The Lifeboat Clique

by Kathy Parks

Mean Girls meets Life of Pi in this darkly humorous, compulsively readable teen novel that's perfect for fans of Libba Bray and Andrew Smith. A hilariously dark and twisted story that sparkles with a remarkably fresh voice, The Lifeboat Clique is Kathy Parks's irreverent yet insightful novel about how to survive in the most unthinkable circumstances.

Some people might say that Denver has a death wish. Why else would she dare to sneak into a Malibu beach party where she'd be surrounded by enemies?

Oh yeah. Croix. Denver never thought in a million years he'd ask her out, but who is she to question this miracle of fate?

Well, that isn't the only surprise fate has in store.

During the party a tsunami hits the coast of California, and Denver and a handful of others escape death and are swept out to sea. Of course, one of her fellow castaways is none other than her ex-BFF, Abigail, who can barely stand the sight of her.

Trapped on a small boat with the most popular kids in school and waiting to be rescued, Denver wonders what might kill her first-dehydration, sunstroke, or the girl she used to think of as a sister?

• ISBN10: 0062393960
• ISBN13: 9780062393968
• Publish Date: 1 March 2016
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I have read two of Parks' books, and both had some interesting setups. Here we have a group of kids adrift after a tsunami fighting for their lives, but there was also one girl, who was sort of fighting for her friendship.

I enjoyed the flashbacks, and finding out what lead to the demise of Denver and Abigail's friendship, and I admired Denver's smarts, when it came to survival skills. It was humorous and intense at times, but also very honest in its assessment of high school dynamics. The story was a bit on the dark side, but I still very entertaining.

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[whisperingchapters]

This was.... Interesting, to say the least. I was expecting something fun and light but I got much more than that. Denver moved to California and let's just say she isn't used to all the earthquakes—she freaked out at school when everyone else was calm and collected. The same day, she gets invited by Croix, someone who's very popular at school. At the party, she's finally talking to Croix when an earthquake happens... Then another... Next thing she knows, there's a tsunami.

This book deals with survival. Denver is stranded on a boat with people who don't like her at all but they all have to get along in order to survive. There's also loss and this, I wasn't expecting. Many students lost their lives in this tsunami and that was such a shock to me. I honestly expected this to be all a dream and Denver would wake up soon, but no. It was real! That made this book very realistic to me and I was able to enjoy it even more.

Overall, this story was unexpected and enjoyable despite all the negative things happening in the story.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
I have such mixed feelings about this one. It was a quick read, and entertaining, but at times it felt like it was missing something, or perhaps the friendship-meets-tsunami thing didn't mesh together as well as I would have liked.

The Good:

• Like I said, it was entertaining. I mean, it's about a tsunami and a life raft, so it should (and did!) have an element of excitement. And there were flashbacks to life before, which was good, because I think a whole book about a raft would have been very monotonous. This way, it was broken up well, and we got to learn a lot about the characters then and now.


• The main themes of the book were survival and friendship, and that is a definite win! I love a good survival book, so that was absolutely the best part for me!


• Denver could be really funny at times. Even in the midst of a bad situation, her humor stood out. She also was pretty good at keeping herself and her companions going day after day. And the other characters, while initially not my favorites ever, did start to grow on me.

The Not-So-Good:

• I know that it's a book about teens, but I am pretty sure petty bullshit doesn't stand the test of a tsunami? I might be wrong, I guess we could throw some young enemies out into a storm... no, wait, let's not do that. My point is, sometimes you have to bury the hatchet when you're trying to not die, and it didn't seem terribly realistic that they didn't.


• Really, none of the situation was realistic. I was able to overlook that for the sake of entertainment, but I do think it's worth mentioning.


• Denver was also a bit "holier-than-thou" at times. Were the "cool kids" always nice? Goodness no. But I don't think feeling superior is helping anything either.


• I didn't feel very emotionally connected, even when I should have. I think that the implausibility and the drama probably was the cause, but when I should have felt a lot of things, I didn't.


• The end was just too easy. It seemed really anti-climactic to me, and I felt really underwhelmed.

Bottom Line: Like I said, a mixed bag. Entertaining? Absolutely. But some of the flaws did interfere with my ability to enjoy the story.

*Copy provided by publisher for review

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

I read The Lifeboat Clique in just a couple of hours back in August. I wanted a quick read, and it was sitting there staring at me so I picked it up. I got exactly what I was expecting: a fast read without much emotional connection.

The plot of The Lifeboat Clique is what initially drew me in. There is an earthquake off the coast of California, which results in a tsunami, which results in a teenagers' house party being ruined and several of them being killed or dragged out to sea. Our main character, Denver, is an outcast and is stuck on a lifeboat with a bunch of mean girls.

I really enjoyed the narrative of this book. The satirical and dark humour was amusing, and it kept me going even though I felt little-to-no connection with Denver at all. It reminded me a bit of Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, but less over the top and just all round better.

I was thoroughly enjoying the story until a scene towards the end, in which the main character eats raw eggs to stay alive. Raw, fertlised eggs, since they didn't have access to chickens or a farmyard. It was a stupid plot point, and it feels stupid to get caught up on it, but it pulled me out of the story. a) the eggs were FERTILISED, and b) are they not worried about food poisoning, which could result in sickness, and thus dehydration, and thus DEATH?

But anyway, The Lifeboat Clique was fairly enjoyable, to a point. I wouldn't go crazy for it, though.