7 March 2016

Review #361: The Lifeboat Clique by Kathy Parks



My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Be so good they can't ignore you.”

----Steve Martin




Kathy Parks, an American author, pens her debut novel, The Lifeboat Clique that narrates the story of a high school girl who is an outcast among her friends circle, thus listing her among the unpopular kids in her high school, but when she sneaks into a party into a beach house party with the cool kids, little did she knew that her her status of being unpopular i soon going to be challenged by those uppity popular kids.





Synopsis:

Some people might say that Denver had a death wish. Why else would she have dared to sneak into a Malibu beach party where she’d be surrounded by enemies, namely including her ex-BFF Abigail?

Oh yeah. Croix. Denver never thought in a million years he’d ask her out, but who was she to question this miracle of fate? Well, that wasn’t the only surprise fate had in store.

During the party a tsunami hit the coast of California, wiping out everything in its path. Denver and a handful of others escaped death by holding onto the roof of the house and were swept out to sea. Of course, one of her fellow castaways was none other than Abigail, who could barely stand the sight of her.

Now that she’s floating in the ocean, stuck on a small boat with the most popular kids in school and waiting to be rescued, Denver wonders what might kill her first-dehydration, sunstroke, or the girl she used to think of as a sister?



Denver, a high school teenager and an outcast among her friends, sneaks into a Malibu beach house party with the cool and popular kids of her school. She had no wish to attend this stupid party, but only because of her crush, Croix, who invited her to attend this party whom she couldn't afford to say no. When the party was in full swing, an unpredictable tsunami wave hit this beach house and washed away everything along with its tide. Most of Denver's schoolmates died when the wave hit the house, but luckily Denver along with a bunch of popular bitchy girls and a jock, rescued themselves somehow by holding onto an abandoned boat. From there, their fight began as one after another hurdles were thrown onto their faces, and under such a situation, they can only hold onto each other instead of out-casting and judging Denver.

Firstly, the book's cover is pretty and eye-catchy, especially, it justifies the story line quite strongly. The author's writing style is quite charming layered with funny anecdotes and emotions. the narrative is light and quite relatable and the author has strikingly captured the voices of young teenagers-be it an outcast or an uppity mean girl. What goes in and around high schools are pretty well projected into this story thus giving the readers a vivid and real-life experience into the lives of 21st century teenagers. The pacing of the book is really fast as I devoured this story within few hours only. The story is so hilarious, considering the fact that this is a survival story that involves a lot of death, that at times, I was laughing so hard that I could feel tears in my eyes. Yes definitely, it's a version of Mean Girls meeting The Life of Pi kinda drama.

The story line is fresh and unique as it features a high school kids' tsunami surviving drama. But the story line is largely based on Denver and her ex-BFF, Abigail's sisterly relationship which has gone cold with time and problems. The chapters are divided into the past and present- the present with the fight for survival and the past with Denver and Abigail's new-found friendship, 4 years ago when Denver moved to LA with her parents.

The characters are all quite well-developed and are realistic. The author has projected the main character, Denver, with an honest voice, who is sharper than her fellow friends and knows a great deal about survival strategies, brave and the one thing that made me fall for Denver is her attitude towards bullying and negative judgments about her. Denver stayed calm and answered back with a witty comment, when those mean girls showered her with such negative judgement. Abigail is thoroughly mean and her hate towards Denver is evident from her demeanor.

The book deals a lot with teenagers who are being outcasted among their peers, the seating area in cafeteria which is largely based on a teenager's "cool" status. And these things are highlighted with lots of dark humor without making the readers feels sorry for anyone, and Denver is an epitome of a modern outcast teenager, who knows that she has to find her voice for herself and no one can do that on her behalf. She tried to be funny all the time, yet people hated her because of an old rumor spread by her ex-BFF, Abigail.

Overall, this is a fun read that is perfect for a summer afternoon as this young adult story has all the elements of enjoyment to leave the readers entertained till the very last page.

Verdict: Want a good laugh? Pick a copy of this book for sure.

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Kathy Parks, for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Hi, I’m Kathy Parks, author of The Lifeboat Clique. (Katherine Tegen Books, March 1 2016)
It’s about Denver Reynolds, an outcast at her high school, who ends up in a lifeboat with the popular kids who hate her.
It’s Mean Girls meets Life of Pi!
I live near the beach in Carpinteria, California with my husband and two cats.
I love questions and meeting other authors.
Hope you’ll check out The Lifeboat Clique!
Visit her here


Book Purchase Links:

1 comment:

  1. i did really like this book. A little dark but humorous and had some good serious stuff in there too. the characters were really realistic with real issues.

    ReplyDelete

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