Rating: 
Summary: Solid Memoir
Review: Kathy Dobie tells an interesting story of adolesence (and the loss of innocence therein). As a young teen, we find our narrator telling of her final "acceptance" in to the world as being wanted sexually, and she hands it over easily. Sadly, the tables turn and she is the victim of a gang rape.The story will certainly capture your attention and the words flow smoothly. However, the narration drags at some points, especially in the first 100 pages, and I found myself wishing she got to the point sooner. Still well worth a read!
Rating: 
Summary: excellent
Review: Once I got into this book, I simply could not put it down. It was one of the most emotionally raw coming of age stories that I have come across. The book was well written enough for a guy like me to be able to understand where Dobie was operating from. This isn't a classic "feel sorry for what happened to me" story, Dobie is pretty clear about the mistakes that she made and how she dealt with them. I think what makes the story compelling is this is a story about how a young woman deals with the consquences of her actions. To respectfully respond to reader from SC remarks, I do think it was a rape.
Rating:
Summary: deeply moving memoir
Review: This is a deeply moving memoir about life for a girl that gets in way over her head and finds that in doing so she is raped. The long journey to heal the wounds and all that the author learns from her life. I love memoirs, anything that is "truth telling and honest". This book is just that. It also speaks of a different form of abuse in this book, self abuse...as well as rape and what it is like to have been there. Like several other books I have read, Memoirs of real life courageous events such as Nightmares Echo, Running With Scissors and Lucky: A Memoir...this book ranks as tops with the others I have mentioned. I highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Soulful
Review: This is one of the most soulful books I've read in my life. Without judgement, Dobie tells her story of what happened when she, a middle class "good" girl became curious about the "bad." But this is not a cookie-cutter, preachy coming of age memoir. What makes this book so special is Dobie's unique voice, she tells her (sometimes traumatic) story with honesty, humor and compassion. Having been a teenage "good" girl dabbling in the "bad" myself, this book resonated with me. I literally had to put the book down on several occasions because I was so moved.
Rating:
Summary: Best book!
Review: This was by far one of the best books i have ever read. The book was written flawlessly, reavealing a highschool girl's life truthfully. Dobie did not change the book so that it was pretty and nice; it was blunt and moving. As a highschool senior is was easy to relate to her real-life feelings. I recommend this to any girl that ever had a "bad girl" phase.
Rating:
Summary: The only girl that feels that way?
Review: What a very honest book! Congratulations to Kathy Dobie for presenting such a well documented account of being a teenage girl in a small town. I found it easy to be drawn into this girls life and the feelings and experiences she went through. Although I initially thought the book was going to be a much more harrowing, dramatic tale, I still enjoyed it immensly and has lead me to think about how I, too felt at that age. A great achievement from an unknown. Let's hear more from her!
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't Ring Quite True
Review: When I first heard of Kathy Dobie's memoir, I was very interested as it seemed we had alot in common. Instead, almost the entire time I was reading the book, I had the feeling she was holding back. For instance, she never quite defined the relationship she had with her parents. Whenever she would say something that could be construed as critical towards any family member, she would follow it up with three or four positive statements about them. Parts of the books seemed a bit made up to me, or perhaps she just didn't tap into her feelings very well. If you read quickly, this book may be worth the time. If you need to be more selective - I would go with Jennifer Lauck's Blackbird: A Childhood Lost and Found.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: When I first saw this book I thought it sounded very interesting, but then I was proved wrong. The book didn't have much to do with the title itself. The first half was describing every aspect of her home, friends hair color, etc. I found it boring. The middle got slightly more interesting. Then it was like she wrapped the entire book up in the last chapter. She went from child throughout the book to BOOM the rest of her life history in the last chapter. I also felt that she didn't explain very well what she learned through the experience. The book was jerky reading and as other readers said what was the real reason she was like this? She would one minute say what a happy family she had and then say how she hated them. Just made no sense to me. I have read alot better memoirs out there.
Rating:
Summary: Painful coming-of-age memoir
Review: Yowtch, this is a tough memoir. The author was the oldest girl in a large Catholic family, and she yearned for the bad boys. Learning early that she had something they wanted, she was soon playing fast and loose, getting the attention she craved in the worst way possible: allowing herself to be seen simply as a sexual object.
Then things went from bad to worse and she ended up as the only girl in the car, the victim of a gang rape. Fortunately for Dobie, she found redemption in the world of literature and of writing and now shares her experiences and the wisdom she gained with her reading public.
Not great, but worthy of being read by a wide audience.
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