I should be posting about Frank Beddor’s The Looking Glass Wars which I finished two days ago. Except for the fact that I picked this book up as soon as I had finished reading The Looking Glass Wars, and there hasn’t been a free moment since then when I haven’t been reading Audrey, Wait! Yes, it was that good.
I’m going to start by saying that anyone who knows there is nothing better than the thrill you get when a band you love first walks on stage, whether it be in a small, dirty, sketchy bar or a large concert venue, will get this book. You will highly enjoy this book. You may even love it as I have loved it.
Audrey, Wait! is the story of Audrey, a teen girl who finds herself thrown into unwanted stardom when the breakup song her ex-boyfriend wrote for her launched his music career. It’s hard to be a normal 16 year old high school girl when the whole world knows who you are, Audrey is quickly learning. Paparazzi are following her around, publications are constantly calling for interviews, fans start showing up on her doorstep, her school and her part-time job. But things aren’t all bad for Audrey – at least according to her best friend Victora, who is all over the idea of Audrey getting all sorts of free stuff now that she’s a celebrity. But seriously, how can you go out on a date with the cute guy you work with if you can’t go anywhere without all sorts of people showing up just to see you?
The first thing that struck me about this book was that the author obviously had great taste in music. And when I say great, I mean, MAN. Just take a look at the soundtrack – Death Cab? Panic at the Disco? Not to mention that The Clash and The Ramones are both mentioned in the book. The only group the author missed is The Juliana Theory, and then it could’ve practically been called “The Book That Mentions All of Courtney’s Favourite Bands.”
Once I got over that fact, I started loving the book for the characters in it – most particularly Audrey. Audrey is awesome. Although she became a hermit for a time to avoid all the craziness that seemed to be surrounding her all of a sudden, she ended up overcoming her fear of it, and showing the world that she really is nothing more than a typical high school girl.
The book was more enjoyable than other books of the sort where the main character all of a sudden becomes the center of the world’s attention, and certainly came across as much more realistic. The only thing that got on my nerves with this book was the cover – at first I loved it. It still looks great as a small thumbnail. But the typography in parts really bother me now – the spacing between the letters is so noticeable in some places that it is now all I can see when looking at the cover. Alas!
ANYWAY, highly recommend this book. Highly.
I loved this book as well! I’m writing my review of it right now actually. What caught your eye about the type spacing on the cover? I’m trying to figure it out.
Alea
July 4th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Alea – If you take a look at the title in the stripes where the text isn’t black, the spacing between the letters isn’t visually even. For example, take a look at the title right between the girl’s legs on the cover – the spacing between the first letters of the name “Audrey” looks so much bigger than the spacing between the last letters in the word “Wait”. It is probably the exact same amount of space, but in order to make it more visually pleasing, the designer should have adjusted the spacing between all the letters so it wasn’t the exact same amount of space, but so it LOOKED like the same amount of space…. does that make sense? (As a graphic designer, these things jump out at me, unfortunately.)
Court
July 4th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Ok that’s what I figured you meant but I wasn’t exactly sure. What bothers me even more than type is when images are cut out from their backgrounds really badly. Extra pieces of a hand… hands that are partly see-through, those are the last two i saw. Yeah being a graphic designer allows us a different eye than most of the world, but I wouldn’t trade it! ;)
Alea
July 5th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Alea – Oooh, you understand then!! How lovely! :) And yes, images cut badly from the backgrounds are bothersome. Extremely so.
Court
July 5th, 2008 at 1:51 pm