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Fly on The Wall
by
At the Manhattan School of Art and Music, where everyone is unique and everyone is 'different', Gretchen Yee feels ordinary. It doesn't help that she's known as the girl who sits alone at lunch, drawing pictures of her favourite superhero, just so she won't have to talk to anyone. Her best (and only real) friend is there for her, but that's only if she's not busy - she's a
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Paperback, 182 pages
Published
September 8th 2016
by Hot Key Books
(first published March 14th 2006)
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I've said this before, but before joining booktube at least 50% of my yearly reading was made up of rereads. Everyone reads for different reasons, and it enjoys it in different ways, but for me, it was always about finding those special places that felt like home and then getting to visit them again and again and again.
After joining booktube my reading changed a lot, for the better and the different. I found myself rereading way less because I wanted to try and keep up with all the new books I w ...more
After joining booktube my reading changed a lot, for the better and the different. I found myself rereading way less because I wanted to try and keep up with all the new books I w ...more
Omg this was ridiculous
Thanks to Ariel for the recommendation via this episode of Books Unbound Podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/3yVU...
Book 12 of 30 for my 30 day reading challenge. ...more
Thanks to Ariel for the recommendation via this episode of Books Unbound Podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/3yVU...
Book 12 of 30 for my 30 day reading challenge. ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
5/5 stars
I LOVE LOVE LOVED this book. It was so short and concise, but I was as emotionally invested in the story as I would have been in a full length novel. I was immediately excited to read this book when I read the premise. Basically, a girl is literally turned into a fly on the boys lockeroom wall. What a hilarious premise!! I had such a fun time reading this book and couldn't help but laugh out loud at so mnay points. The narration was witty, very relatable and also sarcastic. This has to ...more
I LOVE LOVE LOVED this book. It was so short and concise, but I was as emotionally invested in the story as I would have been in a full length novel. I was immediately excited to read this book when I read the premise. Basically, a girl is literally turned into a fly on the boys lockeroom wall. What a hilarious premise!! I had such a fun time reading this book and couldn't help but laugh out loud at so mnay points. The narration was witty, very relatable and also sarcastic. This has to ...more
Let me start by saying THIS IS NOT ROMANCE.. I mean it's about becoming a fly for a week. I can't really see what's so romantic in that.
My favorite part of the book was "Orange and Up Yours" who are two weird guys but Lockhart kinda forgot about them...
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My favorite part of the book was "Orange and Up Yours" who are two weird guys but Lockhart kinda forgot about them...
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As seen on The Readventurer
I am a huge fan of E. Lockharts, but I have to admit, at first I couldn't quite get into this book. Maybe because of its artsy-ish tone - the heroine Gretchen Yee is a student at the Manhattan Art School, so everything about her (and for that matter everybody in the school) is art oriented and I can't quite identify with imaginative and artistic types. Or maybe because of a bizarre twist in the middle, when the story becomes somewhat fantasy-like - Gretchen finds that ...more
I am a huge fan of E. Lockharts, but I have to admit, at first I couldn't quite get into this book. Maybe because of its artsy-ish tone - the heroine Gretchen Yee is a student at the Manhattan Art School, so everything about her (and for that matter everybody in the school) is art oriented and I can't quite identify with imaginative and artistic types. Or maybe because of a bizarre twist in the middle, when the story becomes somewhat fantasy-like - Gretchen finds that ...more
Entertaining and cute short story (Everything under 200pages is a short story for me). Not really something I would´ve bought if I bothered to read review/description. Still a solid 3stars.
Fast read -- I read it in literally less than one hour. Gretchen is a shy, standoffish teen who loves reading & drawing superhero comics and attends a Manhattan magnet school for the arts. Feeling confused by her feelings toward Titus, a skinny Art Rat boy, and out of place in her school, she blurts out her wish to be a fly on the wall of the boy's locker room. And does she ever get her wish! Funny, smart, and uncharacteristically honest and straightforward about straight teen girl lust -- altho
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A feminist re-working of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Not much else to say except that.
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This book was given to me as an ARC by Allen and Unwin in exchange for am honest review
Fly on the Wall is wacky and strange and fantastic and weird just like being a teenager in all honesty.
Fly on the wall is a super fast read staring Gretchen. Gretchen is a bi racial, comic book loving, art student that is surrounding by so many out there students she feels like she's not edgy enough in her "normal" clothing.
Gretchen is 15 and just figuring out how in the heck relationships with boys work, the ...more
Fly on the Wall is wacky and strange and fantastic and weird just like being a teenager in all honesty.
Fly on the wall is a super fast read staring Gretchen. Gretchen is a bi racial, comic book loving, art student that is surrounding by so many out there students she feels like she's not edgy enough in her "normal" clothing.
Gretchen is 15 and just figuring out how in the heck relationships with boys work, the ...more
Sometimes venturing into an author’s backlist is like being Charlie let into Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory and getting to eat many tasty chocolates. Sometimes, though, you feel more like August Gloop, regretful of your life choices but unable to escape. With regards to Fly on the Wall, you can call me Gus. Fly on the Wall is a hot mess of shockingly bad young adult fiction to the degree that I cannot conceive of how anyone ever liked it enough for it to get published.
Fly on the Wall is the sto ...more
Fly on the Wall is the sto ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I gave this book 3.5 stars.
This is exactly the type of story I would have gravitated toward as a teenager. The main character, Gretchen, is a typical self-proclaimed "nobody" artist in a high school full of talented artistic types. At the start of the book, she feels like she could disappear and no one would notice, but thanks to a transformation of sorts, she realizes that everyone suffers from insecurities. This book is reminiscent of Kafka's The Metamorphoses however, the characters in this ...more
This is exactly the type of story I would have gravitated toward as a teenager. The main character, Gretchen, is a typical self-proclaimed "nobody" artist in a high school full of talented artistic types. At the start of the book, she feels like she could disappear and no one would notice, but thanks to a transformation of sorts, she realizes that everyone suffers from insecurities. This book is reminiscent of Kafka's The Metamorphoses however, the characters in this ...more
I went into this book apprehensively. I love Lockhart's most recent work but I wasn't enthralled by the synopsis of Fly on the Wall. However, when I saw this was being released with a new cover to match those published by Hot Key Books I had to pick up a copy.
Even though Fly on the Wall is written in a heavily laid back, comical tone which is very different to what I am used to in Lockhart's writing I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
Gretchen Yee studies at the Manhattan High School for the Art whe ...more
Even though Fly on the Wall is written in a heavily laid back, comical tone which is very different to what I am used to in Lockhart's writing I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
Gretchen Yee studies at the Manhattan High School for the Art whe ...more
This book was brought to my attention by a parent who thought it was inappropriate for a middle school library so I read it. The jury is still out. I enjoyed the story line, which is a girl named Gretchen who goes to an artsy school. She doesn't understand boys and makes a wish to be a fly on the wall in the boys locker room. For whatever reason it comes true. She spends a week as a fly and sees and hears a lot of things. She talks about what the boys look like (she likes to refer to their parts
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This was so cute and fun!
If I can't change myself back, then I'll be an insect forever, buzzing against the windowpane, living out my now-puny life expectancy confined to a freakin' locker room.
It's definitely not what I expected.
I chose to purchase this book blindly-that is, without even looking at the synopsis at the back. I bought it because I was attracted by the cover and, to be honest, by E. Lockhart's name. Suffice it to say that my initial thoughts about it were completely off-course, haha. My expectations wer ...more
It's definitely not what I expected.
I chose to purchase this book blindly-that is, without even looking at the synopsis at the back. I bought it because I was attracted by the cover and, to be honest, by E. Lockhart's name. Suffice it to say that my initial thoughts about it were completely off-course, haha. My expectations wer ...more
Once again, E.Lockhart has earned major kudos for her frank and honest dialog and for her genuine and oh so realistic characters.
Gretchen is insecure, as so many teen girls are, though she posses above average drawing skills for her age, and has been attending an arts focused magnet school, which is highly competitive. Gretchen fills invisible, after all, when everyone is unique, no one is. She doesn't fit in, and despite her efforts to make herself an individual, she feels as though she is fail ...more
Gretchen is insecure, as so many teen girls are, though she posses above average drawing skills for her age, and has been attending an arts focused magnet school, which is highly competitive. Gretchen fills invisible, after all, when everyone is unique, no one is. She doesn't fit in, and despite her efforts to make herself an individual, she feels as though she is fail ...more
lmao so many ppl be complaining about how this book is immature and the main character is child like and maybe it IS but I love it anyway., but it's also a very easy and quick read (which is gr8 for me bc I'm in a reading slump and finishing a book in two days is a miracle) and it's funny too! after the first part I kept wondering if Gretchen would ever finish Metamorphosis, and liek, really relate to Gregor, but alas it didn't happen. another 'alas': we don't get to know what happened to Xavier
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Way too cliche and predictable. But it was fast-paced so, points for that.
Gretchen Yee, a student at Manhattan High School for the Arts, is hanging out by herself more now that her best friend is hanging out with the Art Rats, Sophomore boys who are drawing majors, and has a crush on Titus. She draws spiderman at lunch time so she can be by herself, but also wishes she could be a fly on the wall on the boys locker room so that she can see and hear what goes on, which ties into their studying Metamorphosis in Literature. She gets her wish, and things are not as they ap
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I started reading this book without reading the synopsis and I was suprised when the title was not a metaphor. It took me a while to see the point of it, but I finally understood how Gretchen learned from the experience of turning into a fly. There is something I never thought I would say. There were some plot holes and the ending felt a bit forced and inaccurate. However, I still enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed this read.
It was different and funny.
I’ve been reading a few horror’s as it’s October. So it was a nice change to read something like this.
It was different and funny.
I’ve been reading a few horror’s as it’s October. So it was a nice change to read something like this.
Not nearly as compelling as We Were Liars. Interesting concept though!
Short and sweet. And it was funny too.
E. Lockhart is one of the best young adult novelists writing today. She is somehow able to capture what it is like to be a teenager -- complete with family issues and tension, friendship problems and boy-angst. She writes in a way that is fun, easy to read and humorous. Fly on the Wall is not my favorite of Lockhart, but it is darned good.
Fly on the Wall is a very short book, the audio is only about 5 hours but is superbly done. The setting is New York City and an art based charter school. The m ...more
Fly on the Wall is a very short book, the audio is only about 5 hours but is superbly done. The setting is New York City and an art based charter school. The m ...more
"People think of hearts when they think of love, but a heart is a bloody organ in the body. It doesn't have any emotions. It's like a metaphor for love that has nothing to do with what love actually is."
I thought that Fly on the wall would have been an interesting book looking at human behaviour through the eyes of a young girl. How do boys act differently than girls? Are there ways to conciliate these differences? Are there similarities? Instead I was given a book about a girl wishing to turn i ...more
I thought that Fly on the wall would have been an interesting book looking at human behaviour through the eyes of a young girl. How do boys act differently than girls? Are there ways to conciliate these differences? Are there similarities? Instead I was given a book about a girl wishing to turn i ...more
The first-person POV is charming, engaging and solid: Gretchen Yee's character is believable and likable from the start. E. Lockhart stays focused on Gretchen's transformations from "ordinary" school girl to locker-room fly to self-confident and conscientious young woman. The references to Kafka add to the literary quality. Sure, you could question the believability of Gretchen's week as an insect, but why? It's terribly fun voyeurism and exceptionally revealing (no pun intended) for the charact
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Mar 26, 2010
Kelly Holmes
rated it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
young-adult
Summary: 16-year-old Gretchen doesn’t fit in at The Manhattan School for Art and Music, something weird is going on between her parents, and her best friend seems to be avoiding her.
Review: This one was just okay for me.
I was liking the story until about halfway through when the action slowed way down. I’m not spoiling anything you can’t get from the Amazon description—but in particular, I could have done without the pages of reflection on the male anatomy.
The pace picks up again in the last 30 ...more
Review: This one was just okay for me.
I was liking the story until about halfway through when the action slowed way down. I’m not spoiling anything you can’t get from the Amazon description—but in particular, I could have done without the pages of reflection on the male anatomy.
The pace picks up again in the last 30 ...more
I did not like this book at all. It was very inappropriate and no kid under 13 should read this. Let me tell you about the characters. First there is Gretchen Yee. She thinks that everyone else has something about them but she thinks that she is just ordinary. She has a crush on this guy named Titus but she is too scared to do anything about it. Her best friend is Katya. But she is always too busy for anyone and she is starting to became a mean girl. Sometimes she wishes that that she was a fly
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Readers also enjoyed
E. Lockhart is the author of Again Again, Genuine Fraud, We Were Liars, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and several other novels.
website: www.emilylockhart.com
Instagram: elockhartbooks
Twitter: elockhart
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website: www.emilylockhart.com
Instagram: elockhartbooks
Twitter: elockhart
...more
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“I love the idea of the big life - the life that matters, the life that makes a difference. The life where stuff happens, where people take action. The opposite of the life where the girl can't even speak to the boy she likes; the opposite of the life where the friends aren't even good friends, and lots of days are wasted away feeling bored and kind of okay, like nothing matters much.”
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“People think of hearts when they think of love, but a heart is a bloody organ in the body. It doesn't have any emotions. It's like a metaphor for love that has nothing to do with what love actually is.”
—
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