Saturday, June 30, 2012

Review: The Market by J. M. Steele


The Market
The Market by J. M. Steele
Published: June 9th, 2009
Publisher: Hyperion (Disney)
Pages: 336


My Review:

This book followed Kate, on her rise to the top of the social ladder. In her senior year, after four years of being unnoticed, she begins to find the number: 71 plastered in various parts of her life. That number leads her to find the Market, a website that ranks the 140 senior girls of her high school, and Kate is horrified to learn she is #71. Her and her friends devise a plan to get to the top.

I've never read a book with this plot basis before, and I was excited to start it. It proved to be just another high school novel though. Predictable plot twists, naive characters, lots of obsessing over boys. The only part that surprised me was the end. It was a bad feeling of surprise though, and I was a bit disappointed. The end was impossible to predict, and what happened was rather out of the blue--which is why I was wary of it. The fact that it was out of the norm was a good addition though, and I appreciate it for that.

There were a few little things that borderline offended me. More than once the author used 'retarted' (page 241 for example) and also 'schizo' (page 242) as a derogatory. I don't even need to explain why I dislike that.

I wouldn't go out of my way to read this, but I recommend it if it sounds really creative to you, as it did to me.




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