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Book Review of Story of a Girl

Story of a Girl
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Deanna Lambert was just 13 years old when her father caught her having sex in Tommy Weber's car. Now, she's a rising high school junior and hates her life, living with her spineless mother, her father who hates her, her brother Darren, his girlfriend Stacy, and their unplanned pregnancy, baby April. It's bad enough that her home life sucks without considering how she's always teased in school, called a skank and a slut and a lot of other bad things, all for what happened with Tommy Weber, the jerk who then turned it into a humiliating story for everyone to hear.

It's hard to imagine life getting any harder. But it does. Desperate for money (that she plans to help Darren, Stacy, and April move out with), Deanna takes a job at the local run-down pizza place. The owner, Michael, is nice--and gay--enough, but it's her coworker that really makes her nervous: Tommy Weber, two years older but no less nightmarish. And then she has to go ahead and mess things up with Lee, her only female friends, and Lee's boyfriend, Deanna's best friend Jason.

Perhaps, Deanna begins to think, she is destined for a life in her town of "Pathetica," married to a loveless disgusting man and begetting screwed-up kids. However, there's support and silent encouragement from all people...even the ones Deanna thought would never love her again, or whom she would never like again.

STORY OF A GIRL. Such a simple and ambiguous title. Could be about anything, right? However, Sara Zarr spins Deanna's heartbreaking story of teenage mistakes and love lost wonderfully. Everyone in Deanna's world becomes real to the reader as well. Deanna's tale reminds us that, while life can sometimes seem not worth living, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel.