Slumming / Kristen D. Randle.

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Title:

Slumming / Kristen D. Randle.

Author:

Randle, Kristen D.

ISBN:

9780060010225

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication Information:

New York, NY : Harper Tempest, c2003.

Physical Description:

232 p. ; 19 cm.

Abstract:

In their senior year of high school, three best friends, Nikki, Alicia, and Sam, attempt an "experiment" in which they each befriend a classmate they think needs attention and try to improve that person's life.

Subject Term:

Self-perception -- Juvenile fiction.

Interpersonal relations -- Juvenile fiction.

Family problems -- Juvenile fiction.

Mormons -- Juvenile fiction.

Best friends -- Juvenile fiction.

Friendship -- Juvenile fiction.

High schools -- Juvenile fiction.

Schools -- Juvenile fiction.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Teen Fiction Book Hardback	120791001419976	T RAN	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Everybody has two eyes and a nose and a mouth. What makes some people beautiful and some people not?

Nikki never imagined that this offhand thought would change the course of her senior year forever. But when she poses the question to her best friends, Alicia and Sam, Alicia is suddenly inspired, and the three unexpectedly find themselves launching a "human experiment." It seems like the perfect way to make a difference in their last few weeks of high school: they will each pick a student who needs a little improving and take that person to the prom.

Harmless, right?

When Nikki, Alicia, and Sam quickly become entrenched in their projects, each has to face difficult realizations about the people they have chosen -- and themselves. Before long their own close friendship feels fragile. Will they make it to graduation without hurting one another -- or anybody else?

Acclaimed author Kristen D. Randle has woven an intriguing, insightful, and suspenseful story about three friends who set out to transform others, with unforeseen consequences.

Reviews (5)

Publisher's Weekly Review

High school seniors Nikki, Alicia and Sam (two girls and a guy) embark on a Pygmalion-like plan. They will each choose a person (who is "obviously untapped, and we will try to open him up, set him free, give him life"), take the chosen three to the prom and, afterward, decide which has wrought the biggest change. Predictably, after picking, respectively, a nerd, a rebel and a misfit, each of the friends, all Mormons, learns that the "untapped" person isn't what they imagined-and that they need to face their own problems. Randle (The Only Alien on the Planet) rotates through the three narrators' perspectives with mixed success; while dreamy Alicia's belief that the school bad boy is simply misunderstood seems realistic, the intense family problems that Sam unearths from black-lipstick-wearing Tia read as extreme (her stepfather threatens to stop paying for her retarded brother's care unless "his other needs were looked after"). Readers may be disappointed that the premise all but disappears after the set-up, and the book's point, that "there are lots of wonderful normals out there," seems obvious. While there are some tender moments, especially when the narrators deal with their own families (Alicia buys her sister new Sunday shoes after their mother leaves them; loudmouth Nikki breaks down when she overhears her parents fighting), the novel frequently feels formulaic. Ages 12-up. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Horn Book Review

(High School) ""There's something about traveling to another country: you can never see your own home quite the same way again."" Nikki provides this neat metaphor for the ""project"" she and her two best friends take on at the end of senior year: she, Sam, and Alicia will each choose someone with untapped potential and remake that someone--and then they'll take their creations to the prom. The story quickly leaves the territory of teen-Pygmalion romance, however, as their travels into other lives result in the alteration of their own instead. Popular Nikki bestows her attentions on ""classic nerd"" Brian Camarga, but instead of transforming him into a handsome prince, she learns how to write HTML. Alicia is drawn to mysterious bad boy Morgan Weiss, convinced she'll uncover the ""dark angel"" within, but discovers less mystery and more darkness. Sam takes the furthest journey, into the hidden world of TiaTerraletto (whom Nikki has dubbed ""Girl Most Likely to Beat You with Chains""), revealing a situation so horrifying it makes him vomit--and changing both their lives in unexpected ways. Certainly we expect the unexpected from a good book, and Randle delivers this and then some, creating layers of complexity in all the characters' lives. The three friends have grown up together in the Mormon church, and their beliefs color many of their choices (Sam is powerfully attracted to Tia but has decided to abstain from sex until marriage--hardly a typical portrayal of a popular athlete). The first-person narratives are skillfully interwoven, and the interchange is especially taut when all three relate the events of a single scene, jumping from one perspective to the next. The variety of viewpoints supports the book's theme, succinctly put by Nikki's mother: ""There are a lot of...normals out there."" Such wisdom is undidactically and smoothly integrated into this fresh, energetic novel. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Gr. 8-11. In the last several weeks of their senior year, three friends, the only Mormon students in their class, launch an ill-advised project that leads each to a better, if painful, understanding of the world. The plan is for each to befriend a fellow student--someone who seems to need a friend--and then ask that person to the prom. Alicia, Nikki, and Sam choose differently, with different results. Each student narrates short sections within each chapter, creating a distinct personality through voice and thought. The results of Alicia's efforts are a bit too predictable, and her character isn't as strong as that of her friends. But Sam convincingly deals with difficult ethical and emotional issues, and Nikki discovers new aspects of herself in an entertaining way. The fact that these friends are drawn together by religion, which is an integral part of their lives, is particularly refreshing. --Kathleen Odean Copyright 2003 Booklist

School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up-Seniors Nikki, Sam, and Alicia cook up a "Great Idea." Each of them is to choose a person "who is obviously untapped" and through friendship, kindness, and support release that individual's potential. For Nikki, the class nerd Brian is the ideal choice. With a little help she knows that she could turn him into the perfect prom date. Sam chooses Tia with the black lipstick, eyebrow ring, and Nazi shoes. Alicia decides to change Morgan, the school rebel and all-around bad guy. The story, told in alternating voices, veers immediately from the typical Pygmalion scenario. All three teens leave their comfort zone to enter the world of their proteges. For Nikki, it requires working on a school project with Brian and his superbrainy buddy on their turf, but Sam and Alicia both enter worlds in which they are ill prepared to cope. Tia allows Sam into her dark world of abuse where he sees firsthand the extent to which she will go to protect her brother. Alicia insinuates herself into Morgan's life and quickly sees how far apart their worlds are. The alternating narratives personalize the story and show individual character growth. The premise of trying to impose one's ideals and values on others without knowing their circumstances is a life lesson that gives teens much to think about without ever letting the message dominate the storytelling.-Sharon Morrison, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

In this Pygmalion story with a twist, three provincial high-school seniors, all Mormons with conventional values, bet that each can befriend a classmate with untapped potential, change him or her for the better, then take that person to the prom. But the chosen students, who have their own agendas, are more resistant than flattered, and it's the triad of heroes--two girls and guy--who end up having their eyes opened. Alternately narrated in the first person by the three protagonists, there are a lot of characters and stories to keep track of and it takes a while to key into their various situations. The tales, one that involves the long-term sexual abuse of a minor, one that ends in an ugly hazing and humiliation, and one about a centered geek, don't entirely fit together. Still, a thoughtful work about the nature of doing good. (Fiction. YA) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Excerpts

Nikki There's something about traveling to another country: you can never see your own home quite the same way again. I believe it was this experience that inspired my Great Philosophical Idea. Not that I am necessarily blaming the French. Or my mother. French faces don't look like American faces. It's hard to explain. "Not a physical difference," my mother told me, "so much as a philosophical one." We were leaning on the stone rampart along the Seine, watching five young musicians arguing with a couple of Paris policemen. "The French fit themselves into the universe in a different way than we do." My mother grinned and shrugged, looking a bit French herself. "The spirit inside shapes the face." I remembered those words one day as I was watching Brian Camarga walk across the school lunchroom. And voilà - the Great Idea. Of course, the second it came into my head, I started talking about it. This is one of my character flaws. Then Alicia jumped on the idea, sucked it in, remodeled it, and out it came: a new edition of Alicia's Perky Projects. This is one of her character flaws. And suddenly, Sam and I were trapped. Anyway, that's how it all got started. So mea culpa - everything that happened later can be traced straight back to me. Big surprise. Brian Camarga is a classic nerd. He's tall and skinny, has lousy skin, wears glasses, and carries about fifty mechanical pencils in his shirt pocket. He dresses like an old man, he has terrible posture, and he gets straight A's. He is, in short, a walking stereotype. As it happens, I also get straight A's. But I am none of the above things. In fact, I am reasonably cute, I have tons of friends, pretty good hair, and I am friendly to everybody. I'm not your student government type like Alicia is. I'm just a happy person who generally likes going to school. My flaws are that I talk too much, and I have a problem with low self-esteem. Sam "Nikki talks too much." I say this to Alicia - not because I am annoyed. I say it because it is true. "She talks a lot because she has a lot to say," Alicia retorts. "You know, Sam, it wouldn't hurt some people to do a little more talking." "Oh, and you're the one to say that," I remark. "All right," she admits. "It might not hurt either of us." I am not concerned. "I have a Jeep," I tell her. "I don't have to talk." Nikki Not everybody likes me. Some people see me from the outside and conclude that I'm obnoxious and fake and shallow. Too bad they don't look closer. Which brings me to the point: there are all kinds of people in the world. Tolstoy once said, "All happy people are the same; but unhappy people are all interesting." Those aren't the exact words, but that's the gist of it, and personally, I think it's trash. Happy people, unhappy people - everybody is interesting. And nobody's the same. It's sad that some people's lives end up being so depressingly unhappy. A person raised in a messed-up family can be cursed with a seriously skewed view of himself and the world. On the other hand, a person raised in a great family can get a solid head start into a good life. Or not. Sometimes it's just the opposite. Life is complex. But that's the game, isn't it? Who you turn out to be in the end. What kind of hand they deal you, and how you choose to play it. Or at least, that's the way it seems to me. So I was looking at Brian, and I wondered - obviously, smart people do not have to be so completely repulsive. And then I thought, French faces, American faces - what makes the difference? Everybody has two eyes and a nose and a mouth. What makes some people beautiful and some people not? Alicia I will admit that when we read Pygmalion in junior English, it made a deep impression on me. And when Nikki started talking about French faces and about Brian, I knew exactly what she meant. Even if everybody in the world had exactly the same face, there would be no two people exactly alike. Some would achieve beauty, some would be ugly; some faces would end up seeming gentle, some cruel. All depending on the person looking out through the face. For a long time, I've wanted to find out if this is actually true. And suddenly, today, I realized: we're seniors. This is the end - we graduate in less than two months. So if I ever want to do something big, something that has meaning, it better be now. The idea came all at once: we will each choose a person who is obviously untapped, and we will try to open him up, set him free, give him life. I do not anticipate that it will be that hard - kindness, a little attention, support, friendship. I want to work a miracle. I set the rules: we have three weeks. We will choose our person, do whatever it takes, and then we will take the person we have chosen to the prom. The day after the prom, the three of us will get together and decide who accomplished the biggest change. That last part is the part I like least - the competition, I mean - but I felt I had to make it that way because some people work better under pressure. I have to defend it like this: the three of us have a lot to give. It would be a crime if, before we leave this part of our lives forever, we don't do something to make the world better for somebody. Somebody who may be drowning. Somebody whose heart is dying. Somebody like Morgan. (Continues...) Excerpted from Slumming by Kristen Randle Copyright © 2003 by Kristen Randle Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.