Book Review: Popular

Title: Popular
Author: Alissa Gross
Format: Trade Paper
Publisher: Flux
Pub Date: May 2011
Read: Jun 2011
Source: Barnes & Noble @ 86th and Lex
Why: Jennifer R Hubbard discussed this book in one of her blog posts, how it seems like one thing at first but turns out completely different. I was definitely intrigued, so much so that I went out and bought it the next day and read it that night.
Fulfills Challenge? Yes (2).
Notes: I actually wanted to borrow this book from the library but alas, it was not meant to be! None of the NYPL libraries carry it. The closest library to me that carried it is in Brooklyn, near my dentist, which is on a different library system. NYC has 3 library systems: New York Public Library which covers the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Borough Public Library. The latter two date back to before those two boroughs were integrated under NYC. Why they haven’t attempted to integrate all the libraries is beyond me, but hey! just throwing that out there for anyone who wants to move here. Anyway, so I couldn’t borrow it without hauling ass to Brooklyn AND getting a BPL library card. I tried the next best thing: indie bookstores. None of the usual suspects carried it either. But B&N at 86th and Lex had it. So I went for it. You see? I totally try to support my indies but if I gotta have something now, I GOTTA HAVE IT NOW. Oh the age of instant gratification.

Review/Thoughts:
I am going to echo Cari from Cari’s Book Blog and state up front that this is a damn hard review to do. This is definitely one of those books where almost anything you say has the potential to ruin the plot.

The story revolves around a clique of girls who all have their own secrets and agendas. With high school coming to a close, all four of them want to pull away from the main girl, Hamilton, who has the biggest secret of them all.

Grosso explores clique dynamics well, capturing its many different facets through each girl. What’s interesting is how similar clique dynamics are to other things you might not initially think to associate with them.

I did guess Hamilton’s secret but only about 20 pages before it’s revealed. I don’t expect many people to guess because quite frankly, Grosso pulls it off so well and I’m very familiar with the topic, which gave me a slight edge. But you should have seen me when things started to click. My guess hinged at first on a single word. I was all like wait, what’s that? and then I thought…wait what if? no it can’t be…can it? But wait why did… ok wait, slow your roll Nicole, there’s an easy way to support or disprove your theory And then I go back and I searched for something specific and upon finding or not finding it (I won’t say which) I thought, HOLY CRAP, I could be right. OMG IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW OMG OMG. But wait what if it’s not that? OMG I THINK IT IS. My brain process, for your entertainment. I don’t know if there’s anything more exciting than being able to pick up on the clues an author leaves you and go back and see how she pulled it off. Any good mystery should be able to leave you with this feeling — even if you don’t guess it, you should always be able to spot the clues in hindsight. If you can’t I feel the author hasn’t done her job.

I did wonder a bit at one character’s investment, whose motives still seemed unclear to me even at the end, but it wasn’t something that took away from the novel. Mostly I kept thinking maybe we were going to find out something else about this person, but we didn’t. In some ways, I feel she could have her own story. What would things look like from her point of view?

I would recommend this to people who like books which keep them guessing and who can appreciate a novel that can take a well-traveled storyline and turn it completely on its head.

Final Verdict: