Gingerbread

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Summary: Gingerbread for all
Review: This was an incredibly amazing book. It was well-written and very relatedable. I can understand by some of the other reviews that adults tried to read it and didnt really like it. Well guess what? it was meant for teenagers to relate to not older people. I've told everyone i know to read this book and now im telling you- yes you- to buy/read it too! It told the lives of very interesting characters (w/ extremely strange names) and the challenges they face along the road of life. I have added this book to my list of must reads for teenagers! but i warn you now that anyone under 12 and over 23 should probably steer clear of this book!!

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Summary: A not-quite-real story of a former bad girl
Review: Gingerbread isn't your average novel of a bad girl. It doesn't tell about a girls emergence and recovery of drugs, sex, alcohol, and guys. Gingerbread is the story of what happens after. Cyd Charisse is a so called "reformed" bad girl who slips from time to time. She lives in San Francisco with her parents (Sid and Nancy, if you can believe that) and two siblings. Her best friend is a woman named Sugar Pie who lives at a nursing home and her boyfriend is an artist named Shrimp. Her life isn't normal but it works. But when something happens she finds herself finally being able to meet her real father in New York City. She pictures a picture perfect meeting and a beautiful relationship blossoming between them. Unfortunately she doesn't quite get that.

Though it starts out a bit slow with the first few chapters, Gingerbread soon kicks in to an interesting story about a girl and her doll (yes, she's 16 and still carries around a doll) who learn more about themselves and the world they live in. Though the dialog is a bit strange I think the slang is meant to be over the top at times. If you're a fan of teenage humor such as Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging, and teenage angst such as Love and other Four Letter Words, this is a book for you. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: All right
Review: This story was a little vacuous. It was kind of like a sitcom-- everything ended up all right at the end. It was definetely escapist literature, there is no deeper meaning here. The author used this *really* bizarre slang as well--i'm not sure if she thought it was cool or what was going on there. all in all, i think this was lacking a little--depth.

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Summary: Katies Review of Gingerbread
Review: I thought the book was extremely well-worded, and gave out strong messages to younger readers. It used fluent use of language, and was very touching. I enjoyed the setting, and also the characters, which were extremely clear and imaginable. I thought it was funny,witty and emotional, and i felt i could relate and sympathise with the character, even though i have never been in her situation. I loved it and couldn't put it down. A fantastic first book!!!!!

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Summary: Ginger-licious!
Review: This is definitelyone of the best books I've ever read. Rachel Cohn uses the coolest language and words, stuff that teenagers can understand, and relate to, even laugh to. I found the characters really likable, especially Cyd who is very cool and the excellent descriptions made me want to live in California! Since the book is about real situations and experiences, which a lot of teens go through, it's even better to read. I recommend Gingerbread to anyone, it doesn't matter if you have been through the same things as Cyd because you can learn about her experiances and attitudes toward everything.

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Summary: Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn
Review: Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn is a great book. She really writes from a teenagers mind and it seems so real. It is a cute book that I couldnt put down. You just want to keep on reading it. I would reccomend this book to anyone who can go with the phrase "I will be as wild as I want to be." A great book for teenagers!

Rating:
Summary: good good good
Review: i feel the same way xxjessipooxx from Pittsburgh feels i loved this book once I started reading I couldn't stop i am hopeing the author rachel cohn writes a another one like this

Rating:
Summary: G i n g e r b r e a d
Review: I loved this book that i read it twice within 2 days. I loved it ever sense i first began to read it in Target. She really does feel like you are part of her. So much drama, something somepeopel can relate to..

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Summary: Cyd Charisse~
Review: First off, let me tell you that I really liked this book. It was really well writen and I LOVED the charcters. Exspecally the main charcter, Cyd, because she was so out there and wild and free. I really think she had a good prespective on life and thats one this I loved about this book.

Anyway, about this ausome book. It starts off by telling us about Cyd and Nancy's (Nancy is Cyd's mother) realtionship and thier ups and downs. It also talks about two other very important charcters: Sugar Pie and Shrimp. Sugar Pie is Cyd Charisse's best friend, but Sugar Pie lives in a home- nuresing home- but is very good for Cyd. She seems to really get her through this whole intire book. This books also is mainly about Cyd getting over this one old boyfriend named Justin. Now, this is what Justin did. First he got Cyd Charisse into drugs and alchol, but then got her pregnat. Cyd knew she couldn't have this baby so she had a abortion that Justin didn't even even go with her too.

Anyway, now she was a new boyfriend named Shrimp. He seems perfect until she finds out that she also has a crush on his brother, The Java. This leads into a whole lota mess, but I won't tell you all of that because that would just ruin it. Anyway, lets just say Cyd and Shrimp go through some hard times and she goes and visits real-dad-Frank for 3 weeks in New York. Oh yeah, and something happens with her and this guy named Luis, but thats all I'm going to say. I've already said to much.

Overall, I really liked this book. Hugs and Kisses to Rachel Cohn for this ausome book. It is totally "unforgettable". I loved it!

Jessica

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Summary: "Gingerbread" Houses
Review: Gingerbread tells the story of a girl whose parents divorced when she was young. She has only one memory of her father: meeting him in an airport, where he gave her gingerbread and bough her a doll. She promptly named the doll Gingerbread and has carried it around ever since.

Now a teenager, she still has the doll, as well as the yearning to see her father. Her mother has remarried, and though she gets along well enough with her stepfather and adores her younger half-siblings, she feels out of place - and feels the need to get out of that place.

She finally gets the chance to visit her father, going across the continent to the other coast, only to find that she doesn't quite fit there either. Her father is distant and their relationship is awkward. She has half-siblings on her father's side, but they are older, grown, which pushes her into the unfamiliar role of the younger sister. Luckily, she hits it off with one of them: her half-brother Danny, who is extremely lovable and easily my favorite character in the book.

The book moves along at a good pace, giving you more and more insight into the characters as it goes along. Secrets are revealed, bonds are made, promises are broken, but always in a realistic fashion. In other words, this book is not sappy nor melodramatic. It reminds us that just because you are related does not make you automatic friends, but it does not have to make you enemies either.

I am looking forward to Shrimp, the sequel to Gingerbread, released in 2005. I also greatly enjoyed Rachel Cohn's juvenile novel The Steps, which also dealt with extended and estranged families, but with a younger protagonist and a touch more comedy.