Skip to main content

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging Book Review

As I continue to read through TIME's Best YA Books of All Time, I picked up Angus, thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging for a quick and entertaining read. It is certainly both of those things, and seems like a great read for young girls, as it captures the essence of what it's like to become a teenager.

Louise Rennison is the bestselling and award-winning author of the angst-filled Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. Louise lives in Brighton, the San Francisco of England (apart from the sun, Americans, the Golden Gate Bridge, and earthquakes). You can visit Georgia online at www.georgianicolson.com. You can find more of my reviews of books from TIME's Best YA Books of All Time here. 

Angus: My mixed-breed cat, half domestic tabby, half Scottish wildcat. The size of a small Labrador, only mad. Thongs: Stupid underwear. What's the point of them, anyway? They just go up your bum, as far as I can tell. Full-Frontal Snogging: Kissing with all the trimmings, lip to lip, open mouth, tongues . . . everything. Her dad's got the mentality of a Teletubby (only not so developed). Her cat, Angus, is trying to eat the poodle next door. And her best friend thinks she looks like an alien—just because she accidentally shaved off her eyebrows. Ergghhhlack. Still, add a little boy-stalking, teacher-baiting, and full-front snogging with a Sex God, and Georgia's year might turn out to be the most fabbitty fab fab ever! 

The story follows Georgia through one full year of her life when she's a young teenager. It is written like a diary, with entries for every month, and sometimes more than one entry per day. Georgia writes all her thoughts down—she holds nothing back, and the unfiltered access to her mind is one of the most appealing parts of the book. Georgia writes down everything—the fears people talk about, the curiosities no one voices, and frustrations hardly given attention to. In this way, I think Rennison does a fantastic job describing what it's like to be a teenage girl, because I sometimes found it crazy that this wasn't a real girl's diary. 

The novel itself is very entertaining. The diary entries are very short, and I read this book in less than a day. Some of the comedy is just pure gold—especially what Georgia does to her hair near the end. I didn't laugh out loud or anything, but I had a feeling if I'd read this when I was the same age as Georgia, I would have. I sort of felt like I was watching the movie the whole time I was reading, as I could see all the scenes and the characters as they went through some rather ridiculous situations. 

This book has earned many accolades, and I can see why it's on TIME's list. However, reading through it now, I have to say that I don't think it aged as well as it could have. There are some elements of the humor that could be offensive, and overall sometimes things just aren't as funny as they used to be. I also found that while Georgia's inner dialogue is super unfiltered and there are some relatable moments, there are some parts that just aren't relatable. So, I had a bit of trouble truly falling in love with this one, but I have a feeling that had I read it when I would twelve or thirteen, I would have loved it to pieces. 

This book is part of a longer series, and if you want more information on that, you can visit Georgia online at www.georgianicolson.com. You can find more of my reviews of books from TIME's Best YA Books of All Time here. 

*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Lovely Bones Book vs. Movie Review

The Lovely Bones book cover I am a firm believer that the book is always better than the movie/tv series. I could point you to multiple examples where the characters were botched on screen, or plot holes prevailed. The statement that the book is better than the movie usually holds true However, with the increased use of streaming services and the increased utilization of published book material being pulled into the movie/tv world, more and more of our familiar stories are being put to the screen, and hence being put to the test. Some pass: despite some alterations and plot changes, the story and characters remain relatively the same, which bolsters excitement from the fan base. However, others don't, and screenplays that drastically alter the storyline leave fans wishing for a do-over. I definitely have some conflicted feelings regarding The Lovely Bones  and its book-to-movie adaptation. I really did like the book. It's not my favorite, or by any means the best book...
2 comments
Read more

The Dark Artifices Series Review

I have been reading Cassandra Clare's work since I was a freshman, and have avidly followed the release dates of her Dark Artifices series. I felt like even just these past four years I could track all the amazing improvements she's made in her storytelling, world-building, and characterization. Being a writer myself, I know that there is so much that goes behind make choices for the novel or choosing the best paths for the characters. These decisions that can be extremely hard for the author, especially if you're an author as Cassandra Clare, and even more so when those decisions are made for the third book in a trilogy whose ending has been much anticipated.  Overall, I give Cassandra Clare's The Dark Artifices  series 5/5 stars. I loved the pacing of the stories and how intimate the storytelling is, even if I wasn't quite satisfied with the ending of The Queen of Air and Darkness , which is what I'll be talking about below. I enjoyed all of the plo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Bronze Key Book Review

To be destroyed from within is more dangerous than having an outside enemy. It's easy to turn against the people you thought you knew and trusted when a mysterious spy enters the story. With this new enemy, the kids of the Magisterium face a new threat, one they can't see. The third book in the Magisterium series is cleverly crafted; the authors point readers to where they want us to look, so no one can guess what's coming. Striking and heartbreaking, with such a crazy cliffhanger, Holly Black and Cassandra Clare succeed again at writing another well-paced, action-packed, complex middle grade novel.  Holly Black and Cassandra Clare first met over ten years ago at Holly's first-ever book signing. They have since become good friends, bonding over (among other things) their shared love of fantasy. With Magisterium, they decided to team up to write their own story about heroes and villains, good and evil, and being chosen for greatness, whether you like it or not. Holly is...
Post a Comment
Read more