Review: Withering Tights by Louise Rennison

Withering Tights by Louise Rennison

Release Date: July 8, 2010
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 351
Reading level: Young Adult

Synopsis

Picture the scene: Dother Hall performing arts college somewhere Up North, surrounded by rolling dales, bearded cheesemaking villagers (male and female) and wildlife of the squirrely-type. On the whole, it’s not quite the showbiz experience Tallulah was expecting… but once her mates turn up and they start their ‘FAME! I’m gonna liiiiive foreeeeeever, I’m gonna fill my tiiiiights’ summer course things are bound to perk up.

Especially when the boys arrive. (When DO the boys arrive?)

Six weeks of parent-free freedom. BOY freedom. Freedom of expression… cos it’s the THEATRE dahling, the theatre!!

-- from Goodreads.com

Review

This book is the epitome of light reading. It's very fluffy & full of nonsensical ramblings from the mind of 14-year-old Tallulah. A lot of what she says & does is very silly or just completely over the top. There was very little plot, the story favoring more the idea of cataloging all the happenings to Tallulah & her group of friends as they go to dance school & interact with local boys & boys from another school. I liked the parts of the story that had nothing to do with the boys because I thought the friendships were much more fun to read about than the fawnings over boys who were mostly boring clods who fumbled through their time with the girls like they had no idea how to function properly around so much estrogen.

One down side to the narrative was that I found myself wondering sometimes whether or not Tallulah had some kind of mental disorder because a lot of what she thought, said, & did was just so beyond obtuse that it seemed she must be suffering from slight brain damage. Her preoccupation with her breasts, nicknamed "corkers," got very old to the point that I wanted to find a sampling of 14-year-olds & ask them if they were really THAT obsessed with their own breast development to talk, think, & write about them with every other breath.

That said though Tallulah & her friends were funny & the teachers were absolutely insane. The book was a fast, easy read. I would recommend to younger adults who enjoyed Louise Rennison's other series with Georgia Nicholson as it's similar. I do not recommend listening to the audio version of this book as I did. The author narrates it herself & so the audio goes from barely audible whispering to high pitched shouting sometimes in the same scene which had me constantly wincing & adjusting the volume.

My Rating: