American Beauty (Abbey Lemanski)

American Beauty by Zoey Dean
Little Brown and Company
278 pages
This is the seventh A-list novel that I have read I got the first one from Morgan.
In this book, the seniors are finally graduating from Beverly Hills High. Although this should be an exciting time for Anna, Cammie, Sam, Parker, Dee and Adam, many conflicts come up. Anna’s boyfriend Ben has been acting sketchy so Anna is not enjoying the graduation festivities. Cammie and Adam are trying to get to the bottom of Cammie’s mothers death. Sam is trying to get her boyfriend back after cheating on him at prom. Dee and her boyfriend are the only ones that are happy to be finally graduating. Graduation finally comes and after it occurs everyone seems to be somewhat satisfied with their lives. For the night they move on from their problems and enjoy themselves.
The audience for this book would be teenage girls. This book is very easy to relate to because the main characters go through the same conflicts in high school that we experience every day.
The style of this novel is realistic. In the A-list novels there is constantly drama between friends and boyfriends. “You just don’t get it, Ben. I don’t think you should have had sex with her unless you loved her. You can call me old-fashioned or the moral police or whatever the flip thing you want to call me. I don’t really care,” (Dean 239). This is constant bickering between Anna and Ben which happens in my everyday life
“’You know that thing about blood being thicker than water?’ Sam asked. ‘total bullshit. Family is who you choose.’” (Dean 260). In the novel there are a lot of family issues and it really makes me realize how important family really is.
“Oh yeah. I’ve got it, she marveled. Revenge, payback, retaliation, counterattack, reciprocation, reprisal, antipardon, vengeance, petty spiteful behavior that made a person feel great. In other words, how to make Stefanie sorry that she ever, ever messed with Cammie’s best friend,” (Dean 203). This quote really stood out to me because the first sentence can almost sum up all of the A-list novels. Everyone in the book is very caddy and these words show that.
“Cammie folded her arms. ‘we can definitely do lunch. But we’re also going to do this. I know you were screwing Sam’s mother. The police report says you were all on the boat the night that mom died. So it’s time you told the truth. A simple yes or no will suffice. Did you kill mom?’” (Dean 118). This quote was the climax of the book. This is a very powerful question to ask her father and after this all the answers for everyone comes out.
This book is a very easy book to interact with. Due to the fact that the characters are all seniors in high school they have many of the problems that I have in my life. There are always conflicts between friends and boyfriends in the novel that I also deal with. This book also helps me realize how important friends and family can be. It is helpful to see who your real friends are and who isn’t. All of the characters have messed of families. It makes me very grateful to have a functioning family and I am very glad I do not have to deal with a lot of the stuff that the characters have to deal with.