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Pretty Girl -13 by Liz Coley is the book I've decided to review. It was such a beautiful but horrifying story, and I loved it! Hopefully you will too!! Hands down, a must read.
Enjoy <3
*Spoiler alert*
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Liz Coley’s powerful and mysterious
psychological novel, “Pretty Girl -13”, contains a unique story about a teen aged
girl who suffers from a personality disorder called, Dissociated Identity Disorder
(otherwise known as DID). DID is a rare disorder some may develop when the
brain tries to protect oneself from a serious traumatizing event, or event(s).
It does this by creating multiple personalities that can “take over” when the
main personality is confronted with a situation that may be too overwhelming for
them. Usually, the main personality is unaware of the others, which is where
Angela’s heartfelt story begins. Coley writes in 3rd person through
Angela’s experiences making this unusual story easier to relate to. While DID
is an off-beat topic, readers will be instantly hooked as Angel’s jaw dropping
experience is revealed. Coley manages to bring her story to life by; creating extreme
suspense on Angela’s adventure to the truth, by generating a connection between
the main character and her young adult audience and by exhibiting the very real
struggle of finding one’s “true self” through tragedy.
Although this is an informational
novel, Coley succeeds in making the story more interesting by using immense
amounts of suspense throughout the entirety of it. First and foremost, Coley
captures the audience by a flashback of the moments before Angela is kidnapped,
which is consequently the last thing she remembers. The actual story itself
starts 3 years later with a confused Angela coming home to ecstatic parents;
they haven’t seen her in three years.”She could not have been missing for three
years. That was not the kind of thing a person would… just forget.” To come to
the conclusion as to why Angela has forgotten the 3 years of her kidnapping,
and what exactly she has forgotten (who kidnapped her, where was she, what
happened to her while she was held captive), she decides to see a therapist
where she then finds out she has a rare case of DID. The therapist, Doctor
Grant, soon realizes that Angela has several personalities (or alters) that
have formed while she was missing to help protect her from the horrors she went
through. Readers will be hooked from cover to cover as Angela discovers the truth
behind her alters and what they know. The best novels and stories are the ones
that keep you on the edge of your seat, and Coley perfects the art of suspense
in “Pretty Girl -13”.
Every skilled author can generate a
connection between their readers and their main characters. Coley masters this
when Angela returns to school and is faced with the cruel reality of how much
her friends she had, has changed. Although Angela is still trying to cope with DID,
she decides to try to live a normal life, by going back to school. She is
placed in lower grade than what kids her age are attending, but she still
experiences the complications of being a teenage girl. Angela’s old friend,
Kate, takes pleasure in teaching Angela the cruel “rules” of High School, “Everything’s
a contest. Popularity, love, grades, success. You just have to learn the
contest rules.” In this point of the story, Kate is trying to explain why
Angela’s old friends are popular and Kate herself is not. When Angela makes the
decision to hang out with Kate, she finds she’ll be an outcast as well. “Can we
be lepers together?” Every girl can correlate with Angela’s situation in
school, we all know how terrible High School can be, but Angela decides not to
play by the ludicrous rules her peers live by. Instead, she chooses to be true
to herself and the people she cares for. Angela teaches young women to love who
you are, and not be assumed of where you come from.
Towards the end, Angela learns to
communicate with her alters and discovers the horrors they have witnessed. Angela
desperately wants them gone, but soon realizes that some make up who she is
while others are too dangerous to be a part of her. Angela’s last conflict is deciding
which alters to keep, and make whole, and which to destroy. There’s an old Indian
tale that relates to this;
One evening an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a
battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two
‘wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow,
regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies,
false pride, superiority, and ego.
The
other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness,
benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.’
The
grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: ‘Which
wolf wins?’
The
old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed.’
This
is, more or less, the struggle Angela faces when she decides which alters to destroy,
and which to keep forever. She learns about the destructive, slutty, good do-er, young, and damaged parts of herself, and
decides what traits she wants forever, and which she should live without.
Although Angela’s story is more extreme than the usual, everyone can relate to
the struggle of feeding your “good and bad wolf”.
In conclusion, Liz Coley did a
fantastic job of stepping outside of the norm and creating a story anyone can
relate to. This face paced, psychological book will have you at the edge of
your seat as Angela’s journey unfolds. In conclusion, Pretty Girl - 13 is truly
an amazing, inspirational book you’ll never want to set down.
