Fly on the Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything

by E. Lockhart

At the Manhattan School for Arts, where everyone is 'different' and everyone is 'special', Gretchen Yee feels ordinary. She sits alone at lunch, drawing pictures of spider-man, so she won't have to talk to anyone; has a crush on Titus but won't do anything about it and has no one to hang out with when her best (and only real) friend Katya is busy. One day, Gretchen wishes that she could be a fly on the wall in the boys' locker room - just to learn more about guys. What are they really like? What are they really cretins most of the time? "Fly on the Wall" is the story of how that wish comes true.

• ISBN10: 1417812605
• ISBN13: 9781417812608
• Publish Date: 13 November 2007 (first published 1 March 2006)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 7 April 2021
• Imprint: Turtleback Books
• Edition: Bound for Schools & Libraries ed.
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 192
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Gretchen was ordinary in a place where everyone aspired to be extraordinary. She felt sort of isolated, and that isolation worsened, when her family began falling apart, and her best friend had grown distant. After making an off-handed comment about wishing she was a fly on the wall, she awakens to her own Kafka-esque metamorphosis.

I come back to Lockhart's books, time and time again, because not only does she craft some fantastic and witty characters, she does a great job of approaching familiar things in interesting ways. If you take away the time Gretchen spent as a fly, this is a fairly common story about a teen trying to fit in and figure things out for herself. Gretchen was young, only 16, and she still had a lot to learn. However, she mostly kept herself closed off, and failed to make those connections with people, which allow you to see them, understand them, and be understood by them.

Thus began her life as a fly on the wall. This was Gretchen gaining a new perspective. She thought boys were such an enigma, but after a week of closely observing them, she began to see that they shared many of her same issues and fears. She felt isolated and alone, and she discovered that someone had seen her. Gretchen lacked the courage to act on her crush or even to wear that short skirt, only to find out that even some of the most popular and confident boys suffered body image and other self esteem issues. She gained a new respect for some of her classmates, while adjusting her opinion of others. This experience was a kick start for her, to push herself a bit, and to open her eyes and ears to those around her.

Gretchen may have started out as a bit of a negative Nelly, but she emerged from her life as a vermin with a new attitude and a new point of view. This story just shows how much can be accomplished by just changing your perspective.

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