Katie likes to believe she's invisible. It seems so much safer than being exposed as who she is: shy, poor, and vulnerable. So getting up in front of audience as the lead in her school's production of The Taming of the Shrew should be complete torture. But as Katie tells it, something totally unexpected happened when she stepped on stage: "My head exploded. I loved it. Acting hit me like a sucker punch and I loved, loved, loved it! Invisible Katie became visible Katherina."Evan is, as they say, another story. He knows just what it takes to get noticed, and he uses every one of the skills he's perfected from years of being the new kid at yet another new school. Rich, smart, and ridiculously charming, he's like nothing and no one Katie has ever encountered. How then could someone like him possibly be interested in someone like her? Before she knows it they are inseparable. Over the dizzying course of their relationship, Katie must confront the fact that the power of love can conceal darker truths.
Discussion questions:
-On page 54, Katie discusses her friendship with Lisa. "Lisa and I didn't do sleepovers, each other's nails or never-ending phone calls. She was curt, bordering on rude"... Why are Katie and Lisa friends, if Lisa exhibits these kinds of qualities? What is your definition of friendship? Do you consider yourself a "good friend"?
- Even though Katie is shy and withdrawn and Evan is an outgoing guy, a product of private schools and a jetsetting lifestyle, they still have a lot in common at the begining of their realationship and worlds apart at the end Discuss.
I think that just because Lisa exhibits 'rude' qualities and they don't do sleepovers or typical girl things that doesn't make their friendship any different from any of ours. It's what works for them. Lisa's never had real friends before that she'd always been dragged from boyfriend to boyfriend wherever her mother went. She's closed off and I think it's the ruder side of Lisa that really keeps Katie calm and centered. Lisa's like her rock and sometimes it takes that little bit of extra force to get her out of her head and into reality.
ReplyDeleteI think that both Katie and Evan being from totally different worlds was what made the story interesting in the beginning and it really grabbed my attention and made me want to read on. I liked the element because even through everything I really do think that he did love her, I just don't think he knew how to express that in the right way for a normal person; let alone someone as 'fragile' as Katie.
ReplyDeleteI finished this book in one night and I thought it was excellent. At first I thought it was going to be something light and romantic and sweet but each chapter got a little darker and a little creepier and it totally surprised me because it wasn't what I was expecting. The layer the authors gave both Evan and Katie were really complex and yet still easy to understand and the issues dealt with were both very believable and unbelievable because it's something realistic but it's something I don't think people want to believe that it is realistic especially in society. It was a great read! 1 down 9 to go!
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