The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (National Book Award Finalist)

by E. Lockhart

Sophomore Frankie starts dating senior Matthew Livingston, but when he refuses to talk about the all-male secret society that he and his friends belong to, Frankie infiltrates the society in order to enliven their mediocre pranks.

• ISBN10: 0786838191
• ISBN13: 9780786838196
• Publish Date: 1 August 2009 (first published 1 March 2008)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Hyperion
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

I bought this book when I was at YallFest back in 2015. I waited on line, and got it signed by E. Lockhart, and then, I never read it. I am sort of kicking myself for sitting on it for long, because I enjoyed every second of this book. Frankie was a great character. I loved her sense of humor, but also really appreciated being in her head, because there was A LOT going on up there. I found myself getting lost in her thoughts, and found that her thoughts provoked my thoughts. This was a really entertaining and interesting story of a young woman's self discovery.

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[Kelly]

3½ Stars
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2015/01/the-disreputable-history-of-frankie.html
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks is sassy and intelligent with a touch of feminism. It follows the story of Frankie, her father's Bunny Rabbit and the girl who blends into life as just another teen in the crowd. Not anymore. Frankie was once the unassuming girl, but at just the mention of the Basset Hounds, finds herself on the defensive. Her father was once a member, and the secretive all boys exclusive club is about to find themselves as mere puppets in Frankie's game.

Frankie is sassy, impulsive and tends to fly off the handle when she feels she's being excluded or judged. So when Matthew shows an interest in getting to know her, Frankie is wary of his motives. But as their relationship develops, it's clear she's sharing his affections with best friend and apparent leader of the Basset Hounds, Alpha. Time and time again, Frankie is pushed aside, until she decides to take matters into her own hands.

The storyline is incredibly slow to start. Frankie is intelligent and self aware, but comes across as pretentious and self centered at times. Her quick wit and cunning is her downfall. I wavered between admiration towards Frankie wanting to infiltrate the Basset Hounds, to loathing her argumentative streak. Secondary characters Matthew, Alpha, her best friend and also former boyfriend barely rate a mention. Although present, their characters are only surface deep and aren't developed any further than their part in Frankie's storyline. Told in third person narrative, I felt I couldn't connect with Frankie and her plight for equality sadly.

Regardless, it was entertaining once the storyline picked up. Fans of Melina Marchetta's Looking for Alibrandi and Saving Francesca will enjoy this one. It's clever, wonderfully written and serves up sassy young adult feminism.

[lizarodz]

For some reason it took me a while to get into the story. Maybe is the unespected narrative style the author used. Anyway, after a few chapters I really started to get into the story, but I couldn't get past the ending. I thought that they senior group (and I don't blame Frankie for falling in love with all of them, since I did too!) would understand Frankie, her motivations, and admire her instead of the rejection she got at the end. I didn't like it at all, it ruined the book for me!