Viola in Reel Life
by Adriana Trigiani
Release date September 1, 2009
Shipped off to boarding school in South Bend, Indiana, city girl and aspiring filmmaker Viola Chesterton feels out of place with her three new roommates. Missing her life back home, Viola is tempted to hide behind her video camera all year. But first impressions are often wrong, and soon Viola realizes she’s in for the most incredible year of her life—if only she can put the camera down and let the world in.
When I was in high school and unhappy with my life as most teenagers are a time or two...I would beg my parents to send me away to boarding school or for the chance to be a foreign exchange student. Well, that never happened and if it did I certainly wouldn't have dreamt about a boarding school in Indiana (I always thought of Switzerland or something!)
Alas, this is where we find Viola... in Indiana at the Prefect Academy for Young Women. An especially hard transition, especially when your home is Brooklyn, New York!
Viola is definitely suffering from culture shock ...goodbye bustling metropolis...hello endless fields of corn! When she gets to school and decides to film the building and grounds, she later discovers a mysterious image of a ghostly lady in red in her footage. This isn't something she's really anxious to disclose to anyone...especially her new roommates who might think shes a little crazy.
At first Viola is resistant to bonding with her roommates, in fact she is dead set on getting a single room when one comes available. She just wants to do her time and then get back to Brooklyn and her best friends Andrew (so what if he's a guy, he still her BFFAA) and Caitlin.
I really enjoyed this book and I especially enjoyed how the main focus of the book was about Viola and how she deals with new friends, being away from home and focusing on what she loves to do best...filming with her camera. Don't get me wrong, I love the romance as much as the next gal (and we find that here in this story too) but its nice to have it be a side story with the main focus being on a strong female lead and the relationships she builds on her new journey.
Wonderful writing and a little bit of something for everyone, friendship, romance and even a little mystery! Appropriate for middle school and up.
Check out the author's website to find out more about the book www.adrianatrigiani.com
3 comments:
I swear to you I'm the only one that didn't like this book. I thought it was trying to be realistic to the point of being unrealistic and I was bored for most of it. Blah!
Hey, it happens to everyone...I've read books most people have raved about and I'm like "eh, whatever" I swear sometimes I have to be in the "mood" to read a certain genre of book!
I agree with Darcy - you have to be in the mood. I loved this book but one of the teacher's I work with thought it was too slow. She also mostly reads YA so that is also a factor. I do love that she will at least try any book that I give her!
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