If I Was Your Girl discussion

When I was younger, I thought love was as simple as 2 people caring for each other. Boy was I wrong. Russo’s novel proves that love is like beauty, the free-est most purest element of all, it could be used for goodness, or it could be the sole reason a person destroys themselves. Teen fiction used to be high school musical moments, “I can't choose , he's a vampire and you're a werewolf”. In this southern, in the middle of nowhere based book, the fine line between teen realistic fiction and adult fiction blurs. Not only does it have a good surface meaning, but it has a deeper feeling and understanding to it as well. In a generation where dystopian novels overun the library shelves, this book has broken the barrier of “the norm” and into people’s heavy hearts. Russos “If I Was Your Girl “ is an astonishing entry, what a book.
Russos novel begins with a “girl” that moves in with her father because the constant degrading abuse from the other students, for being different, push her over the edge. Being as blunt as possible I must admit Amanda hardy was originally born as Andrew Hardy, a healthy baby boy. She transgender(denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex.) and at the age of 17 she's living the life she thought she could never have. As she starts school, she makes friends rather quickly( even a special friend if you know what i mean wink ;)wink) but nothing gold can stay, it's only the eye of the storm, for now.
The author portrays Amanda as having long ginger hair, tall, stretching up to 5’8 and particularly long, and with no other way to describe them as boy fingers. She's the typical insecure girl, the “Why would he want me” or the “No Im ugly, dont look at me”. Like a chameleon, she tries to blend in with her surroundings, paranoid and always looking for the worst. She avoids meeting new people, so when Grant comes along it completely turns her whole world upside down. Grant is also tall, plays football and works the clock to support his family. *Pause to think, why does the boy always play football, why can't he play soccer or cricket, or what about golfing*Whats a romance novel without a group of bestfriends? Chloe, Anna, and Layla come to be her best friends through thick and thin, the author does not describe them well, but layla has dark brown hair, chloe has wild orange hair, and Anna has brown hair.
    I've never read anything like “If I Was Your Girl”, the way that Amanda feels for Grant makes my heart ache with her pain. The way the author organized this book is quite interesting, it's in her point of view and uses flashbacks to tell her life story.
     I really liked this book, but Amanda's personality, well that's the problem. She didn't have a unique personality, more as fitting in the with universally broken person. She made people feel sympathetic about her life and how sad it was, but she really didn't have a personality. Sure I understand that by not making her personality bold and extroverted that it leaves room for her to be a blank canvas and to paint her own picture. It was kind of awkward at first, but a lot of people wouldn't understand until you're buried between the pages yourself.
    Sure my opinion may be taken hurtfully by some transgender readers, and for that I apologize, but this book really opened my eyes to how anyone who doesn't fit in with ‘the norm’ can be terribly scared to come out about anything. The fact that they have to keep this secret so far hidden, too afraid to tell anyone is horrible for any of us to make them feel that way. Russos book not only made me aware, but it broke my heart and slowly, but surely mended it back together.
    The way the flashbacks show us how badly she was bullied, and how it had enervated her to the point of attempted suicide, but then became magically perfect is really hard to believe. It just leaves open to know that something bad is going to happen, the book was great but it was missing something, almost as if the author herself cut out random chapters throughout the book.
    When I was little, I thought that love was simple, but this book helped me realize that I was living in a world of fairy tales. I remember seeing a movie about a perfect love, it looked easy, almost perfect. I was wrong to think any kind of love was easy. Teen fiction is not what it used to be nor will it ever go back to that stereotypical cheerleader, football player drama. Russos novel states a simple but complicated love story, many obstacles, but the foundation is a strong love. The author left plenty of room for a sequel, smart women.

This review is clunky, full of spelling and grammar errors, and in dire need of being spaced out so that it isn't one big paragraph.

And even if I was a generous man and willing to forgive all that (spoiler alert: I'm not), it drags way too much, especially in the beginning. A good review, like a good book, needs to catch the reader's attention at the very beginning. This review failed to do that for me.

Thanks for your honesty , if I actually cared I might have said something back. Look this was for a language arts class project, I got a hundred on it becuase it had to be that long. If you had constructive criticism that would be nice but your just straight up rude. Plus if you didn't like it then you didn't hve to read through the whole thing so yea have a great day :)
@TheBookCrusader

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3...

if I actually cared I might have said something back


The fact that you are replying back to me shows that you do care. Also, if you got a hundred you must go to a school that has extremely low standards. I couldn't have gotten away with that many spelling and grammar errors when I was in the fifth grade.

Plus if you didn't like it then you didn't hve to read through the whole thing

You're the one who asked people to give their opinion; I was nice enough to take the time to do so, and I have zero obligation to tell you your review was well written when that is the farthest thing from the truth.