I was so reluctant to start this book. The cover just screams “twee” and “manic pixie dream girl” but someone here, who knows who, had written a sufficiently glowing review that it made it to my TBR list and well – there are rules. Once it’s on the TBR, I have to at least try it. But believe me, I wouldn’t have otherwise. And man would I have missed out. Weird Girl and What’s His Name is such a sweet, tender, funny book. The pace […]
Reading YA frequently makes me very happy I never have to revisit my teenage years
Lula and Rory are basically the “Weird Girl and What’s His Name” of the title. Odd-ball teenagers in the little town of Hawthorne, North Carolina. They are best friends, sharing an interest for fantasy and sci-f, but their deepest and most abiding love is for the TV show The X-Files, being active in the online fan community and writing a joint blog where they analyse and comment on the episodes. Both have been abandoned by parents. Rory lives alone with his alcoholic mother, while Lula […]
That is essentially, exactly the way it happened
I read this book for two reasons: 1) Ashley (narfna) recommended it and 2) the main characters are obsessed with The X-Files, an obsession I, too, shared when I was their age. Rory and Lula are best friends who live in a small Southern town and have much in common, but what they really bond over is The X-Files. Both have been abandoned by at least one parent (Lula by both, Rory by his father), though Lula lives with her loving grandparents while Rory is […]
Sure. Fine. Whatever.
I don’t normally read contemporary YA, but I couldn’t resist the siren call of a story about confused and nerdy teenagers who were almost as obsessed with The X-Files as I was when I was a teenager. Going in, I was expecting Lula and Rory’s X-Files obsession to be more of a gimmick and that it wouldn’t be present in more than a cursory way, but I was so wrong. It plays an integral role in both Lula and Rory’s lives, and the book would […]
Added 1/2 a star just for the cute cover
Is that not the greatest cover ever? The book doesn’t quite live up to it, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Maria finally convinces her father to let her spend a year in New York with her estranged mother — partly to get to know her mother, partly to get away from some bad kids in the rural town where she’s living with her dad. Maria’s grandmother enrolls her in a fancy prep school, Maria packs her things, and she moves to New York. Of course, things don’t […]
Not Quite YA Gold Level
Perhaps I was less enthusiastic about Weird Girl and What’s His name than badkittyuno because I didn’t have the X-Files connection to the character’s that my sister has. I was five when the series premiered and by the time I was old enough to appreciate it the show was winding down its run. However, I don’t think you need to be a sci-fi nerd to appreciate the characters and story line but it probably helps. What’s His Name, Rory, is an overweight, gay junior in […]