Rating: Summary: Two thumbs up, way up... Review: *Amandine* is a well-crafted look at adolescent female friendship between two outcasts, one needy (Delia), the other manipulative (Amandine). For a while the friendship works: the flamboyant, unconventional, artistic Amandine enthralling the school newcomer, Delia. Then, slowly at first, complications arise that test the friendship, complications brought about by Amandine's unpredictable, attention-seeking behavior, her mysterious and dark nature, and the girls' tense relationship with their parents. Competition, envy, lying, and deceit all start to eat away at the friendship. A third girl, Mary, is pulled into the increasingly complex web Delia and Amandine have constructed and is used as a pawn. The situation turns ugly as bad behavior, revenge and self-protection stretch what was once a positive relationship to the breaking point. Adele Griffin realistically portrays the inner feelings and vicissitudes of teenage friendship within the pressure cooker that is modern-day high school. The writing is elegant and understated, the narrative illuminative of the toll dishonesty in all its forms can take on a relationship. Griffin has a real feel for what makes each main character tick, which makes them come alive for the reader. I should know: I taught high school English for 15+ years and am now a middle school librarian. I see elements of all these characters in many of the students I work with, and will recommend this book to both kids and adults as an honest look at a very important slice of teenage life.
Rating: Summary: The Big Bad Amandine Review: After reading the other reviews, I have to wonder if I read the same book. People are calling this simplistic and contrived, unoriginal and boring. Someone else (whose emotional state I'm worried about) says lonely, awkward Delia is "the nut case" and claims Amandine, who is pure sociopath all the way, "doesn't do anything wrong." Sorry, but I think intentional lies used as "punishment", damaging libel and playing two people off each other is "doing plenty wrong."Maybe this story struck home with me because I had an Amandine in my high school past. She was also a master of playing her few friends off of each other, dramatizing horrors that never existed for the benefit of teachers and parents, and telling outrageous lies about herself in order to be the center of attention. And, like Amandine, she had lots of talent that went wasted because it was more fun to destroy other people's lives. No, the story is not loud and melodramatic. It is quiet and subtle as Delia tries to sort out what her friend expects of her tries to please parents who expect too little of her (and who are clearly disappointed in her) and who has only one really sympathetic adult to whom she can turn. If you haven't read it, please don't go by the other customer reviews. If you are trapped in a friendship like the one Delia has with Amandine, it might help to know that you aren't alone. And if you DON'T know an Amandine, consider yourself lucky and read this as a true horror story of what can happen in such a friendship.
Rating: Summary: Realistically Scary Portrayal of Controlling Friendship Review: After reading the other reviews, I have to wonder if I read the same book. People are calling this simplistic and contrived, unoriginal and boring. Someone else (whose emotional state I'm worried about) says lonely, awkward Delia is "the nut case" and claims Amandine, who is pure sociopath all the way, "doesn't do anything wrong." Sorry, but I think intentional lies used as "punishment", damaging libel and playing two people off each other is "doing plenty wrong." Maybe this story struck home with me because I had an Amandine in my high school past. She was also a master of playing her few friends off of each other, dramatizing horrors that never existed for the benefit of teachers and parents, and telling outrageous lies about herself in order to be the center of attention. And, like Amandine, she had lots of talent that went wasted because it was more fun to destroy other people's lives. No, the story is not loud and melodramatic. It is quiet and subtle as Delia tries to sort out what her friend expects of her tries to please parents who expect too little of her (and who are clearly disappointed in her) and who has only one really sympathetic adult to whom she can turn. If you haven't read it, please don't go by the other customer reviews. If you are trapped in a friendship like the one Delia has with Amandine, it might help to know that you aren't alone. And if you DON'T know an Amandine, consider yourself lucky and read this as a true horror story of what can happen in such a friendship.
Rating: Summary: The Big Bad Amandine Review: Amandine and Delia have a steady friendship until Amandine starts making up lies to prove things or to put people down. Delia, Amandine's bast friend up untill now, doesn't like this so she breaks the friendship getting Amandine mad enough to tell a terrible lie about Delia's dad. With the people in the town believing this lie, Delia's family decides to move, and start a new life in Boston were, after a week or so, Amandine sends a letter to the family descusing her promblems with telling the truth. I think this book was a real realistic book. You don't have to read the cover or ask to figure this out because it was so real you could tell. If I didn't have other things to do I would have read this book in a day. I just couldn't put it down. You think everything will turn out right because it is a book, but somethings turn the book around. I was left with no choice but to finish this book. I would recomend this book for any one who needs good reading material, or if you think you have a bad friendship and somebody doesn't appreciate you, you can read this to help mend your promblems. I would also recommend this book for a serious lier who doesn't know the consequences of lying.
Rating: Summary: Amandine Review: Amandine is a very interesting book. You will really anjoy this book if you like reading about how someone's friendship works out. This book is very easy to get into. You can start reading and read for hours. I can relate to the friendship in this book. Amandine and Delia are two totaly diffrent people who get along really well.Most guys will probably consider this a "girly book" because the main charcters are females. Girl readers, on the other hand, can relate to their friendships to Amandine and Delia's
Rating: Summary: Allie's All Time Awesome Review Review: Amandine who is a creative yet crazy girl, has opened up a whole new life for her new best friend Delea. With art and acting as their interests no other best friends could compare. Everything was adventerous and smooth until Amandine met Deleas parents. Amandine starts to become very close with Delea's father. When things at school get out of hand with Delea and Amandine, a new best friend steps in and Amandine creates horrible lies; one that may even effect Delea's family. Delea's almost perfect life immediatley gets flip-flopped and she now becomes scared of the truth and friends who she thought would never turn on her. We meet characters with totally different personalities and learn how one lie can ruin one family. Amandine was an awesome story of friendship and lies. The story was grabbing and it really came to life. I cold relate the realisitc friendship of Amandine and Delea. Their relationshp became a part of me and taught me to solve conflicts to be honest with my friends. Amandine is a great book to read if you have had lies told to you about your friends or about love lifes. It also teaches us a bit about highschool and the 'social ladder.'
Rating: Summary: Don't bother Review: Another contribution to the genre of "quirky girls with quirky names." Amandine is a dramatic little minx who plays head games with the narrator, who is a relatively innocent girl. The story is played out with a few twists & turns, but nothing too terribly original. My biggest problem with the book was, the narrator has a deep dark secret that we don't find out about until well into the book. Likewise, her parents have a family secret that we don't find out until very late in the game. These secrets are sprung on us in an ineffective way; they should have been "issues" from page one of the book.
Rating: Summary: Just dosn't cut it Review: I found this incredibly incipid and stupid. The resolution is stupid, the climax(if you can call it one) is bad, and Amandine, dosn't really do or get herself in to any trouble. If anything, our main charechter Delia, is a ... nutcase. I'll give it 2 stars, because I actually made it through the book. Also, it trys to be all psycholigcal, and teenage angsty but it isn't at all
Rating: Summary: Interesting - kinda freaky.. Review: I picked up this book at a half - price bookstore because it looked interesting. It's about two girls - Delia & Amandine - who form a friendship which soon turns down the wrong path. It was an OK book, not something I would read again, though. At the beginning it was interesting, but as I got deeper into the book, I got bored with Amandine's character and put it down. I ended up skipping to the end - just to see what happens and get it over with. It kind of disturbed me too, the way the author potrayed this girl - really evil. Amandine is supposed to be that way, but it just bothered me. I guess I would recommend this book - as long as you don't expect it to be superly outstanding. A good one-day, rainy-day read.
Rating: Summary: Amandine by skittles Review: I seem to be the only person who hated this book. I got it because i thought it was more about theater then Amandine just being a good actress and being good at impressions.I thought it was stupid and both of the main characters needed to be sent to a nuthouse. I think everything in this book was overdone. Its basically about a girl who moves from place to place and can't make many friends untill she meets Amandine. When you have a friendship based on nothing except that you want to have a friend...then this is what happens. The friendship in this book (which is what the whole book is based on) is unrealistic because these girls are basically considering themselves best friends when they know each other about as well as i would know someone who wasn't even my friend. I honestly could have stopped reading this book in the middle and not ever thought about it again, but i always give all the books i read a fair chance incase they turn into something worth reading. It wasn't. If your reading other reviews and are expecting some kind of thiller...try an actual horror book, cause this was about as scary as saturday morning cartoons to me.
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