The Clique

Lisi Harrison

Published: 2004

224 Pages

Rating: C-




Synopsis:

Massie Block: With her glossy brunette bob and laser-whitened smile, Massie is the uncontested ruler of The Clique and the rest of the social scene at Octavian Country Day School, an exclusive private girls' school in Westchester County, New York. Massie knows you'd give anything to be just like her.

Dylan Marvil: Massie's second in command who divides her time between sucking up to Massie and sucking down Atkins Diet shakes.

Alicia Rivera: As sneaky as she is beautiful, Alicia floats easily under adult radar because she seems so "sweet." Would love to take Massie's throne one day. Just might.

Kristen Gregory: She's smart, hardworking, and will insult you to tears faster than you can say "my haircut isn't ugly!"

Enter Claire Lyons, the new girls from Florida in Keds and two-year-old Gap overalls, who is clearly not Clique material. Unfortunately for her, Claire's family is staying in the guesthouse on Massie's family's huge estate while they look for a new home. Claire's future looks worse than a bad Prada knockoff. But with a little luck and a lot of scheming, Claire might just come up smelling like Chanel No. 19. . . .The Clique . . . the only thing harder than getting in is staying in.

Review:

I'd like to first apologize in advance if I'm dissing your favorite series; I definitely know how that feels and wouldn't want to make anyone feel bad.

When Claire moves to Westchester, NY, she kind notices how everyone at her school is rich and instantly catches the bad vibes from Massie, the daughter of the family she's staying with. She just keeps trying and trying to fit in with Massie and "the pretty committee" and that might be the thing that really got on my nerves. She isn't a strong character, she just keeps trying and trying and is so desperate-like. I really liked her the way she was before she got all caught up in petty, prissy fights.

I guess I can see why this book is so popular with the "tween" crowd, but I just could not get into it. It was an easy read but the amount of superficiality and corniness completely turned me off. As soon as I read the phrase "Eh. Ma. God", I kind of knew that this wasn't exactly my type of book.

The movie however, was kind of just as average and corny as the book, but it was funnier and cuter. It's kind of like a Mini-Mean Girls story if you think about it.

I guess if you're 14 and under, give it a try. But if you're older, I predict that this will at the most be a guilty pleasure.

-B