Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

After reading We Were Liars, I felt the need to read more E. Lockhart. I read The Boyfriend list and liked it, but it didn't have as much pull for me as We Were Liars. Then I decided to read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. I adored this book. It started up slow, setting up the for the end of the book but it was worth it. I now want to read more E. Lockhart AGAIN. Read this book!

Looking for a cool way to introduce feminism to young adults? Look no further than The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. Frankie is one of the coolest female protagonists I have ever read. Attending a prestigious, previously all boy boarding school, Frankie causes lots of trouble. The moral of the story, and the motivation behind Frankie's actions, is that women can be strong and awesome! My one complaint-I wish Frankie wasn't hot. I know she does not really play into her curvy figure, but still. I wish she could have been a Hermione Granger (not Emma Watson, but real Hermione as J.K. wrote her!) However, I guess she kind of needs to be hot in order to interact with the boys the way she does, but I still wish that wasn't a part of the text. Also, she does maintain enough insecurities to make her likable and believable.Looking at New Girl's Jess, quirky, female protagonists are becoming more and more popular. Frankie is not a stereotypical character in any sense, and this could be a great novel to focus on dynamic characters because we see Frankie grow and change-out of the shadow of Zada into a fierce, funny, and strong-willed girl. You could also point out the unique point of view, which I think really serves to set this text apart.Lockhart's novel is fast paced, filled with plenty of adventure and mischief. At some times cliche- we have all read the story of the younger girl who gets hot and gets the guy. We know the stereotypes of girlfriends who are not quite true-blue. We know the story of the girl fighting to best the boys. Luckily, despite these things, Lockhart's Frankie is funny and unique enough to provide an interesting and fun read. Frankie is also special because she does care about how her actions affect others. It also makes you think, more than you might originally assume.

Two of my favorite themes in literature are coincidence and the search for identity --And when you get a book about how coincidence can have a part in shaping identity, all the better."How does a person become the person she is?" the narrator of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks asks, adding, "This chronicle is an attempt to mark out the contributing elements in Frankie's character. What led her to do the things she did: things she would later view with a curious mixture of hubris and regret."We know from the outset of the story that Frankie has somehow infiltrated a secret all male society, the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, on the campus of her exclusive prep school and masterminded some borderline criminal pranks. The story explores the how and the why.The how is where coincidence comes in. Her father was a basset hound and she's heard his stories. Her new boyfriend, Matthew, is a basset hound and when he blows off a date, she follows him to a secret meeting. It just happens that her roommate's boyfriend has the keys to all the off limit places on campus. She met the basset hound "king", Alpha, on the boardwalk the previous summer and when he summoned away for a few days over Halloween, it gives Frankie the opening she needs.The why is more complicated. Frankie is certainly tired of being treated like an innocuous "bunny rabbit" (her nickname) in need of protection. She's recently blossomed into a knock-out young woman, but she's not content to be anyone's arm candy. She's a firm believer in the equality of the sexes and it irks her to be shut out of "the old boy's club".Frankie is a strategist, a debater, and someone who wants to be a real "off-roader". She asserts her unique identity by using "neglected positives" (i.e. ept to mean skilled - from inept) in everyday speech, by challenging the unwritten rules of who sits where in the caf, and of course by covertly taking over the basset hounds.Frankie is a great character - one that I immensely enjoyed spending time with. And this is an excellent book - one that begs for a sequel!Run and pick this one up ASAP. You will not be disappointed.

I fell immediately for this book, from delicious plot to precocious protagonist, and I’d go as far as to say that I think this is a book that all young adults should be reading. It could ostensibly be seen as a book about fitting in and finding your place in the world, but more than that it is a book about power and ambition, and the great lengths that a girl will go to obtain that power.A lot of reviewers have dissed the narration of this book, with a sort of unnamed narrator telling the story of how Frankie shook things up in her sophomore year of high school, but I really enjoyed it. It felt so very confessional and conversational having a third party tell the story, and I thoroughly enjoyed that broken fourth wall feel of the narration.As for Frankie, she’s by all means not perfect. She comes across as a bit brash and entitled at times, but her heart is in the right place and her drive and ambition make her really relatable. Who hasn’t wanted to shake things up a bit to fight against the patriarchy and perceived slight? In this book, Frankie does just that, and her eventual fall into obsession with her cause is a fun ride.This book is a wild ride, featuring secret societies, gender politics, and a lead character that is just plain sick of feeling left out. It is both highly political and wildly funny. With hijinks that could only happen away at boarding school and a delicious sense of revenge, readers will love Frankie Landau-Banks and her endless drive to come out on top.

A unique novel about a determined girl who refuses to accept that girls cannot be a part of a secret school pranking society that her father was part of. Lockhart's novels are so different to each other and this one is fantastically distinct in it's humour, positive female role model and humour.

Great story, liked it throughout, would love to hear more about Frankies next adventures.

The bastard child of Attwood's `Handmaid's Tale' and the `Chalet School' series. Elements of mystery and adventure stories, mixed with a healthy dose of feminist reality pervade this teenage fable set in an exclusive American private school with a boys-only secret society at its heart.Tired of being excluded from the inner workings of her new boyfriend's clique of alpha males, Frankie Landau-Banks succeeds in piercing their veil of secrecy and begins to shake things up for the staff and students at Alabaster Prep.Lockhart's triumph is in having Frankie undo the corset of expectations, the gamut of aspirations and constraints that family, friends and communities lace women and girls up in, and demolish it eagerly. Frankie herself is not a self-conscious feminist, but rather a postmodern feminist faced with a less-than-modern boy's club.Writing in deceptively accessible English, Lockhart relates a carefully subversive story that most teachers couldn't justify confiscating- but it might just start a revolution if the right people read it.The book's themes mean it is probably most appropriate for women and girls aged 12+, although it will probably speak more to those with life experience on their side, not least because of the wry, witty commentary from the book's 'narrator',who I strongly suspect is in fact an older Frankie.With that in mind, I hope to see further instalments documenting her career and time at college emerge in years to come.

Enjoyed by my daughter.

Mi aspettavo un libro differente.Dalla quarta di copertina pensavo che Frankie sarebbe stata una sorta di Dr. Horrible di Whedon, una ragazzina che diventava un genio del crimine partendo dalla propria scuola e dalla propria quotidianità.Magari condito con una ribellione femminista contro una società maschilista.E invece niente.Frankie è una ragazzina che vuole entrare a far parte dell'elite maschile della sua esclusivissima scuola (di cui fa parte il suo ragazzo), e per fare questa cosa invece impossibile si finge il capo dell'elite e via mail guida gli scherzi del club di elite.E tutto per essere considerata di più dal suo ragazzo, e per poter entrare nel circolo dei "vip tra i vip" e snobbare gli altri come loro li snobbano.Il tutto condito, per non farci mancare niente, da una completa assenza di introspezione psicologica e dall'impossibilità di provare una qualsivoglia simpatia nei confronti dei personaggi.Peccato, la quarta di copertina mi era piaciuta.