Frankie Laudau-Banks starts her sophomore year at the prestigious Alabaster Preparatory Academy as a new woman. Having recently acquired a curvy figure and a pretty face over the summer, Frankie quickly wins the attention of senior Matthew Livingston, the most popular boy at school.
As Matthew's new girlfriend, Frankie joins his social circle and quickly realizes that Matthew has secrets that he will not share. She is never allowed to completely join his world and he has no desire to be a part of her world.
Frankie knows things have got to change. With her keen mind, she devises and almost perfectly executes a plan to secretly infiltrate Matthew's world in order to prove her value.
This social commentary was about power, control, sexism and feminism, underestimation, social classes, loyalty, and secrets.
This author sees people and their motivations clearly and writes an impactful story about the power and control people wield over one another.
Some of my favorite parts were the interactions Frankie had with popular kids who pretended to either not know who she was nor remember previous conversations that they had had with her. Hailing from the east coast myself, in a sea of elite private and prep schools, this was familiar territory to me and a situation I experienced more than once into adulthood.
"Frankie was beginning to realize that the kind of selective memory exhibited by Dean, Star, and their ilk was neither stupidity nor poor recollection. It was a power play - possibly subconscious on the part of the player - but nevertheless intended to discomfit another person who was in some way perceived as a threat" (pg. 81).
There was dialogue between characters that was laugh-out-loud clever. There is virtually no profanity but there are a couple of references to drugs and alcohol. And a few more references to sex. Just thought you'd like to know. As a mom and a teacher, I like to know those things. The book would still have been fabulous without these references, but I think the author wanted to keep things really real - so whatevs.
This book has great potential in the 9th grade or so classroom. The following ideas could be used as writing prompts or small group research about women who made a difference:
Discuss the theme of feminism in E. Lockhart's "The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks." Is Frankie a feminist? What makes her a feminist? How does she use these feminist ideas in order to make her points? Are her points made well, or are they misinterpreted? Why?
Why does Frankie infiltrate and use the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds to her own advantages? Was this a smart thing to have done? Was Frankie successful in her efforts, even though she was ultimately caught? Why or why not?
Discuss the theme of patriarchy in E. Lockhart's "The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks". In what ways is patriarchy present at the campus? Do you think this is willingly done? Why or why not? Do you believe that even if the patriarchal control is deliberate at Alabaster, it matters? Why or why not?
(retrieved from http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-the-disreputable-history-of-frankie-landaubanks/topicsfordiscussion.html#gsc.tab=0)
This is on my reading list! It seems like an interesting read. I often wonder why girls/women allow themselves to be treated like what is described in your summary. I'm looking forward to reading about the power people have, especially teenagers and their peers!
ReplyDelete