Better Than Running at Night

Rating:
Summary: A new orginal YA novel
Review: Ellie Yelinsky is away from home for the first time in her life at art school in New England. She wants to concentrate on improving her art, all which show a grim out look on life, but before she can even start classes her usually slow and isolated life gets changed. She dances with the devil at a costume party, and makes out with him as well. She later learns the devil's name is Nate and as she gets to know him she has a hard time finding out if he's more of a devil or an Angel. Her father thinks the only way he can bond with her is to give her the things he enjoyed as a teenager, mostly meaning drugs. The classes Ellie starts are much different from she had ever expected. Her teacher only speaks in one tone, yell, and he has her focusing on things she doesn't think are important. But as it turns out her teacher may be the only one that can teach her about art, and maybe something more than that.

This is the only book that's ever inspired me to join a school club, art club that is. If your in the mood for an original YA novel that can be read by adults as well, this is for you. The author, Hillary Frank, writes in a very artistic manner. She doesn't tend to spell everything out for you but trusts the intelligence of the reader to figure some things out for themselves. The cast of characters manages to be original while realistic at the same time. Whether it's the loud and obnoxious art teacher, the shy stoner Sam, or the sometimes good, sometimes evil Nate. This is a great book for people that are fans of books such as Sloppy Firsts and Love and other Four Letter Words.

Rating:
Summary: Great YA Read I Have Been Waiting On....
Review: Hillary Frank has set the precedent for up-and-coming young adult novels. Better Than Running At Night is real and clean, but yet all the while being messy with life. The reader can feel every emotion the main character, Ellie Yelinsky, feels from the very first page. A powerful read, and a must have for people seeking a new, exhilirating read!

Rating:
Summary: Great YA Read I Have Been Waiting On....
Review: Hillary Frank has set the precedent for up-and-coming young adult novels. Better Than Running At Night is real and clean, but yet all the while being messy with life. The reader can feel every emotion the main character, Ellie Yelinsky, feels from the very first page. A powerful read, and a must have for people seeking a new, exhilirating read!

Rating:
Summary: A keeper
Review: I usually only buy books that I really really love and this the best book I have read in a really long time! I really identified with Ellie, an art student with a lousy boyfriend. I felt like Hilary Frank wrote about MY freshman year at college. I highly recommend this story if you're an art student, a girl or had a crummy no-good boyfriend and didn't know how to deal with it!

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Summary: A fantastic read for older teens...
Review: I'm a teen, and finding YA (young adult) novels that are mature and up-to-par with the adult novels I read alongside them is very difficult. Hillary Frank has brought a realistic, detailed view of an older teen's (I hate this term, but it suits) 'coming-of-age' in a new city with a new perspective on life. Frank's use of language evokes a feeling of closeness to the main character, Ellie. THe reader is drawn into her first love affair, first college course at art school, and her ex-hippie parents who never cease to embarass and confuse her. Ellie's struggles become the reader's, and I know that I was so absorbed in this novel that I finished it in less than two days. Many, many authors have tried and failed at evoking the kind of college-age teen feelings and relationships, but Hillary Frank shows her youth and maturity at the same time in this novel. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: read it on one plane ride
Review: THis is one of those fully enveloping books, you just sink into it and that's all you know for a few hours. I loved the voice of Ellie, so insightful yet still the sort of clueless teenage girl we all were (at least I was). I was also releived that the expected ending never came; it was something surprising yet satisfying. It was also a great rendering of the art school absurdity. Hurrah for this book! I will now have to go look for her radio stories on This American Life.