The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Recommended to 15+ due to high school issues, underage drinking, and discussion about sex
2/5 stars
2/5 on the Happiness Meter
Genre: Realistic Fiction/Boarding School Novel

This book tells the tale of Frankie Landau-Banks, a girl who is tired of being viewed as young and innocent by everyone. And so, without really trying (at least not at first), she reinvents her image. Over the summer of her freshman year and her sophomore year she becomes beautiful, gone are the images of an awkward, gawky girl, replaced by that of a confident woman who knows what she wants...and she wants senior Matthew Livingston. What luck that she finally draws his attention! But when Matthew refuses to take her seriously she takes things into her own hands. She's heard of the mysterious Order of the Basset Hounds, after all, her father was one of them. When Frankie realizes that Matthew is the leader of the Bassets, she quickly figures out how to infiltrate the club without the boys even knowing.

What to say about this book....I suppose it can best be said in an Adbook post I wrote:

...I find the tone of the narrator condescending and irritating. It is as if the author is playing at making sociological assessments and, in my opinion, failing dismally. While the narrator does not outrightly say, "Domestic arts are a waste of time and only 'boy' pursuits matter," her tone says it for her. For example, when Frankie is talking to her roommate Trish about going out to the woods to drink beer with the ever so amazing Matthew (who, frankly, is really a jerk). Just to recap, Frankie feels bad that Trish is not invited and Trish says that that is not really her
scene anyway. She tells Frankie that, while she was at home, she had stopped going to her older brothers' booze parties in favor of watching movies with her parents and making crumbles. Frankie's reaction:

"Frankie found her friend's attitude infuriating. By opting out of what the boys were doing in favor of a typically feminine pursuit, Trish had closed a door...[s]ure, she was still invited. She could open the door again. But another summer spent making crumbles in the kitchen, and the boys would stop asking her to come out. Instead they'd expect warm dessert to be waiting for them on their return" (68)

First of all, I do realize that this is Frankie's opinion and not that of the narrator. Nevertheless, it is rather maddening. Does she really think that A) boys still subscribe to such old-fashioned ideas? That they would really expect their younger sister to be meeting them at the door a la stereotypical 50s housewife with a smile on her face and a crumble in her hands? Really? I don't think I've ever met a boy that would express such expectations. B) The way in which this paragraph is written is...well...infuriating. Frankie clearly thinks that drinking beer is superior to crumble making simply because whatever the boys are doing has to be better than anything girlsare doing. I suppose I should make allowances as Frankie is a fictional character, only a
sophomore in high school, and clearly hasn't been to a party that has lots of alcohol.

The second example is much to long to quote in full but can be found in its entirety on pgs. 84-86. The narrator describes three type of women: those who do not try to understand stereotypical male pursuits, those who participate half-heartedly because they are the girlfriends of these boys and want to seem supportive, and finally those girls who participate whole-heartedly and therefore earn the respect of males. What to say... First of all, I think this is an extreme oversimplification of male/female relationships. There are men who clearly respect females when they don't participate in making cherry-bombs or whatever the author has identified as overwhelmingly male. Second of all, I wish I could exactly pinpoint what about the
author's language makes her descriptions of fiber arts/baking seem so derogatory. Sadly, I cannot and simply must state that I walk away from said descriptions feeling like the author has disparaged that whole group of hobbies.

Apart from this sort of language/depiction of social interactions I
have a few other bones to pick with this book.

-"Like Senior Banks, they [the boys belonging to the Bassets] thought of themselves as Bassets more than they thought of themselves, for example, as tennis players, TV watchers, Caucasians, Protestants, East-Coasters, decent skiers, heterosexuals, and attractive young
men..." (151). Really? Are you telling me that all...what is it? 11 members?...of the Bassets are truly this shallow? I do not claim to be an expert regarding the sociology of teenage boys but I have a hard time believing that out of all of the Bassets, not one boy would value his religion or his sexual orientation over being a Basset.

My ultimate problem with this book is that Frankie does the exact same thing that makes Matthew so very unattractive: she judges people and subcultures without trying to understand them. Matthew refuses to involve himself in Frankie's world. She realizes this is a problem and
yet doesn't mind. Frankie has the same character flaw as she dismisses the geek world and Trish's feminine world. She doesn't even attempt to understand the stereotypical female outlook and still condemns it. Also, I don't feel that Frankie really changes by the end of the novel, or at least changes in a positive way. For example, she still wishes she could be Matthew's girlfriend despite how rotten he's been to her and she doesn't ever make an effort to know Trish better
(although I suppose it can be argued that Trish does not make an effort either). It's rather a nebulous, sad ending.