Sweet Valley Confidential

 

The US cover (above) and the UK cover (below).  These say a lot about our respective cultures, don’t they?  Not that you should judge a nation’s culture by the cover of a (very cheesy) update of a late-80s young adult book series, but you know.  (I like the UK version better.)

Yes, I admit it to the entire world.  I read the latest update to the Sweet Valley High series.  Behind The Baby Sitters Club, these were always my favorite books growing up. I devoured them.  I read every single one.  They made me want so badly to be a blue-eyed, blond-haired perfect California twin with an equally gorgeous, albeit rambunctious and manipulative twin sister.  Because I always identified with Elizabeth – the brainy, loyal, trustworthy, nice sister.

So, here we are 10 years later (although, really, it should be much more than 10 years, I think).  Elizabeth, betrayed by Jessica and not on speaking terms with her, lives in New York City, trying to make it as a journalist.  She’s pretty much your classic cliché.  Jessica lives in Sweet Valley, that perfect fictional Southern California town.

Blah blah blah.

If it sounds like I’m being unduly harsh, I am.  I really wanted to love this book, and I finished it, so it isn’t terrible.  But, it isn’t good either.  I read it because I didn’t want to use my brain and a brain isn’t required for this book.  Maybe I’ve become a book snob?  Maybe my taste in novels has changed in the last 10 years, but I wanted more.

There is “drama” without drama, and the author tries to make Elizabeth into a jealous “monster” but only succeeds in making her seem even weaker than she is.  And of course, true to SVH roots, everything turns out perfectly in the end.

Barf.