Lang Leav proves that the power of social media can influence the success of a writer in our age of technology with her past works including poetry anthologies like Love A Misadventure, The Universe of Us, Memories, and Lullabies. All have gained remarkable criticism regarding the subjects that they approached, such as relationships and most importantly, personal emotions. However, Leav departed from her anthologies to publish her debut novel, Sad Girls.
Sad Girls tells the story of Audrey, a young adult who spreads a lie that causes Ana, a local girl, to commit suicide. Her panic attacks began from that point on. She meets the deceased girl’s boyfriend, Rad, who begins to change the way she sees herself and the world. And leaves her friend’s funeral to run off with their boyfriend. Already, this means trouble for her personal life and for the people around her. As a result of the choices that she makes over the course of the book like this one, they make her out to be an irritable character for the reader.
Sad Girls tells the story of Audrey, a young adult who spreads a lie that causes Ana, a local girl, to commit suicide. Her panic attacks began from that point on. She meets the deceased girl’s boyfriend, Rad, who begins to change the way she sees herself and the world. And leaves her friend’s funeral to run off with their boyfriend. Already, this means trouble for her personal life and for the people around her. As a result of the choices that she makes over the course of the book like this one, they make her out to be an irritable character for the reader.
The character development was horrid. Audrey was a protagonist who seemed to want to make growth, but remained static towards the end. She remained a selfish character who feigned caring for the wellbeing of others and at the end, never became sincere. Audrey’s friends were merely sidekicks to motivate Audrey in her decisions. As much as Leav tried to flesh them out with minimal background information, I did not empathize with their prospective situations in the book at all. They were only there to support Audrey in her ventures throughout the story.
The book had the potential to elaborate on reactions toward Ana’s suicide and her panic attacks. Readers could have related to Audrey’s panic attacks if Leav better executed writing about these situations. But the panic attacks were only used as a plot device to begin the story and even more so, almost practically forgotten by the time the book has ended. Ana was forgotten as well and it was like she didn’t matter to the book anymore now that Audrey got with her love interest, Rad. As for Rad’s character, he was unnecessary and was used as a plot twist that was completely last minute.
Sad Girls ended with a disappointing ending that seemed to have no resolution for any of the characters or the situation of Ana’s suicide. Leav’s writing still managed to leave an impression that was reminiscent of her poetry work. Throughout the book, Leav wrote so poetically that it made everything practically sound ethereal. However, Leav did not do well in writing a full novel. The only credit I can give Sad Girls is its beautiful, minimalistic cover. From now on, Leav should just stick to poetry.
The book had the potential to elaborate on reactions toward Ana’s suicide and her panic attacks. Readers could have related to Audrey’s panic attacks if Leav better executed writing about these situations. But the panic attacks were only used as a plot device to begin the story and even more so, almost practically forgotten by the time the book has ended. Ana was forgotten as well and it was like she didn’t matter to the book anymore now that Audrey got with her love interest, Rad. As for Rad’s character, he was unnecessary and was used as a plot twist that was completely last minute.
Sad Girls ended with a disappointing ending that seemed to have no resolution for any of the characters or the situation of Ana’s suicide. Leav’s writing still managed to leave an impression that was reminiscent of her poetry work. Throughout the book, Leav wrote so poetically that it made everything practically sound ethereal. However, Leav did not do well in writing a full novel. The only credit I can give Sad Girls is its beautiful, minimalistic cover. From now on, Leav should just stick to poetry.