Notes from the Teenage Underground

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Gem loves movies, her feminist mom, and Dodgy, her coworker in a video store (at least she thinks she loves Dodgy). When a school trip inspires Gem to make an underground film, her best friends Lo and Mira are quick to join the project, taking on the roles of producer and star. The film is intended to cement the girls' friendship as well as their superiority over their sucker high school peers. But when the fragile balance of their friendship begins to falter, and intentions lead to betrayals big and small, it will take great movies, bad haiku, and a pantheon of great voices—from Dostoyevsky to Thoreau to Andy Warhol—to help Gem find the meaning of love, friendship, and being true to herself.

Review:
This book had humor, drama, and everything in between. I could relate to Gem so well, even though I am no longer a teenager! I thought this book was so well written from cover to cover. One of my favorite characters was Bev, her feminist mum who, at times, seemed more like a girlfriend to Gem than her mother. Gem was fantastically written and I loved how she found herself gradually throughout the book. Her friends though, Mira and Lo, I just wanted to punch them and tell them to shut up (haha)! They were so inconsiderate of others and how their actions would reflect onto others. Dodgy, her 'interest', seemed like the type of guy I would fall for, so I could see why she was so infatuated with him. Overall, the characters in this book worked amazingly well together.

Overall, I loved this book. Simmone Howell did a fantastic job bringing to life Gem and all the emotions she was going through. The teenage angst was captured perfectly. Oh, and might I add that I am in love with the cover of this book. The colors are fantastic and it caught my eye when I first saw it. Pick up this book the next time you are in the bookstore, you will not be dissappointed!