Lisbeth is a superficial 19-year-old Jersey girl that lives at home, works at a diner, and has no ambition. Her best friend Jess is an intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Through her, Lisbeth has a chance to try on the original dress made for Audrey Hepburn, whom she is obsessed with. One thing leads to another and Lisbeth enters the world of high society trust fund babies that she aspires to join. Of course, she has to keep her Jersey identity a secret from her new celebrity circle.

Young Adult- 16 and up

There's a little jewel hidden in the storyline concerning Lisbeth's Nan. I think if it had been explored further the book went in a better direction for all involved.

At the beginning of the book, Lisbeth comes off a little shallow and selfish. She treats her friends and family badly in pursuit of finding herself. As the story progresses, her behavior worsens. The author seems to rush through scenes involving her family while painfully dragging out scenes that involve the upper class.

The first half of the book moved slow. As I grew impaitent for it to pick up, the plot twisted and moved too fast. Surely there could have been a way to even out the pace.

I want to know why an old man thinks it's a good idea for the first book he writes to be about partying teenage girls?

Oldish.

Mitchell Kriegman was the creator of the 90's Nickelodeon show "Clarissa Explains It All".
This was his first novel.

It's nice to play pretend and ignore the real world every now and then.

The one thing that kills all the enjoyable parts of this book for me is the wreckless behaviour that comes across acceptable. Not just underage drinking, but underage drinking and driving. In fact, Lisbeth gets onto the back of Jake's motorcycle knowing he is drunk and he races someone to the next party. Afterward, she acts like it's no big deal. Probably because she has been drinking too. As a parent, it's difficult to read this without thinking about my own teenagers.

I'm disturbed that this book is billed as grade 8 and up by the School Library Journal. While I don't condone censorship, I wouldn't advertise something inappropriate to a young audience on purpose.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Being Audrey Hepburn: A Novel   from Amazon.Com!

Created Jan 11, 2019 at 10:13pm • Submit your own review...