clique thinks it’s unfair to arrest someone for not wearing clothes, so they want to organize a demo. Megan is against the demonstration from the beginning. she thinks it’s shallow to demonstrate against something like this. organising the demonstration tears Megan and the girls slowly apart and therefore Megan is more and more drawn in by Perdita. basically, the demonstration for walking naked is never off topic and therefore the thread. also the last sentence is

The most disappointing thing is that Perdita isn’t her and that she can’t see that also I learnt walking naked

this is a metaphor of course. so it would make perfectly sense to name the book “Walking Naked”.
I think the translator clearly didn’t understand the book or the last sentence. why else would he or she trade such a good title for “Show Your Face”?

my opinion

I really like the writing style. it’s so plain and simple and yet the author uses enough words to describe each situation. so there’s still enough room to imagine. especially the dialogues make the story very vivid.
the book didn’t turn out as I expected it, well I didn’t really expect anything cause there’s not happening a lot, besides in the last twenty pages.
I already read the book some years ago but it still touched me like the first time I read it and I was crying and sobbing like a baby at the final chapters. therefore I think the author did a really good job. the book made me feel very intense emotions and left me with a head full of questions.

[Pablo Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a very nice book because it talks about teens. You can really relate to this book as the chapters pass by. You also see what happens in the book in some movies, sometimes they can even talk about it in the news. I really enjoyed this book a lot as well because it reminds me of “13 Reasons Why”, a show on Netflix.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not a young adult. I admit that freely. Some days though, I feel like I'm still that awkward girl in high school, trying to fit in by hiding who I was, and not having fun or true friends because of it. High school was a nightmare for me, because of not fitting in. I was never made fun of, as far as I know - I was just on the fringes of everything, and only had acquaintances. I know this now, and hate that I spent those years trying to make friends with people I was ill-equipped to be friends with.

To be honest, this book just pissed me off. The herd mentality is ridiculous and a poor excuse for why people treat each other horribly. I don't think the group was "respected" as much as feared. Megan and her friends terrorize the school, and there's nothing to like about her at all through the entire book. One girl starts crying because she might be kicked out of the group, and Megan herself mentions how Candice will make her life hell if she chooses Perdita over them. She even realizes Candice manipulates people, and she didn't leave the group right then? Hm. Megan never realizes her actions are harmful, and she's just so self-absorbed, it's unbelievable. Be popular, have a group of equally self-absorbed and manipulative, horrible people as friends, but be human to some extent.

Yes, older Megan realized her mistake, but I would have more respect for the book as a whole if younger Megan had realized it.

A much better book dealing with issues like this would be Before I Fall, a beautifully written book about mean popularity and the consequences.

I had no problems with the writing of this book. Nothing to hold against the author whatsoever. She took on a very tough subject, high school bullying and suicide, and while I don't agree with the book, it did get the point across that no matter what you think, your actions affect other people, sometimes more than you think. I will definitely give her other books a chance, because she is a good writer. This one just wasn't my speed.

[3Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walking Naked is an insight to how cruel girls really are and how hard it can be to fin in and be accepted. Anyone that is different or dose not look like a clone of the popular people that are secretly hated is shuned. being unique is never an option, especially with girls and here is the perfect example.
Megan fits in with the in crowed, she has it all a nice house t handful of "friends" and two parents that love her. She has the picture perfect life, but she is missing something. something that wee all need and do not always seem to be able to grasp. Megan has a conscience and by the end of this book it eats her up until she covers it up with her selfishness. Megan needs to learn how to listen to her conscience and take what it says to heart.
Perdita, is the schools outcast that gets picked on and singled out. Megan begins to talk to her, in secret, her "friends could never know that she was talking to the outcast let alone possibly be friends with her. Perdita was an outcast because her home life did not exactly fit in with everyone, she was adopted, looking for her father she thinks she finds him, a collage professor. So as an attempt to get to know her father she skips school to go to his class.
Perdita gets upset when she finds out Megan is ashamed of being friends, as pay back Perdita embareses Megan in front of the whole school and Megan ignored her. Than Megan's "friends" ditched her because she was friends with Perdita, Megan rejected Perdita when she needed her, no one was ther for Perdita when she found out the collage professor was not her father so she committed suicide now megan needs a real friend because those other girls left her now Megan is alone in the high school world and refuses to accept that her real friends suicide could have been prevented by her.
This book is a lesson to everyone about how your actions can affect other people in a dramatic way, how to chose who your real friends are and that it the popular people may like you but hate you because they lack your slefesteam individuality.