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Very LeFreak
Very LeFreak has a she’s a crazed technology addict. Very can’t get enough of her iPhone, laptop, IMs, text messages, whatever. If there’s any chance the incoming message, call, text, or photo might be from her supersecret online crush, she’s going to answer, no matter what. Nothing is too sleep, friends in mid-conversation, class, a meeting with the dean about academic probation. Soon enough, though, this obsession costs Very everything and everyone. Can she learn to block out the noise so she can finally hear her heart?
Rachel Cohn makes her Knopf solo debut with this funny, touching, and surely recognizable story about a girl and the technology habit that threatens everything.
From the Hardcover edition.
Rachel Cohn makes her Knopf solo debut with this funny, touching, and surely recognizable story about a girl and the technology habit that threatens everything.
From the Hardcover edition.
320 pages, Library Binding
First published December 18, 2009
13 people are currently reading
944 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Cohn
34 books2,305 followersRachel grew up in the D.C. area and graduated from Barnard College with a B.A. in Political Science. She has written many YA novels, including three that she cowrote with her friend and colleague David Levithan. She lives and writes (when she's not reading other people's books, organizing her music library or looking for the best cappuccino) in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 121 reviews
August 1, 2010
I cannot do Rachel Cohn anymore. I just--I’ve tried. I really have. I’ve read most of her books, I even enjoyed one or two, but the latest ones were torturous to get through and just--ARGH, I’m on the edge, BIG TIME.
Quick assessment: the first part is kind of really jumbled up and sometimes boring and if you're anything like me, you'll have no desire to go on but only do so because you must finish the book to be fair in your review. Nothing really happens; the characters are just...there...and they're not there to entertain or intrigue or compel, they're just there to exist and only sheer force of will moved that portion of the book forward for me.
But then, the second part is much, much better. At first. Then it's just--oh, we'll get there when we get there.
So, in the second part, Very's in rehab and she decides to commit this time, even though El Virus may be out there. Now, this is something I didn't really understand: Why, if he was such an obsession before, was she so readily able to let go of him and of her hopes of finding him over the summer? You have to understand that in the first part, this girl didn't so much as breathe without imagining him doing dirty things to her and then, when he's finally back on her turf, she just goes...click! What???
Moving on: she works on her addiction, reluctantly at first, in this place that has absolutely NO electricity. In the rehab, she talks to a much-needed shrink and those scenes are the best parts of the entire book. Rachel Cohn did a BEAUTIFUL job with Very's character. That is the one huge highlight in the book. Her motivations are complicated but well-founded, her character arc is great, and her voice is natural and for the most part consistent. I didn't really LIKE her as a person, but at least I, the reader, viewed her as one.
And then it went bad again.
HUGE SPOILER ALERT
.
..
...
....
...
..
.
Very meets El Virus at the camp. They're all soul-mate-y but she's become less promiscuous so she holds back on putting out and then, when she gets her one night out near the end of the program, she sees her college roommate who's going to a nearby camp at the same joint she goes to and somehow they kiss and she realizes she's in love with HER and--GAH.
I mean, it's implied that the roommate is lesbian before all this happens and Very is an open bisexual who's been with other girls, so at least it's not all that ~OUT THERE~, but WHY, GOD, WHY?
WHY did El Virus need to show up? And why did he need to be, quite frankly, a little bit...creepy?
And WHY did there need to be a cheeseball conclusion to an otherwise down-to-Earth book about a cynical girl who DOES NOT DO CORNY?
This is where this book becomes a train wreck. God.
Without mentioning that from the depiction in the book, it's really hard to make up your mind about whether you believe in technology addiction or not.
And beyond this, I didn't like this book because I didn't like its tone. I mean, Ms. Cohn is very adept at world-building and YES, she's definitely got a huge talent for voice. But...there's something intangible that just sets of me off. There's the fact I didn't like the structure of the book or how it dealt with sex, but this goes much deeper than that. It just--
This is why I can't read Rachel Cohn anymore. I think her books are all wrong for me in terms of essence, never mind the other stuff that goes into books (characters, plot, etc) and I can't explain why. It's unsettling.
But anyway--D+. Very, at least, was well-done.
Quick assessment: the first part is kind of really jumbled up and sometimes boring and if you're anything like me, you'll have no desire to go on but only do so because you must finish the book to be fair in your review. Nothing really happens; the characters are just...there...and they're not there to entertain or intrigue or compel, they're just there to exist and only sheer force of will moved that portion of the book forward for me.
But then, the second part is much, much better. At first. Then it's just--oh, we'll get there when we get there.
So, in the second part, Very's in rehab and she decides to commit this time, even though El Virus may be out there. Now, this is something I didn't really understand: Why, if he was such an obsession before, was she so readily able to let go of him and of her hopes of finding him over the summer? You have to understand that in the first part, this girl didn't so much as breathe without imagining him doing dirty things to her and then, when he's finally back on her turf, she just goes...click! What???
Moving on: she works on her addiction, reluctantly at first, in this place that has absolutely NO electricity. In the rehab, she talks to a much-needed shrink and those scenes are the best parts of the entire book. Rachel Cohn did a BEAUTIFUL job with Very's character. That is the one huge highlight in the book. Her motivations are complicated but well-founded, her character arc is great, and her voice is natural and for the most part consistent. I didn't really LIKE her as a person, but at least I, the reader, viewed her as one.
And then it went bad again.
HUGE SPOILER ALERT
.
..
...
....
...
..
.
Very meets El Virus at the camp. They're all soul-mate-y but she's become less promiscuous so she holds back on putting out and then, when she gets her one night out near the end of the program, she sees her college roommate who's going to a nearby camp at the same joint she goes to and somehow they kiss and she realizes she's in love with HER and--GAH.
I mean, it's implied that the roommate is lesbian before all this happens and Very is an open bisexual who's been with other girls, so at least it's not all that ~OUT THERE~, but WHY, GOD, WHY?
WHY did El Virus need to show up? And why did he need to be, quite frankly, a little bit...creepy?
And WHY did there need to be a cheeseball conclusion to an otherwise down-to-Earth book about a cynical girl who DOES NOT DO CORNY?
This is where this book becomes a train wreck. God.
Without mentioning that from the depiction in the book, it's really hard to make up your mind about whether you believe in technology addiction or not.
And beyond this, I didn't like this book because I didn't like its tone. I mean, Ms. Cohn is very adept at world-building and YES, she's definitely got a huge talent for voice. But...there's something intangible that just sets of me off. There's the fact I didn't like the structure of the book or how it dealt with sex, but this goes much deeper than that. It just--
This is why I can't read Rachel Cohn anymore. I think her books are all wrong for me in terms of essence, never mind the other stuff that goes into books (characters, plot, etc) and I can't explain why. It's unsettling.
But anyway--D+. Very, at least, was well-done.
May 30, 2013
I read maybe the first 25-30 pages of this before I remembered my new motto: "Life is too short to read bad books." And it really is, and so I felt very liberated with my decision not to read this book. Here are my impressions of the pages I did read:
Ingredients include 17 cups of Manic Pixie Dream Girl Dust, vomited all over the pages. No one sleeps with two separate headphones in connected to two different devices. True technology users would streamline their usage onto one device, say, the iPhone, rather than keep all their music on a different iPod because of some random reasoning that it retains the "purity" of the music (yeah, it's an mp3, toooootally needs its purity retained). Very was the most annoying, most poorly-constructed heroine I've ever read (and I've read Christian fiction ) and I seriously could not stand her from the start. There's something to be said for unlikeable narrators, but then there's narrators who are just stupid and awful and horribly shaky constructs. If she's such a MPDG who has no concept of homework, time, or consequences, how'd she get into Columbia? All these questions. Also, the reason she gives for going by the last name of "LeFreak" is that in kindergarten she sang the lyrics "Le Freak, say chic" on the playground and has somehow been using it as her last name ever since. OH.MYGOD.
But really, where I put the book down is when, to distract herself, Very gets online and starts to play...Chinese Checkers. I call BS alert. No tech savvy, 21st century teen gets online to play Chinese checkers. It's 2013. They get online and play Farmville. Or they go on Twitter. I mean, even Bejewled would have sufficed.
To be fair, maybe this kind of book just really isn't my thing and really is yours. I don't know. Have at it, just don't say I didn't warn you.
Ingredients include 17 cups of Manic Pixie Dream Girl Dust, vomited all over the pages. No one sleeps with two separate headphones in connected to two different devices. True technology users would streamline their usage onto one device, say, the iPhone, rather than keep all their music on a different iPod because of some random reasoning that it retains the "purity" of the music (yeah, it's an mp3, toooootally needs its purity retained). Very was the most annoying, most poorly-constructed heroine I've ever read (and I've read Christian fiction ) and I seriously could not stand her from the start. There's something to be said for unlikeable narrators, but then there's narrators who are just stupid and awful and horribly shaky constructs. If she's such a MPDG who has no concept of homework, time, or consequences, how'd she get into Columbia? All these questions. Also, the reason she gives for going by the last name of "LeFreak" is that in kindergarten she sang the lyrics "Le Freak, say chic" on the playground and has somehow been using it as her last name ever since. OH.MYGOD.
But really, where I put the book down is when, to distract herself, Very gets online and starts to play...Chinese Checkers. I call BS alert. No tech savvy, 21st century teen gets online to play Chinese checkers. It's 2013. They get online and play Farmville. Or they go on Twitter. I mean, even Bejewled would have sufficed.
To be fair, maybe this kind of book just really isn't my thing and really is yours. I don't know. Have at it, just don't say I didn't warn you.
February 18, 2010
VERY LEFREAK is an unfortunate disappointment by a highly respectable author. It contains the chatty, witty, and pop culture reference-loaded writing of her previous books, but lacks cohesion and the ability to make us empathize with the characters.
Very is an appealing character because her thoughts—and therefore her narration—are refreshingly fast-paced, modern, and slightly scattered in the way that many 21st-century teens are, whether we admit it or not. She is unlike any character I’ve encountered in literature before, with her ever-ready repertoire of pop culture, random tangents, and connections we’d never make ourselves, but which seem perfectly logical coming from Very’s mind.
However, the fact that we are in Very’s head so much makes it extremely difficult for us to grasp what is going on in the story. Very’s observations are certainly interesting, but there is a lack of narrative cohesion tying together Very with the people in her life. The little we glean of Very’s friends is so colored by Very’s desires for who she wants them to be that we don’t get even close to a solid picture of who they are. While I understand that this may in fact be the manifestation of the typical limitations of fiction writing—everything we know about the characters, we know through a biased lens—the paradox doesn’t completely translate into reader enjoyability and comprehension here.
Similarly, there seemed to be a lack of plot in VERY LEFREAK. The book is so much a dissection of Very’s thought processes that it oftentimes forgets to effectively move the story along via relevant events, conversations, and even overarching themes. The technology addiction that the book’s synopsis claims Very suffers from actually doesn’t even play a major role in the book—which disappointed me, as I thought it was an interesting and pertinent topic that could’ve better been explored. I read about half of the book before realizing that absolutely nothing pertaining to character growth had happened yet. One can get away with that in an adult book, but for YA fiction, that just might be the kiss of death.
Overall, I believe VERY LEFREAK might be an interesting read for writers and academics curious about issues regarding fiction’s metalanguage—are the supporting characters really incohesive, or is that just a product of the intensely close third-person narration of this book? Can a story be a story without character development or plot?—but I fear it may be a struggle for the YA audience it’s being marketed at. Appreciators of well-written, character-driven novels might give this one a go and find that they enjoy it immensely.
Very is an appealing character because her thoughts—and therefore her narration—are refreshingly fast-paced, modern, and slightly scattered in the way that many 21st-century teens are, whether we admit it or not. She is unlike any character I’ve encountered in literature before, with her ever-ready repertoire of pop culture, random tangents, and connections we’d never make ourselves, but which seem perfectly logical coming from Very’s mind.
However, the fact that we are in Very’s head so much makes it extremely difficult for us to grasp what is going on in the story. Very’s observations are certainly interesting, but there is a lack of narrative cohesion tying together Very with the people in her life. The little we glean of Very’s friends is so colored by Very’s desires for who she wants them to be that we don’t get even close to a solid picture of who they are. While I understand that this may in fact be the manifestation of the typical limitations of fiction writing—everything we know about the characters, we know through a biased lens—the paradox doesn’t completely translate into reader enjoyability and comprehension here.
Similarly, there seemed to be a lack of plot in VERY LEFREAK. The book is so much a dissection of Very’s thought processes that it oftentimes forgets to effectively move the story along via relevant events, conversations, and even overarching themes. The technology addiction that the book’s synopsis claims Very suffers from actually doesn’t even play a major role in the book—which disappointed me, as I thought it was an interesting and pertinent topic that could’ve better been explored. I read about half of the book before realizing that absolutely nothing pertaining to character growth had happened yet. One can get away with that in an adult book, but for YA fiction, that just might be the kiss of death.
Overall, I believe VERY LEFREAK might be an interesting read for writers and academics curious about issues regarding fiction’s metalanguage—are the supporting characters really incohesive, or is that just a product of the intensely close third-person narration of this book? Can a story be a story without character development or plot?—but I fear it may be a struggle for the YA audience it’s being marketed at. Appreciators of well-written, character-driven novels might give this one a go and find that they enjoy it immensely.
May 21, 2010
This book is a reflection of what the technology age has done to us. This new form of addiction is just as destructive as any other, only it also has the potential to do more good. I found myself wondering why I feel driven to check my email up-teen times per day and why I drop large sums of money on a new gadget. This book made me stop and think about why I do the things I do. Any time a book makes me examine how I live my life is pretty powerful thing.
That being said, this book was just too much. The characters were too perfectly flawed or too self aware or too oblivious to be believable. And the plot--well, it had no discernible arc that made it exciting to read. It was like everything was in hyperdrive without really going anywhere at all so I really couldn't connect with Very or her friends. Even the wit and whimsy of this book couldn't keep me interested for long.
I wanted so badly to like this book. I wanted to connect with someone who is a technology junkie like me. I wanted to love the writing of the author who gave us Nick Norah's Infinite Playlist and Gingerbread. I wanted to be addicted to turning the next page and finding out what happens to whom. But ultimately, I put this book down feeling unfulfilled.
That being said, this book was just too much. The characters were too perfectly flawed or too self aware or too oblivious to be believable. And the plot--well, it had no discernible arc that made it exciting to read. It was like everything was in hyperdrive without really going anywhere at all so I really couldn't connect with Very or her friends. Even the wit and whimsy of this book couldn't keep me interested for long.
I wanted so badly to like this book. I wanted to connect with someone who is a technology junkie like me. I wanted to love the writing of the author who gave us Nick Norah's Infinite Playlist and Gingerbread. I wanted to be addicted to turning the next page and finding out what happens to whom. But ultimately, I put this book down feeling unfulfilled.
February 13, 2013
I wanted to like this book, I really did. I want to like something by the co-author of Nick Norah's Infinite Playlist and You Know Where to Find Me. But this book basically took everything I disliked about Cohn's writing and amped it up a notch. Because of this, the book was a real struggle to finish - I almost didn't. And, I hate to say it, but it made me remove Cohn from my list of favorite authors. Cohn is capable of writing really, really well, but for some reason she doesn't.
The first problem was the plot. Or, should I say, the lack of plot. Because really, not much happens in this book. This is partially due to the sparseness of the writing (which I'll get to later), but plenty of books have been sparse and still effective - The Hunger Games, for example. I think the problem is more than that. Either way, there was an apparent and annoying pacing pattern - something would happen, and then we'd get 50 pages of fallout, including flashbacks and minor events that had nothing to do with anything. This is present in her other books, to some extent, but there, the fallout was at least interesting. Here, however, the fallout is really, really boring, and not always related to the main event. Because of this, the book lacked focus on any one idea, other than Very.
Its dramatic structure was also a little wonky. Because of the lack of events, the book felt anti-climatic - not that anything ever led up to a potential climax, anyway. It sort of felt like we saw the life of a technology addicted girl for 150 pages, then we saw her getting better in rehab for another 150. The only exception was the last 30 pages, where a bunch of events happened at once. I'm not sure if Cohn intended this to be a climax or not, but it came across as unplanned, rushed, uninteresting, and altogether weird.
And then there were the characters. The only character that felt fully developed was Very, and she didn't do much to distinguish herself from Cohn's other protagonists - she was bitchy, dirty, and an altogether rough and bad girl. She was a little more ditzy than the protagonists of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Naomi and Ely's No-Kiss List, but other than that, she felt like an expy of Norah or Naomi.
And, as with a lot of Cohn's protagonists, I didn't really like Very. She came across as very stupid and annoying. The technology aspect of her personality was done accurately (although I didn't really see a connection between her addiction and her shallow relationships with her friends, despite what we're told), but Cohn didn't make us care for her. It would take a truly great writer to pull it off, and I don't think Cohn manages it.
Other than her, no one really stood out. Jennifer (I refuse to call her Laviana) was sort of interesting, but we don't get to see her personality as much as I would've liked. The others - Bryan, Jean-Wayne, and Virkam - were all just plain-out boring.
But the book's true downfall was the prose. This is - dare I say it - the worst writing that I've ever seen in a professionally published book. Almost every single problem I've ever had with a book's writing comes up in this book. I could write a whole review about what made the writing so terrible, but I'll try to keep it brief. I outlined what I thought were the three biggest problems with the writing:
1) It was unclear. Particularly in the beginning, there were a lot of sentences that I had no idea the meaning of, and there were an equal number I had to read over a couple times. I missed often-important ideas and exposition because of it. I really have trouble believing that any editor could read sentences like that, ones that people don't understand*, and still allow it in a book.
2) It overused compound and complex sentences. I know that Cohn was trying to imitate the over-stimulation of a technology-addicted girl,** but I don't see that as an excuse for blatantly bad writing. This contributed to be skimming longer sentences (which might've been why I had to re-read some of them; I skimmed a lot of this book without even realizing it), and I was annoyed when every sentence in a paragraph began with 'she'.
3) It was too sparse. Particularly in the first half of the book, it seemed like there were more flashbacks and background than dialogue. I know that Cohn wanted to give us Very's background (it came up in her therapy sessions), but there are far better ways of doing it. Sometimes, a flashback would last for five or six pages, and then we would be dropped back into the original scene with no transition at all. There were also quite a few scenes where Cohn threw us right into a conflict, and then went back to explain how the characters got there. This kind of writing slowed down the pace and felt very, very amateur.
The only part of this book I enjoyed were Very's therapy sessions with Kiesha. Kiesha came across as too perfect at times, but they were FAR better written than the rest of the book, and it finally gave purpose to things like Very's ditziness and promiscuity (something I had originally planned to complain about in the review). I honestly wish the rehab sections had focused on them more, because they were the only scenes that felt true to what Cohn wanted to accomplish with the book.
But overall, it was still a mess. The plot was nonexistent, the characters were vapid, annoying, or both, and the writing was horrible. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, not even die-hard Rachel Cohn fans. It's that awful.
*It's not just me that thought the writing was unclear. I showed the worst offenders to some of my friends, and they didn't understand them either.
**Although the way she did it was kind of weird. The narration was in third person, but it followed Very the entire time, and completely imitated how she talked. It was a really odd stylistic choice for a book like this; it should've just been in first-person.
The first problem was the plot. Or, should I say, the lack of plot. Because really, not much happens in this book. This is partially due to the sparseness of the writing (which I'll get to later), but plenty of books have been sparse and still effective - The Hunger Games, for example. I think the problem is more than that. Either way, there was an apparent and annoying pacing pattern - something would happen, and then we'd get 50 pages of fallout, including flashbacks and minor events that had nothing to do with anything. This is present in her other books, to some extent, but there, the fallout was at least interesting. Here, however, the fallout is really, really boring, and not always related to the main event. Because of this, the book lacked focus on any one idea, other than Very.
Its dramatic structure was also a little wonky. Because of the lack of events, the book felt anti-climatic - not that anything ever led up to a potential climax, anyway. It sort of felt like we saw the life of a technology addicted girl for 150 pages, then we saw her getting better in rehab for another 150. The only exception was the last 30 pages, where a bunch of events happened at once. I'm not sure if Cohn intended this to be a climax or not, but it came across as unplanned, rushed, uninteresting, and altogether weird.
And then there were the characters. The only character that felt fully developed was Very, and she didn't do much to distinguish herself from Cohn's other protagonists - she was bitchy, dirty, and an altogether rough and bad girl. She was a little more ditzy than the protagonists of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Naomi and Ely's No-Kiss List, but other than that, she felt like an expy of Norah or Naomi.
And, as with a lot of Cohn's protagonists, I didn't really like Very. She came across as very stupid and annoying. The technology aspect of her personality was done accurately (although I didn't really see a connection between her addiction and her shallow relationships with her friends, despite what we're told), but Cohn didn't make us care for her. It would take a truly great writer to pull it off, and I don't think Cohn manages it.
Other than her, no one really stood out. Jennifer (I refuse to call her Laviana) was sort of interesting, but we don't get to see her personality as much as I would've liked. The others - Bryan, Jean-Wayne, and Virkam - were all just plain-out boring.
But the book's true downfall was the prose. This is - dare I say it - the worst writing that I've ever seen in a professionally published book. Almost every single problem I've ever had with a book's writing comes up in this book. I could write a whole review about what made the writing so terrible, but I'll try to keep it brief. I outlined what I thought were the three biggest problems with the writing:
1) It was unclear. Particularly in the beginning, there were a lot of sentences that I had no idea the meaning of, and there were an equal number I had to read over a couple times. I missed often-important ideas and exposition because of it. I really have trouble believing that any editor could read sentences like that, ones that people don't understand*, and still allow it in a book.
2) It overused compound and complex sentences. I know that Cohn was trying to imitate the over-stimulation of a technology-addicted girl,** but I don't see that as an excuse for blatantly bad writing. This contributed to be skimming longer sentences (which might've been why I had to re-read some of them; I skimmed a lot of this book without even realizing it), and I was annoyed when every sentence in a paragraph began with 'she'.
3) It was too sparse. Particularly in the first half of the book, it seemed like there were more flashbacks and background than dialogue. I know that Cohn wanted to give us Very's background (it came up in her therapy sessions), but there are far better ways of doing it. Sometimes, a flashback would last for five or six pages, and then we would be dropped back into the original scene with no transition at all. There were also quite a few scenes where Cohn threw us right into a conflict, and then went back to explain how the characters got there. This kind of writing slowed down the pace and felt very, very amateur.
The only part of this book I enjoyed were Very's therapy sessions with Kiesha. Kiesha came across as too perfect at times, but they were FAR better written than the rest of the book, and it finally gave purpose to things like Very's ditziness and promiscuity (something I had originally planned to complain about in the review). I honestly wish the rehab sections had focused on them more, because they were the only scenes that felt true to what Cohn wanted to accomplish with the book.
But overall, it was still a mess. The plot was nonexistent, the characters were vapid, annoying, or both, and the writing was horrible. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, not even die-hard Rachel Cohn fans. It's that awful.
*It's not just me that thought the writing was unclear. I showed the worst offenders to some of my friends, and they didn't understand them either.
**Although the way she did it was kind of weird. The narration was in third person, but it followed Very the entire time, and completely imitated how she talked. It was a really odd stylistic choice for a book like this; it should've just been in first-person.
November 8, 2012
Reviewed by Breanna F. for TeensReadToo.com
Very LeFreak (real name: Veronica) is a freshman on scholarship at Columbia University who is addicted to technology. She's constantly on her laptop doing anything and everything she can think of. She's attached to every single type of music that she has on her iPod, and she's practically conjoined to her iPhone. She's always sending out meme's during class or making random playlists, and of course talking to her online crush, El Virus. They've been talking for quite a while and love to play out crazy fantasies with each other, but they have never seen each others faces. Very also cannot seem to stop moving. She's constantly throwing parties and getting completely trashed. She doesn't seem to have an off button.
Eventually her roommate, Jennifer (to Very it's Lavinia); her sort of ex-friend, Bryan; her RA, Debbie; and the Dean stage an intervention, letting Very know that all of her technology usage is getting way out of hand: i.e. she's addicted. Bryan has confiscated her laptop, and her iPod and iPhone are in the hands of Lavinia and Debbie. Very thinks this is ludicrous: how the heck can she live without her technology?
She gets over the whole "being told you're an addict to technology" thing pretty quickly, actually. But when one of her friends who wasn't really big on the intervention in the first place gets her use of a laptop, some information gets out to her which leads to Very practically killing Bryan.
She wakes up in the psych ward with Lavinia and her Aunt Esther over her. She is told that she will be going to a sort of rehab place called ESCAPE, which stands for Emergency Services for Computer-Addicted Persons Everywhere, in Vermont. Very is livid at first, but once there for a week she actually starts to open up to her therapist and all of her emotions start coming out. But then a sort of weird twist of fate occurs and her progress could start spiraling downwards.
First off, there was a lot of very mature material in this book so I wouldn't recommend it to younger readers. Some of what went on I thought was a little unnecessary to be putting in a book for teens, but I suppose some people like that. Despite the unnecessary material, this was an interesting read. I've never thought that someone could get that out of control with technology. But once Very starts pouring out everything that has happened to her throughout her life, it makes sense why she'd want to escape into the virtual world. The girl definitely had a tough life. But of course, getting way too involved with her technology ended up making her life all the more difficult.
VERY LEFREAK was overall a great book. The element of surprise plays a fairly big part. Many parts I never saw coming, which made the book really great, and the ending wasn't really lackluster, either. If you've read Rachel Cohn in the past, you'll be sure to like this book, and even if you haven't it is sure to be enjoyable.
Very LeFreak (real name: Veronica) is a freshman on scholarship at Columbia University who is addicted to technology. She's constantly on her laptop doing anything and everything she can think of. She's attached to every single type of music that she has on her iPod, and she's practically conjoined to her iPhone. She's always sending out meme's during class or making random playlists, and of course talking to her online crush, El Virus. They've been talking for quite a while and love to play out crazy fantasies with each other, but they have never seen each others faces. Very also cannot seem to stop moving. She's constantly throwing parties and getting completely trashed. She doesn't seem to have an off button.
Eventually her roommate, Jennifer (to Very it's Lavinia); her sort of ex-friend, Bryan; her RA, Debbie; and the Dean stage an intervention, letting Very know that all of her technology usage is getting way out of hand: i.e. she's addicted. Bryan has confiscated her laptop, and her iPod and iPhone are in the hands of Lavinia and Debbie. Very thinks this is ludicrous: how the heck can she live without her technology?
She gets over the whole "being told you're an addict to technology" thing pretty quickly, actually. But when one of her friends who wasn't really big on the intervention in the first place gets her use of a laptop, some information gets out to her which leads to Very practically killing Bryan.
She wakes up in the psych ward with Lavinia and her Aunt Esther over her. She is told that she will be going to a sort of rehab place called ESCAPE, which stands for Emergency Services for Computer-Addicted Persons Everywhere, in Vermont. Very is livid at first, but once there for a week she actually starts to open up to her therapist and all of her emotions start coming out. But then a sort of weird twist of fate occurs and her progress could start spiraling downwards.
First off, there was a lot of very mature material in this book so I wouldn't recommend it to younger readers. Some of what went on I thought was a little unnecessary to be putting in a book for teens, but I suppose some people like that. Despite the unnecessary material, this was an interesting read. I've never thought that someone could get that out of control with technology. But once Very starts pouring out everything that has happened to her throughout her life, it makes sense why she'd want to escape into the virtual world. The girl definitely had a tough life. But of course, getting way too involved with her technology ended up making her life all the more difficult.
VERY LEFREAK was overall a great book. The element of surprise plays a fairly big part. Many parts I never saw coming, which made the book really great, and the ending wasn't really lackluster, either. If you've read Rachel Cohn in the past, you'll be sure to like this book, and even if you haven't it is sure to be enjoyable.
September 25, 2009
Score! I got an advanced copy!
This wasn’t a book that hooked me in right away, but rather lulled me into its embraces until I found that I couldn’t put it down. Very is a crazy girl, who does crazy-girl things, and although she could have easily been written off as another eccentric, desperate for attention kind of person, she really couldn’t be further from that.
On the one hand, this is a story about Very’s addiction and her drug of choice—-technology. But of course it’s more than that; it’s about Very, and what an interesting, complex creature she is. She’s a girl who has grown up all over the place—geographically and emotionally—with no dad and a “free-spirited” mom, i.e., someone who treated her daughter more like a friend than someone she was responsible for nurturing and protecting. By the time Very is in her first year at Columbia, she can’t quell her mind to stop searching, updating, Googling, memeing, or any other manner of being online instead of in the actual world. It’s an interesting subject to explore, and Cohn could have easily made Very a Second Lifer who has trouble distinguishing between the real and fantasy, but this story is much more complex and nuanced than that. Frankly, I’m not sure how she--Rachel Cohn--did it. This isn’t about gadgets and apps but about a seriously messed up girl with deep issues who really, truly wants to be good but isn’t sure she can let herself be so. She’s not sure she deserves to be.
One of the moments I liked was when Very, trying to get clean, asked, “What am I supposed to do with my hands if I’m not texting or typing?” That’s not a direct quote but it is an interesting statement that reminded me of a friend who is an alcoholic who said once that when he first started going out sober he had no idea what to do with his hands if he didn’t have a drink in them.
This isn't a story about technology but about someone trying to overcome the demons in her life, real and imagined, and starting to realize that she can be trusted and she is worth loving after all.
I highly recommend falling in love with Very LeFreak!
This wasn’t a book that hooked me in right away, but rather lulled me into its embraces until I found that I couldn’t put it down. Very is a crazy girl, who does crazy-girl things, and although she could have easily been written off as another eccentric, desperate for attention kind of person, she really couldn’t be further from that.
On the one hand, this is a story about Very’s addiction and her drug of choice—-technology. But of course it’s more than that; it’s about Very, and what an interesting, complex creature she is. She’s a girl who has grown up all over the place—geographically and emotionally—with no dad and a “free-spirited” mom, i.e., someone who treated her daughter more like a friend than someone she was responsible for nurturing and protecting. By the time Very is in her first year at Columbia, she can’t quell her mind to stop searching, updating, Googling, memeing, or any other manner of being online instead of in the actual world. It’s an interesting subject to explore, and Cohn could have easily made Very a Second Lifer who has trouble distinguishing between the real and fantasy, but this story is much more complex and nuanced than that. Frankly, I’m not sure how she--Rachel Cohn--did it. This isn’t about gadgets and apps but about a seriously messed up girl with deep issues who really, truly wants to be good but isn’t sure she can let herself be so. She’s not sure she deserves to be.
One of the moments I liked was when Very, trying to get clean, asked, “What am I supposed to do with my hands if I’m not texting or typing?” That’s not a direct quote but it is an interesting statement that reminded me of a friend who is an alcoholic who said once that when he first started going out sober he had no idea what to do with his hands if he didn’t have a drink in them.
This isn't a story about technology but about someone trying to overcome the demons in her life, real and imagined, and starting to realize that she can be trusted and she is worth loving after all.
I highly recommend falling in love with Very LeFreak!
October 27, 2013
I picked this book up right after I finished the perfect "Miseducation of Cameron Post" which did such a wonderful job of letting me fully into the protagonist's character right away. With such background, I spent about 100 pages of "Very LeFreak" being annoyed at Very for appearing to be a 19-year-old with the level of maturity more suited for a 13-year-old (especially given her upbringing) and wondering whether she was supposed to be annoying or if it was just bad writing. I was about to toss the book aside more than a few times. However, I stuck to it just out of curiosity about how this would end. And man, am I glad that I did. As the events that led to Very's downward spiral were revealed, her character suddenly started to make sense and bringing those events to the surface also brought out her true self, which, I have to say, wasn't that bad.
January 8, 2011
Spoilers.
Okay. So many other people described this book, plus the description beside it. Thats really all the books about, a girl addicted to technology. What most of these other commenters are shying away from, is how much of a complete.. Well. She's very.. Very, very promiscuous, the main character, named Very. She likes to throw herself at any guy or girl that will take her, even her best friend, example: Random guy goes over to her in the library, angry because she was singing loudly, she looks at him, guy gets instant erection, they have a few hours of making out and groping, almost more but are interupted. That happened. This girl is a bigger May-Sue than Bella Swan, this book is extremely pathetic, I did not enjoy reading it, Very is not the 'fun and wild' type of freak, she is the 'Oh my God, do you think she was dropped on the head..?' Type of freak, It sounds rude, but honestly, I'm not kidding, I wondered if her mom was very drunk during the pregnancy, because how can one person turn out so badly? This is my thoughts during the book. Very is also horrible selfish and rude, to everyone, to her aunt who raised her after her parents death, to her best friend Brian.. To everyone. Very is by all means, a disgusting character to me. I would not read this book again unless I was paid a large sum of money. And in all honesty, Very cannot use her past as an excuse. Her past isn't that bad. Sorry, heard much worse. This book made me upset to read, so thankful Very is not a real person.
Okay. So many other people described this book, plus the description beside it. Thats really all the books about, a girl addicted to technology. What most of these other commenters are shying away from, is how much of a complete.. Well. She's very.. Very, very promiscuous, the main character, named Very. She likes to throw herself at any guy or girl that will take her, even her best friend, example: Random guy goes over to her in the library, angry because she was singing loudly, she looks at him, guy gets instant erection, they have a few hours of making out and groping, almost more but are interupted. That happened. This girl is a bigger May-Sue than Bella Swan, this book is extremely pathetic, I did not enjoy reading it, Very is not the 'fun and wild' type of freak, she is the 'Oh my God, do you think she was dropped on the head..?' Type of freak, It sounds rude, but honestly, I'm not kidding, I wondered if her mom was very drunk during the pregnancy, because how can one person turn out so badly? This is my thoughts during the book. Very is also horrible selfish and rude, to everyone, to her aunt who raised her after her parents death, to her best friend Brian.. To everyone. Very is by all means, a disgusting character to me. I would not read this book again unless I was paid a large sum of money. And in all honesty, Very cannot use her past as an excuse. Her past isn't that bad. Sorry, heard much worse. This book made me upset to read, so thankful Very is not a real person.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 27, 2012
Many people liked the book... until the end.
But I liked the book AND the end made me like it even better.
It was pretty perfect for me at the time I read it... Its perfect for teenage girls who are trying to discover more about their sexuality
But I liked the book AND the end made me like it even better.
It was pretty perfect for me at the time I read it... Its perfect for teenage girls who are trying to discover more about their sexuality
November 18, 2014
This book features about 27 separate things I'd normally hate, including swearing and vulgarity and drugs and drinking and sexual experimentation like crazy, but I find myself unable to hate any of them, because Very is one of the most appealing fictional females I have ever met. Despite how frank/casual/unapologetic she is about her sexuality - her entire attitude is the exact opposite of mine, so I inherently rebel against all her reasons for casual sex and the way she rationalizes what is and isn't special about various aspects of it - she has this sweet, earnest, almost innocent edge to her Bohemian-chic personality that's impossibly likable.
I picked up the book because of the alluring title and even more alluring cover, and thereafter was excited to read about her technology addiction and how she would cope with it. That part isn't as prominently featured as one might hope, though, so if you don't take a near instant shine to Very like I did, you won't like the book. I admit, I'm still having trouble explaining why Very draws me in. She just does, makes me want to hang out with her wild-child adventures. And that's a really wonderful thing to find in a book.
I do have just one issue with the end, though:
I picked up the book because of the alluring title and even more alluring cover, and thereafter was excited to read about her technology addiction and how she would cope with it. That part isn't as prominently featured as one might hope, though, so if you don't take a near instant shine to Very like I did, you won't like the book. I admit, I'm still having trouble explaining why Very draws me in. She just does, makes me want to hang out with her wild-child adventures. And that's a really wonderful thing to find in a book.
I do have just one issue with the end, though:
March 10, 2015
Do you feel yourself as a technology addict? This is the case for Veronica Lefreak in the fiction novel by Rachel Cohn. Very Lefreak is a freshman at Columbia University who is constantly on her phone, laptop, etc. She has trouble focusing on school but spend her time sending out meme's or talking to her online crush, El Virus. She is always throwing or going to parties and does not take school seriously. She has been showing low performance in class so she talked to her school Dean and had to come up with a new solution. She has to stop wasting time on techonology or she will be kicked out. Thanks to her friends; Jennifer (Very calls her Lavinia), Brain, Debbie, and the Dean took away her electronics. She wasn't happy about that, she didn't know what she would do without them. This made her mad because she is always waiting for a response from El Virus but she soon got over it. "Very missed her gadgets, surely, but the emotional weight of them might indeed have been a burden. With no laptop or phone on which to scan for messages from El Virus." I was recommended by my teacher for this book and I didn't really enjoy it because the plot isn't what I'm very into. I like how it come be relatable since the main character is near my age and does what some teenagers would do like nonstop playing their phone. I would recommend this book to older age adolescent because there are some parts where the main character does not keep it PG.
January 25, 2010
Columbia University freshman Veronica, better known as Very, has a technology problem. Sure, she could focus on her schoolwork and her work-study job, but she’d rather organize killer parties and ridiculous flashmobs using the social networking site she created with her dorm-mates. Oh, and there’s the alluring El Virus, a fellow technophile she’s been flirting with online. All the fun has to come to an end, however, when El Virus suddenly disappears and her college friends stage an intervention that ends up with her in technology rehab.
I really wanted to like this book. Rachel Cohn wrote half of one of my favorite YA books, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and the introduction to Very reminded me a bit of Norah — a sarcastic music lover with a romantic side. Unfortunately, I just never connected with the character. She was a little too caustic and Cohn packed her with too many issues to deal with in 300 pages. The side characters were one-sided and came in and out of the narrative at strange intervals. Plus, I found the technology addiction plot a little eye-rolling and fear that it will be outdated quickly. This could be a fun diversion for older teens (also note: plenty of drugs and sex), but I doubt it will have much staying power.
I really wanted to like this book. Rachel Cohn wrote half of one of my favorite YA books, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and the introduction to Very reminded me a bit of Norah — a sarcastic music lover with a romantic side. Unfortunately, I just never connected with the character. She was a little too caustic and Cohn packed her with too many issues to deal with in 300 pages. The side characters were one-sided and came in and out of the narrative at strange intervals. Plus, I found the technology addiction plot a little eye-rolling and fear that it will be outdated quickly. This could be a fun diversion for older teens (also note: plenty of drugs and sex), but I doubt it will have much staying power.
April 13, 2016
I first picked up this book because of the title, seriously I'll read almost anything with the word freak in the title, and I could definitely put this cover on my favorite's list. I love how simply complex it is and I adore the font they used!* Then when I found out that it was about a girl named Very LeFreak who had an internet addiction, I was hooked.
Sadly this was where the awesomeness ended. Upon opening the book I quickly realized that all those expectations of awesomeness I had would soon be flushed down the toilet. I could sum up the pattern of the book like this: sentence or two of dialog/action then a paragraph or more of backstory. That's how it went and that's what made me want to put the book down again and again, yet I kept reading -- hoping it would get better.
It didn't. When Cohn started writing about the finer details of Very's sex life, I decided I was done. I stopped reading at page 65 (the last page of Chapter 6).
- Stevie
* What can I say? I was raised by a graphic designer.
Sadly this was where the awesomeness ended. Upon opening the book I quickly realized that all those expectations of awesomeness I had would soon be flushed down the toilet. I could sum up the pattern of the book like this: sentence or two of dialog/action then a paragraph or more of backstory. That's how it went and that's what made me want to put the book down again and again, yet I kept reading -- hoping it would get better.
It didn't. When Cohn started writing about the finer details of Very's sex life, I decided I was done. I stopped reading at page 65 (the last page of Chapter 6).
- Stevie
* What can I say? I was raised by a graphic designer.
October 23, 2009
Ultimately disappointing, and way too much telegraphing of what was eventually to come as far as Very's relationship with her roommate. The gradual reveal of Very's past was nicely done, but also a bit of a copout; why must there be a Big Issue in the past? Especially since there were already Issues of sex and addiction... sometimes it's ok to let things be a little less than perfectly explained, and leave readers wanting more (especially if the alternative is to leave them wishing there was less). None of this is to say this is a bad book-- Very is an appealing character, there are fantastic scenes, great dialogue, etc. But the book never rises above the issues despite the many strong pieces.
June 22, 2010
3.5-I liked this book and do like Rachel Cohn a lot, but tonally it felt a bit off. The (at times) very serious subject matter didn't really flow with Very's humourous view of the world and her wacky situations. I think because the book is told totally from Very's perspective, it is hard to really understand the magnitude of her problems, until she starts revealing them and you start to understand why she acts the way she does.
Very is a really unique and interesting character. Sweet romance as well.
Very is a really unique and interesting character. Sweet romance as well.
January 13, 2010
I'll put all my cards and biases out on the table here: Rachel Cohn is one of my favorite YA authors, and her Cyd Charisse trilogy probably is my favorite realistic-teen-girl fiction series ever - and I've read many. So I was, shall we say, predisposed to enjoy this book. And I did! It wasn't perfect: Very was occasionally a little too much to take, and the secret internet boyfriend plot-line kinda fizzled, but as a whole it was utterly entertaining and compelling.
Read
March 22, 2010I wonder if what I loved about this book, others will not love. First of all, as a manic tech addict, I plopped right into Very's racing head, but thought others might not be there. But to me, that just shows that Cohn got it right. TWICE something I said earlier in the day popped up in the book (once almost word for word) .
I also enjoyed that even though Very is making progress, she's not suddenly cured. I think this is an interesting parallel between more common forms of addiction.
I also enjoyed that even though Very is making progress, she's not suddenly cured. I think this is an interesting parallel between more common forms of addiction.
April 20, 2010
It's hard not to like anything Rachel Cohn writes, but the first half of this book was tough to read. The prose is hard to follow and jumbled, reflecting the state of mind of the protagonist, Very, but it took a LOT of patience. The second half of the book was fantastic, particularly Very's therapy sessions.
October 28, 2011
OK, it is all Sequoyah reading for the foreseeable future if this book doesn't cause me to break stuff and swear off reading forever before I get through it.
I very rarely give 1 star to a book (Dan Brown, anyone?) because it is rare that a book can be so consistently offensive, insulting and just all around bad. I'm not giving this rating begrudgingly. It has fully deserved its rating.
I very rarely give 1 star to a book (Dan Brown, anyone?) because it is rare that a book can be so consistently offensive, insulting and just all around bad. I'm not giving this rating begrudgingly. It has fully deserved its rating.
October 19, 2019
Imagine creating a playlist based on every event in your life as a type of diary. Very LeFreak by Rachel Cohn is about just that. The main character, Veronica, who goes by “Very”, is a young adult in college who is overly attached to her electronics, as she is always on her phone or computer. She also makes a playlist for everything, so that when she passes, one would be able to look at her playlist to see what she was feeling on a specific day.
The book starts off with Very waking up from a hangover, the result of her birthday party the previous night. Soon, a character named Jennifer, who Very calls Lavinia, visits Very. Lavinia is the calmer and less impulsive of the two characters, often trying to keep Very from doing wrong things, such as smoke. Throughout most of the book, a character named “El Virus” is mentioned. “El Virus” is a person Very has spoken to a lot through messages, and she even has feelings for the mysterious character, often fantasizing herself with him.
The main issue that gets in Very’s way is her own attachment to electronics, with how much she is on them, her grades in college began to suffer, and she was at risk for being kicked out of the college she is attending. Eventually, she is sent to rehab to work out her addiction to electronics, which does get better in the end. Though I haven’t been sent to rehab, I have been told multiple times by others that I spend too much time on electronics, and my grades have dropped in the past due to those mistakes, which is why I could relate to Very on a slight level. I think one may enjoy this book, especially those in their late high school years or in college, but personally, the pacing was a bit slow for me, especially explaining plot points which subsequently diminished my enjoyment of the book.
The book starts off with Very waking up from a hangover, the result of her birthday party the previous night. Soon, a character named Jennifer, who Very calls Lavinia, visits Very. Lavinia is the calmer and less impulsive of the two characters, often trying to keep Very from doing wrong things, such as smoke. Throughout most of the book, a character named “El Virus” is mentioned. “El Virus” is a person Very has spoken to a lot through messages, and she even has feelings for the mysterious character, often fantasizing herself with him.
The main issue that gets in Very’s way is her own attachment to electronics, with how much she is on them, her grades in college began to suffer, and she was at risk for being kicked out of the college she is attending. Eventually, she is sent to rehab to work out her addiction to electronics, which does get better in the end. Though I haven’t been sent to rehab, I have been told multiple times by others that I spend too much time on electronics, and my grades have dropped in the past due to those mistakes, which is why I could relate to Very on a slight level. I think one may enjoy this book, especially those in their late high school years or in college, but personally, the pacing was a bit slow for me, especially explaining plot points which subsequently diminished my enjoyment of the book.
March 20, 2021
I adored Very! Her strength and rebelliousness was intoxicating and refreshing. Her addiction to technology, while a tad over-the-top, will be a problem with which today’s youth can identify. The plot transitioned a bit unsmoothly though. The first half of the book built up Very’s addiction and her odd, tense friendship with Lavinia (whose real name is Jennifer but Very finds the name entirely too plain so she calls her by a different name). As with all addiction’s, Very’s reaches a breaking point and there is an intervention – and that is quite a silly scene. The second half of the book is Very’s time in rehabilitation. The transition was a couple of sentences and nearly non-existent: she was at school, and then she was at rehab. Her encounter with her online obsession El Virus was satisfyingly difficult; he was nowhere as awesome as he appeared online.
Overall, the read was mediocre. Very was a fascinating character but I felt like the story could have been more. However, the read was light and entertaining. I can see it being a nice beach, summer read: light, fun, and quick.
Overall, the read was mediocre. Very was a fascinating character but I felt like the story could have been more. However, the read was light and entertaining. I can see it being a nice beach, summer read: light, fun, and quick.
March 25, 2010
I have always loved Rachel Cohn. I have always loved her writing, the humor that covers a much deeper subject matter. The Cyd Charisse series is brilliant, as is Pop Princess and You Know Where To Find Me. Her collaborations with David Levithan are magical and I was surprised when I read about this book.
The cover, the title, everything about this book just...put me off.
Rachel Cohn is one of my favorite writers. She writes about girls who somehow find a way to smile and laugh, even if their lives are falling apart.
Very LeFreak's life has already fallen apart.
Veronica's mother died a few years ago. She'd spent her whole life moving from city to city, apartment to apartment, with her mother who could never stay in one place for more than a few months, who could never stay in a relationship long enough for Very to get comfortable in each strange, new world.
Her mother was a wanderer, so naturally Very is too. Until she died.
Very has spent the last few years living with her aunt, burying herself in school work and technology, anything to hide from the truth, the grief. When she graduates from high school and moves to NYC to attent Columbia University, she can't wait to start fresh and get away from her old life.
Or, that's what she was thinking a few months before the book begins.
Now, as Very is nearing the end of her freshman year, her life that had finally come together is falling apart all over again. She's barely passing her classes, spending all of her money, and she can't get off of her iPhone. She can't turn off her computer. She can't stop thinking up Imaginary Playlists for every situation.
Her friends are trying to help her. Lavinia, aka Jennifer, Very's roomate, is running out of patience. She is a sweet girl who snores in her sleep, and Very is convinced she is a lesbian. Very is always finding a way to get Lavinia to pay for this or that, always finding a way to get her to cover.
She's done covering.
Brian, the boy who was her best friend, the boy who she created The Grid with, doesn't want to talk to her anymore. The Grid is yet another form of social networking for the students of Columbia. It was something they did together, something they had accomplished together, and now it's over.
Everything is ending.
Things changed when they slept together, when all of the tension between the two of them just disappeared. Of course, it came back in the morning. Of course, Very realized she may have made a mistake.
Fast forward a few weeks and Very is packing her bags to go to ESCAPE, a rehabilitation facility for people addicted to technology. Very refuses to call it an addiction. Very is not addicted.
At first, she can't stop thinking about El Virus. El Virus is Very's online lover, a boy who she has never seen in person, who she has never talked to, but also a boy whom she is in love with. He sends her pictures of himself wearing a mask, or messages laden with hidden double meanings. And then he is gone and she can't seem to let go of him. She won't.
At first, Very doesn't believe that technology can be an addiction. She doesn't think that there is anything wrong with her. But, over the course of the 30 days she spends at ESCAPE, she learns more about herself than she ever thought she would.
I will admit that I didn't like this book until I was about halfway through. I'm always trying to find the good in people and books and the things I do, and that's what I was trying to do for this book. I could see Rachel's humor peaking out from below the surface in a few places, and I will admit I laughed out loud for quite a few times.
But I will also admit that, for most of this book, I really considered just stopping. The narration is third person, and that was a little difficult to get in to. Very as a character is layered and confusing, a complex girl with complex issues. It wasn't easy to figure her or this book out. This book made me think. That, in the end, is why I love it.
By the end, I couldn't stop reading. I was turning the pages faster than I could read them, but I couldn't stop. The ending, though slightly predictable/unlikely, was perfect. It was a sweet ending to a unique book about a unique girl living in our present day world.
The thing I really started thinking about is that we would never consider technology to be an addiction. We check our e-mails and our Facebooks, our Twitters and our this and our that. We spend hours on the computer every day, or on our phones, texting and talking. We listen to our iPods and watch television and I know that I would never call it an addiction. But it is.
I think that scared me. Very's need for technology got to the point where it was interfering with her life, and I started thinking that maybe my blog(s) were interfering with my life. I was always reviewing some book or writing some journal entry, commenting on other people's blogs or searching for new ones to read.
I started thinking that maybe it is an addiction, that maybe I need to step away from this and just go live my life.
I think that's why I was considering stopping this blog, even if I've decided now to keep it. Veronica and the problems she had were so unbelievably realistic that I didn't see them at first. I didn't realize how true her story is, how relevant it is in today's society.
That's the thing about this book. No one else has written about this. Rachel Cohn is a brilliant author and she has written a book that, even if it isn't her best, is still wonderful. The humor is there but so is the thought-provoking aspect I have come to love in her writing.
I know many of you are hesitant about this book, and I will admit I was too.
But it was worth it.
Rachel Cohn has written yet another fabulous book about a girl and her world that, though quirky and slightly off-putting, is a must read.
B
The cover, the title, everything about this book just...put me off.
Rachel Cohn is one of my favorite writers. She writes about girls who somehow find a way to smile and laugh, even if their lives are falling apart.
Very LeFreak's life has already fallen apart.
Veronica's mother died a few years ago. She'd spent her whole life moving from city to city, apartment to apartment, with her mother who could never stay in one place for more than a few months, who could never stay in a relationship long enough for Very to get comfortable in each strange, new world.
Her mother was a wanderer, so naturally Very is too. Until she died.
Very has spent the last few years living with her aunt, burying herself in school work and technology, anything to hide from the truth, the grief. When she graduates from high school and moves to NYC to attent Columbia University, she can't wait to start fresh and get away from her old life.
Or, that's what she was thinking a few months before the book begins.
Now, as Very is nearing the end of her freshman year, her life that had finally come together is falling apart all over again. She's barely passing her classes, spending all of her money, and she can't get off of her iPhone. She can't turn off her computer. She can't stop thinking up Imaginary Playlists for every situation.
Her friends are trying to help her. Lavinia, aka Jennifer, Very's roomate, is running out of patience. She is a sweet girl who snores in her sleep, and Very is convinced she is a lesbian. Very is always finding a way to get Lavinia to pay for this or that, always finding a way to get her to cover.
She's done covering.
Brian, the boy who was her best friend, the boy who she created The Grid with, doesn't want to talk to her anymore. The Grid is yet another form of social networking for the students of Columbia. It was something they did together, something they had accomplished together, and now it's over.
Everything is ending.
Things changed when they slept together, when all of the tension between the two of them just disappeared. Of course, it came back in the morning. Of course, Very realized she may have made a mistake.
Fast forward a few weeks and Very is packing her bags to go to ESCAPE, a rehabilitation facility for people addicted to technology. Very refuses to call it an addiction. Very is not addicted.
At first, she can't stop thinking about El Virus. El Virus is Very's online lover, a boy who she has never seen in person, who she has never talked to, but also a boy whom she is in love with. He sends her pictures of himself wearing a mask, or messages laden with hidden double meanings. And then he is gone and she can't seem to let go of him. She won't.
At first, Very doesn't believe that technology can be an addiction. She doesn't think that there is anything wrong with her. But, over the course of the 30 days she spends at ESCAPE, she learns more about herself than she ever thought she would.
I will admit that I didn't like this book until I was about halfway through. I'm always trying to find the good in people and books and the things I do, and that's what I was trying to do for this book. I could see Rachel's humor peaking out from below the surface in a few places, and I will admit I laughed out loud for quite a few times.
But I will also admit that, for most of this book, I really considered just stopping. The narration is third person, and that was a little difficult to get in to. Very as a character is layered and confusing, a complex girl with complex issues. It wasn't easy to figure her or this book out. This book made me think. That, in the end, is why I love it.
By the end, I couldn't stop reading. I was turning the pages faster than I could read them, but I couldn't stop. The ending, though slightly predictable/unlikely, was perfect. It was a sweet ending to a unique book about a unique girl living in our present day world.
The thing I really started thinking about is that we would never consider technology to be an addiction. We check our e-mails and our Facebooks, our Twitters and our this and our that. We spend hours on the computer every day, or on our phones, texting and talking. We listen to our iPods and watch television and I know that I would never call it an addiction. But it is.
I think that scared me. Very's need for technology got to the point where it was interfering with her life, and I started thinking that maybe my blog(s) were interfering with my life. I was always reviewing some book or writing some journal entry, commenting on other people's blogs or searching for new ones to read.
I started thinking that maybe it is an addiction, that maybe I need to step away from this and just go live my life.
I think that's why I was considering stopping this blog, even if I've decided now to keep it. Veronica and the problems she had were so unbelievably realistic that I didn't see them at first. I didn't realize how true her story is, how relevant it is in today's society.
That's the thing about this book. No one else has written about this. Rachel Cohn is a brilliant author and she has written a book that, even if it isn't her best, is still wonderful. The humor is there but so is the thought-provoking aspect I have come to love in her writing.
I know many of you are hesitant about this book, and I will admit I was too.
But it was worth it.
Rachel Cohn has written yet another fabulous book about a girl and her world that, though quirky and slightly off-putting, is a must read.
B
July 19, 2023
I really don't have a lot to say about this book. I strongly disliked the first half (which looked at our main character's life before she went to rehab for her technology addiction), and I tolerated the second half (which is when our main character is in rehab), but there was nothing about it that really wowed me. While I did like most of the side characters (Lavinia/Jennifer, Jones, and Keisha particularly stand out), I never came around to liking Very. I think she was a little too "all over the place" for my liking. Having insight to her thought processes made me anxious and caused me to question how she was able to get through day-to-day life. However, I will give the author credit for touching on some serious issues in this book in a way that is easy to read and understand. I am also partial to the ending of this book, though I'm not a huge fan of how we get there. In the end, I don't know if I would recommend this book to any person or group in particular, but I will say that if this book specifically interests you, I think it may be worth it to give it a go. Just don't expect literary excellence, and it should turn out okay.
3/5 stars
3/5 stars
July 9, 2017
There's a good story here and some great characters, but there are some real thin spots and some real stretches of plausibility that make this seem more of a gimmick on the whole than I cared for. A bit too much "get off my lawn" in the perspective and a bit sidestepping of actual problems and resolutions, at least that's the way it felt to me. Not bad, but I felt it could have been handled less clumsily.
February 25, 2019
Language – PG-13 (13+ swears, 12+ “f”), Sexual Content – R; Violence – G
The sexual content was not something I wanted to continue reading, so I stopped at page 64. Very is an irresponsible college freshman. She breaks rules and hearts like nobody’s business. This story wasn’t interesting enough to make me want to keep reading.
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
The sexual content was not something I wanted to continue reading, so I stopped at page 64. Very is an irresponsible college freshman. She breaks rules and hearts like nobody’s business. This story wasn’t interesting enough to make me want to keep reading.
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
June 4, 2017
DNF, ~56%.
I... I have no idea what this even was supposed to be.
The first half of the book was so unbelievably boring that by the time we got to ESCAPE and the doctor started preaching about "purifying" one's self from technology, I was done.
I... I have no idea what this even was supposed to be.
The first half of the book was so unbelievably boring that by the time we got to ESCAPE and the doctor started preaching about "purifying" one's self from technology, I was done.
May 18, 2011
Kurz und knapp
Lange Sätze, die gut klingen, aber anstrengend zu lesen sind. Eine Protagonistin, die ihre Sympathiepunkte erst in der zweiten Hälfte der Geschichte sammelt und ein Techniküberfluss, den einige sicher aus ihrem eigenen Leben kennen. Nicht für jeden.
Lang und breit
Da ich Rachel Cohn aus ihren Kollaborationen mit David Levithan kenne, erwarte ich von ihren Büchern automatisch, dass ich sie lieben werde. Aber irgendwie passiert das nie. Ist zwar erst mein zweites Buch von ihr, aber ich bin mal wieder ein bisschen enttäuscht.
Very Le Freak ist kein schlechtes Buch. Es bietet viele Verweise auf die heutige Technik, ohne die viele von uns gar nicht mehr könnten. Facebook, iPods, Playlists, Flash Mobs und Google gehören zur Alltagssprache der Protagonistin wie Eier, Milch und Zucker. Die Ausgangssituation wirkt etwas übertrieben. Protagonistin Veronica (Spitzname Very) hat ständig mindestens einen Kopfhörer im Ohr (iPhone oder iPod), muss alle fünf Minuten irgendetwas googeln oder posten und ist meistens dabei eine neue Website zu programmieren oder kreative IMs zu verschicken.
Wer sich mit dieser Überspitzung anfreunden kann, wird mit hochmoderner Popkultur und halb-erwachsenen Charakteren belohnt. Very befindet sich mitten in ihrem ersten Unijahr, teilt sich ein Wohnheimzimmer mit einem anderen Mädchen und geht generell sehr frei mit dem Thema Party, Sex und Drogen um. Ich fand es definitiv angenehm mal nichts über den ersten Kuss und elternbedingte Ausgangssperren zu lesen. Die Figuren in Very LeFreak befinden sich noch auf dem Weg zum Erwachsenwerden, haben das schlimmste Teeniegehabe aber schon hinter sich.
Inhaltlich braucht die Geschichte, um in Schwung zu kommen. Auf den ersten 80 Seiten habe ich das Buch immer wieder semi-gelangweilt zugeklappt. Teilweise lag das am Schreibstil, den ich als sehr anspruchsvoll empfunden habe. Das heißt in diesem Fall, dass er mich einerseits beeindruckt hat und andererseits erschlagen. Manchmal hatte ich einfach keine Lust mehr mich durch das Gewirr an Wortkonstruktionen zu hangeln, die sich über mehrere Zeilen erstrecken. Es geht gleich auf der ersten Seite los:
Hauptfigur Very ist ein Fall für sich. Zu Beginn balanciert sie auf einer hauchdünnen Grenze zur Unsympathie. Ihren Ansichten über Freunde und Beziehungen konnte ich nicht teilen, aber wie ihre Mitbewohnerin Lavinia habe ich auch das Liebenswerte in Very gesehen.
Als der erste Teil überstanden war, ging es bergauf. In den Therapiesitzungen, die Very in ihrem Anti-Technik-Camp über sich ergehen lassen muss, hatte ich die Möglichkeit sie näher kennen zu lernen, etwas über ihre verstorbene Mutter und ihr bisheriges Leben zu erfahren. Die Unterhaltungen mit ihrer Therapeutin haben Very viel menschlicher und positiver erscheinen lassen. Hier habe ich das Gefühl bekommen, Very wirklich kennen zu lernen und ihr so auch viel leichter ein paar ihrer Fehler verzeihen zu können.
Das erste und das letzte Mal?
Rachel kenne ich schon von You Know Where To Find Me und ihren drei Büchern, die sie mit David Levithan gemeinsam geschrieben hat. Auch wenn es bisher immer ein bisschen schief ging, möchte ich diese talentierte Autorin einfach nicht aufgeben. Außerdem stehen noch Cupcake und Gingerbread von ihr in meinem Regal.
Buchcover umtauschen?
Theoretisch ja, praktisch habe ich noch keine andere Variante gefunden. Das Covermodel passt zwar gut zur Protagonistin Very, aber so richtig spricht sie mich nicht an. Mir fehlt außerdem der Technikbezug vom Inhalt.
Lange Sätze, die gut klingen, aber anstrengend zu lesen sind. Eine Protagonistin, die ihre Sympathiepunkte erst in der zweiten Hälfte der Geschichte sammelt und ein Techniküberfluss, den einige sicher aus ihrem eigenen Leben kennen. Nicht für jeden.
Lang und breit
Da ich Rachel Cohn aus ihren Kollaborationen mit David Levithan kenne, erwarte ich von ihren Büchern automatisch, dass ich sie lieben werde. Aber irgendwie passiert das nie. Ist zwar erst mein zweites Buch von ihr, aber ich bin mal wieder ein bisschen enttäuscht.
Very Le Freak ist kein schlechtes Buch. Es bietet viele Verweise auf die heutige Technik, ohne die viele von uns gar nicht mehr könnten. Facebook, iPods, Playlists, Flash Mobs und Google gehören zur Alltagssprache der Protagonistin wie Eier, Milch und Zucker. Die Ausgangssituation wirkt etwas übertrieben. Protagonistin Veronica (Spitzname Very) hat ständig mindestens einen Kopfhörer im Ohr (iPhone oder iPod), muss alle fünf Minuten irgendetwas googeln oder posten und ist meistens dabei eine neue Website zu programmieren oder kreative IMs zu verschicken.
Wer sich mit dieser Überspitzung anfreunden kann, wird mit hochmoderner Popkultur und halb-erwachsenen Charakteren belohnt. Very befindet sich mitten in ihrem ersten Unijahr, teilt sich ein Wohnheimzimmer mit einem anderen Mädchen und geht generell sehr frei mit dem Thema Party, Sex und Drogen um. Ich fand es definitiv angenehm mal nichts über den ersten Kuss und elternbedingte Ausgangssperren zu lesen. Die Figuren in Very LeFreak befinden sich noch auf dem Weg zum Erwachsenwerden, haben das schlimmste Teeniegehabe aber schon hinter sich.
Inhaltlich braucht die Geschichte, um in Schwung zu kommen. Auf den ersten 80 Seiten habe ich das Buch immer wieder semi-gelangweilt zugeklappt. Teilweise lag das am Schreibstil, den ich als sehr anspruchsvoll empfunden habe. Das heißt in diesem Fall, dass er mich einerseits beeindruckt hat und andererseits erschlagen. Manchmal hatte ich einfach keine Lust mehr mich durch das Gewirr an Wortkonstruktionen zu hangeln, die sich über mehrere Zeilen erstrecken. Es geht gleich auf der ersten Seite los:
„Hey, she wasn’t even bothered that yesterday she’d been fired from her work-study ‘security’ job checking student IDs – a feat that, contrary to her university career services advisor, was not, like, impossible to pull off – yet Very probably could be counted on later today to blow the remaining credit on her maxed-out card for primary wants like new headphones rather than for secondary needs such as food and tuition.“
(S. 1)
Hauptfigur Very ist ein Fall für sich. Zu Beginn balanciert sie auf einer hauchdünnen Grenze zur Unsympathie. Ihren Ansichten über Freunde und Beziehungen konnte ich nicht teilen, aber wie ihre Mitbewohnerin Lavinia habe ich auch das Liebenswerte in Very gesehen.
Als der erste Teil überstanden war, ging es bergauf. In den Therapiesitzungen, die Very in ihrem Anti-Technik-Camp über sich ergehen lassen muss, hatte ich die Möglichkeit sie näher kennen zu lernen, etwas über ihre verstorbene Mutter und ihr bisheriges Leben zu erfahren. Die Unterhaltungen mit ihrer Therapeutin haben Very viel menschlicher und positiver erscheinen lassen. Hier habe ich das Gefühl bekommen, Very wirklich kennen zu lernen und ihr so auch viel leichter ein paar ihrer Fehler verzeihen zu können.
Das erste und das letzte Mal?
Rachel kenne ich schon von You Know Where To Find Me und ihren drei Büchern, die sie mit David Levithan gemeinsam geschrieben hat. Auch wenn es bisher immer ein bisschen schief ging, möchte ich diese talentierte Autorin einfach nicht aufgeben. Außerdem stehen noch Cupcake und Gingerbread von ihr in meinem Regal.
Buchcover umtauschen?
Theoretisch ja, praktisch habe ich noch keine andere Variante gefunden. Das Covermodel passt zwar gut zur Protagonistin Very, aber so richtig spricht sie mich nicht an. Mir fehlt außerdem der Technikbezug vom Inhalt.
Read
August 4, 2011A technology-addicted Columbia freshman finds relief from her hedonistic party-girl lifestyle at ESCAPE (Emergency Services for Computer-Addicted Persons Everywhere). I've never read anything written (or co-written--the cover gives a shout-out to Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist) by Rachel Cohn, so I didn't have any preconceived notions, other than what I read in this SLJ article (thanks to Cassandra), which had me scratching my head. She waited until the book was finished to see what it would be like to cut herself off from technology? Nevertheless, I plunged in.
For the first half of the book, Very (aka Veronica) is Addicted to Technology (brand and product names and song titles dropped madly), which makes her treat most people, especially her sweet and caring roommate Jennifer (whom Very insists on calling Lavinia), like shit. She also maintains an obsessive and secret online relationship with a mysterious persona known only as "El Virus," whose disappearance from the online world serves as a catalyst to her breakdown and exile to ESCAPE. In the second half: therapy, self-awareness, love, redemption. There are several reasons for Very's technology obsession, primarily a globe-trotting childhood with her (now dead) pyromaniac mother, and Cohn doesn't shy away from tackling difficult issues such as intimacy and sexuality.
I had several problems with the way this book was written. Not the premise, because technology addiction is certainly a very current and realistic topic, especially for the demographic at which this book is aimed. I have lately been considering my own level of addiction (which is fairly high, but not yet smartphone-enabled) and whether or not I should take a periodic break. Nevertheless, the way Cohn handles it is not very subtle, involving Very coming to a series of realizations with her therapist that spell out the message in technicolor letters: "In therapy, Very had made the connection that perhaps her overdependence on technology had been her way of not dealing with other, deeper pains. It wasn't about the technology so much as it was about something to do, to stay busy all the time, and to not connect to what was really in her heart."
I feel like most readers are intelligent enough to draw their own conclusions along this line, given the numerous illustrations of the way Very uses technology to avoid deeper interaction. This is not to say that Cohn paints a picture in which technology = bad, the discussion is certainly more nuanced.
In addition, I felt that the writing itself was often trying too hard to be hip, or cutesy, or edgy, and usually just ended up being over the top. For example, this character introduction: "Jean-Wayne's parents, a French-Canadian artist mother and Vancouver-based Chinese businessman father, were both Francophiles and cowboy movie aficionados; they'd met in a Montreal patisserie next door to a revival house cinema where they'd both been to see a matinee showing of Stagecoach, starring John Wayne. They'd named their hybrid boy in tribute to their hybrid passions."
Trying too hard. And the last sentence is unnecessary, since the reader could have gathered that from the previous information.
Yet somehow, despite not liking the writing style, or Very, or the fact that the action was agonizingly slow until Very made it to ESCAPE, I still ended up liking this book. Why? Because, like Very [spoiler alert!], I fell in love with Jennifer/Lavinia. I am a sucker for a sweet romance.
Trying too hard. And the last sentence is unnecessary, since the reader could have gathered that from the previous information.
Yet somehow, despite not liking the writing style, or Very, or the fact that the action was agonizingly slow until Very made it to ESCAPE, I still ended up liking this book. Why? Because, like Very [spoiler alert!], I fell in love with Jennifer/Lavinia.1 I am a sucker for a sweet romance.
For the first half of the book, Very (aka Veronica) is Addicted to Technology (brand and product names and song titles dropped madly), which makes her treat most people, especially her sweet and caring roommate Jennifer (whom Very insists on calling Lavinia), like shit. She also maintains an obsessive and secret online relationship with a mysterious persona known only as "El Virus," whose disappearance from the online world serves as a catalyst to her breakdown and exile to ESCAPE. In the second half: therapy, self-awareness, love, redemption. There are several reasons for Very's technology obsession, primarily a globe-trotting childhood with her (now dead) pyromaniac mother, and Cohn doesn't shy away from tackling difficult issues such as intimacy and sexuality.
I had several problems with the way this book was written. Not the premise, because technology addiction is certainly a very current and realistic topic, especially for the demographic at which this book is aimed. I have lately been considering my own level of addiction (which is fairly high, but not yet smartphone-enabled) and whether or not I should take a periodic break. Nevertheless, the way Cohn handles it is not very subtle, involving Very coming to a series of realizations with her therapist that spell out the message in technicolor letters: "In therapy, Very had made the connection that perhaps her overdependence on technology had been her way of not dealing with other, deeper pains. It wasn't about the technology so much as it was about something to do, to stay busy all the time, and to not connect to what was really in her heart."
I feel like most readers are intelligent enough to draw their own conclusions along this line, given the numerous illustrations of the way Very uses technology to avoid deeper interaction. This is not to say that Cohn paints a picture in which technology = bad, the discussion is certainly more nuanced.
In addition, I felt that the writing itself was often trying too hard to be hip, or cutesy, or edgy, and usually just ended up being over the top. For example, this character introduction: "Jean-Wayne's parents, a French-Canadian artist mother and Vancouver-based Chinese businessman father, were both Francophiles and cowboy movie aficionados; they'd met in a Montreal patisserie next door to a revival house cinema where they'd both been to see a matinee showing of Stagecoach, starring John Wayne. They'd named their hybrid boy in tribute to their hybrid passions."
Trying too hard. And the last sentence is unnecessary, since the reader could have gathered that from the previous information.
Yet somehow, despite not liking the writing style, or Very, or the fact that the action was agonizingly slow until Very made it to ESCAPE, I still ended up liking this book. Why? Because, like Very [spoiler alert!], I fell in love with Jennifer/Lavinia. I am a sucker for a sweet romance.
Trying too hard. And the last sentence is unnecessary, since the reader could have gathered that from the previous information.
Yet somehow, despite not liking the writing style, or Very, or the fact that the action was agonizingly slow until Very made it to ESCAPE, I still ended up liking this book. Why? Because, like Very [spoiler alert!], I fell in love with Jennifer/Lavinia.1 I am a sucker for a sweet romance.
March 1, 2014
Let’s all say it together now: Therapy sessions do not count as character development or forward movement for a plot.
Very LeFreak, the titular character, is supposed to be a manic, over-the-top personality. And she is, but in trying to create a nonstop character, Ms. Cohn creates a character without a center. And not in a good way. Very is an every girl: She’s popular! She’s at an Ivy League! She had a tragic childhood with little stability! She has no family! No, she has a great-aunt but her great-aunt is old! She’s brilliant! She hates school! She’s a partier! She’s an Internet addict! She sleeps with men! And women too!
It’s exhausting, but not exhausting in the way Ms. Cohn intended. What readers are left with is a pretty unlikeable protagonist. I have no idea why anyone would want to be friends with Very (and don’t even get me started about the end of the book), because she’s totally and completely selfish. And that kind of worked when she was known as the Official Good-time Party Girl of Columbia, but it mostly feels like all the supporting characters like her because she’s the main character and it’s therefore required. And that hits one of my pet peeves in books or movies: I hate characters who are sidekicks for the purpose of worshipping the main character and being used.
So the characters aren’t great. Neither is the plot. The plot is supposed to be about Very coming to terms with her technology addiction. But the problem is, her technology addiction, as described, lines up with most college students’ phone and computer use. As a reader, I didn’t buy into Very’s supposed addiction. I’d sooner believe her needing therapy to cure her rampant narcissism than a tech addiction (it doesn’t help that there’s a complete and utter disregard for any semblance of proper disciplinary action, making the supposed big dramatic scene into a big dramatic flop).
Anyway. Very goes to a camp that’s supposed to be about technology rehab but instead reads like a bad mishmash of drug and alcohol rehab and parody. And this is where the therapy sessions came into play, where readers are given pages and pages of therapy sessions as a way to – I don’t even know. All I know is I was bored out of my flipping mind. Maybe it could have worked, but it more felt like a writing exercise done in a creative writing class, you know, along with “Write a Facebook profile for your protagonist.” Something meant for the author rather than the audience.
I could continue on this book’s shortcomings: the misunderstanding of what technology addiction actually is and the bizarre “treatment” proscribed by this book, which even rudimentary research into tech addiction would indicate as a bad idea; the off-the-wall love story that maybe could have worked, except it fell into the rhythm of a checklist rather than a coherent plot; and, once again, the fact I was sort of hoping the book would end with Very drowning, because she was that awful. I also would have accepted the book ending with Very waking up and realizing it was a drug-fueled dream and that she needed to go to rehab. Because, honestly, that would be less weird than how it actually ends. Not recommended.
Very LeFreak, the titular character, is supposed to be a manic, over-the-top personality. And she is, but in trying to create a nonstop character, Ms. Cohn creates a character without a center. And not in a good way. Very is an every girl: She’s popular! She’s at an Ivy League! She had a tragic childhood with little stability! She has no family! No, she has a great-aunt but her great-aunt is old! She’s brilliant! She hates school! She’s a partier! She’s an Internet addict! She sleeps with men! And women too!
It’s exhausting, but not exhausting in the way Ms. Cohn intended. What readers are left with is a pretty unlikeable protagonist. I have no idea why anyone would want to be friends with Very (and don’t even get me started about the end of the book), because she’s totally and completely selfish. And that kind of worked when she was known as the Official Good-time Party Girl of Columbia, but it mostly feels like all the supporting characters like her because she’s the main character and it’s therefore required. And that hits one of my pet peeves in books or movies: I hate characters who are sidekicks for the purpose of worshipping the main character and being used.
So the characters aren’t great. Neither is the plot. The plot is supposed to be about Very coming to terms with her technology addiction. But the problem is, her technology addiction, as described, lines up with most college students’ phone and computer use. As a reader, I didn’t buy into Very’s supposed addiction. I’d sooner believe her needing therapy to cure her rampant narcissism than a tech addiction (it doesn’t help that there’s a complete and utter disregard for any semblance of proper disciplinary action, making the supposed big dramatic scene into a big dramatic flop).
Anyway. Very goes to a camp that’s supposed to be about technology rehab but instead reads like a bad mishmash of drug and alcohol rehab and parody. And this is where the therapy sessions came into play, where readers are given pages and pages of therapy sessions as a way to – I don’t even know. All I know is I was bored out of my flipping mind. Maybe it could have worked, but it more felt like a writing exercise done in a creative writing class, you know, along with “Write a Facebook profile for your protagonist.” Something meant for the author rather than the audience.
I could continue on this book’s shortcomings: the misunderstanding of what technology addiction actually is and the bizarre “treatment” proscribed by this book, which even rudimentary research into tech addiction would indicate as a bad idea; the off-the-wall love story that maybe could have worked, except it fell into the rhythm of a checklist rather than a coherent plot; and, once again, the fact I was sort of hoping the book would end with Very drowning, because she was that awful. I also would have accepted the book ending with Very waking up and realizing it was a drug-fueled dream and that she needed to go to rehab. Because, honestly, that would be less weird than how it actually ends. Not recommended.
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