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12.9.14

Book Review: The Art of Getting Stared At by Laura Langston

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Summary According to Goodreads:
After a school video she produced goes viral, sixteen-year-old Sloane is given the biggest opportunity of her life – a chance for a film school scholarship. She has less than two weeks to produce a second video, something with depth, and she’s determined to do it. The trouble is she has to work with Isaac Alexander, an irresponsible charmer with whom she shares an uneasy history.

On the heels of this good news/bad news opportunity, Sloane finds a bald spot on her head. The pink patch, no bigger than a quarter, shouldn't be there. Neither should the bald spots that follow. Horror gives way to devastation when Sloane is diagnosed with alopecia areata. The autoimmune disease has no cause, no cure and no definitive outcome. The spots might grow over tomorrow or they might be there for life. She could become completely bald. No one knows.

Determined to produce her video and keep her condition secret, Sloane finds herself turning into the kind of person she has always mocked: someone obsessed with their looks. She’s also forced to confront a painful truth: she is as judgmental as anyone else…but she saves the harshest judgments for herself.


DISCLAIMER: I was sent this book for review. That does not influence my opinion.

Thoughts:

If I could give one piece of advice to every teenager in the world, it would be this;
"Don't judge anyone until you have talked with them." That's something everyone should follow. You don't know what others are going through, so don't judge them. 

I thought that this book was good. The kind of contemporary that I read the most is light and fluffy and usually takes place on the beach in the summer. This book was not light or fluffy. It also didn't take place in the summer. This book was deep. It really was. 

This book did take awhile for me to get into. That part I didn't like. As well as how I sorta predicted the ending. In the middle of the book, I could already tell what the ending was going to be. 

I thought that the main character Sloane was really well developed. I did like her a lot, though I couldn't relate to her much. She stayed strong when she knew she was losing her hair. She found every reason to be happy. 

This is the first Laura Langston book I have read, and I would definitely read another. I thought the book was really well written. I would recommend it to teens and adults alike.


-Adelia