The School for Dangerous Girls - Eliot Schrefer

Synopsis

Bookmooch: Angela's parents think she's on the road to ruin because she's dating a "bad boy." After her behavior gets too much for them, they ship her off to Hidden Oak. Isolated and isolating, Hidden Oak promises to rehabilitate "dangerous girls." But as Angela gets drawn in further and further, she discovers that recovery is only on the agenda for the "better" girls. The other girls -- designated as "the purple thread" -- will instead be manipulated to become more and more dangerous . . . and more and more reliant on Hidden Oak's care.

Thoughts

This was another novel I was surprised by. I was expecting lots of lol's and like omg! However, it quickly captured my attention with the mystery behind this school. It had a gripping, and unique story line. While many of the girls have real problems, not all do. Separated into two groups - those that can be helped and those that can't, you discover the huge differences in the treatment. One group learns how to be assimilated into society. When the main character - who finds out she is borderline on the to groups - acts out again, she is thrown into a basement where the girls act like gangs and remain unsupervised except for the cruel and inhumane punishment doled out by the faculty. As I read the story I was overcome with the injustice of these treatments and caught up in how the heroine was going to escape this situation. Unfortunately after all the tension, the ending was a let down. All of a sudden things just sort themselves out. Although the heroine catalyzes this action, it doesn't really explain how that happened and what happened in the process of this solution and a few of the characters are just kind of written out. Although I enjoyed the spy-like aspect to this and found the story line, it wasn't very believable. The situations and many of the characters just didn't seem real.

Overall

Intriguing, but in the end a bit of a let down. Worth reading if you have absolutely nothing else to do and need to pass the time. A quick read.

Recommended for:
Young adult readers