Publisher: Simon Pulse
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
In the tradition of Bridget Jones’s Diary, a lovably flawed high school student chronicles her life as she navigates the highs and lows of family, friendship, school, and love in a diary that sparkles with humor and warmth.
Confessions of a High School Disaster is a decent novel. It ultimately fails because of its lack of diversity and inability to contribute anything meaningful to important conversations. This novel could have been most interesting had it been more diverse.
If you’re looking for a novel about high school and all its perils, over the top reactions, and heightened emotions then Confessions of a High School Disaster is for you.
This novel is told in diary format, which makes identifying with the main character easy. Unfortunately, the same isn’t said for all the other characters. Throughout the novel, Chloe is trying to find her identity while dealing with her burgeoning sexual being, her mother’s sudden departure, meeting new people, and all the perils that high school presents. It was easy to identify with Chloe thinking back to my own experience as a freshman, which made reading a fun, nostalgic experience.
The diary format also makes understanding the world Chloe is growing up in easy to picture. She often mentions real world events making it feel believable. However, the real world events she does mention are important topics that deserve more than a casual glance.
The lack is diversity is hard to miss within the novel. The main character is white and, if I’m not mistaken, so is everyone else. Chloe does acknowledge her white privilege, but not in any meaningful way that contributes to the conversation.
Her best friend is gay and struggles with coming out, however this is almost exclusively talked about how it affects the main character’s life.
Overall, Confessions of a High School Disaster is a fun, quick read on the surface. However, it lacks diversity and tries to include important real world topics without having contributing anything meaningful to the conversation.
**I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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