Cook, E. (2010). Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood. New York: Simon Pulse.

261 pages.

Appetizer: Helen and Lauren were best friends. That is until the end of eighth grade, when Lauren betrayed Helen to launch her own plan to become the most popular girl in their grade. Left behind and bullied by the entire eighth grade class, Helen is lucky when her family has to move to New York for her ninth grade year.

But not a day goes by that Helen doesn't think about their lost friendship and Lauren's betrayal. So, when Helen learns that she may have to move back to Terrace, Michigan to live with her grandmother for her senior year, she concocts a plan to finally get the revenge she has been craving.

Helen (who'd lost some weight and had suffered through a broken nose, both altering her appearance) returns to Michigan and begins going by the name Claire, working to become popular so she can better destroy Lauren's perfect life.

As I was reading Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood, I was strongly reminded of the movie Mean Girls. The premise is very similar, with an outsider coming in, gaining popularity to destroy a mean girl, using people and potentially losing sight of who they are and why they did what they did. Blah. Blah. Blah.

I'd even say the execution of Mean Girls is better, mostly because of my main problem with Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood: Helen/Claire's characterization.

So, even after Helen/Claire leaves the state, she can't let go of what Lauren did to her. She remains an outsider at her new New York school and stalks Lauren through Facebook. Then, when she moves back to Michigan, with only a bit of research and after spending hours thinking about what makes a person popular and making a popularity scale, she is suddenly an expert on popularity, clothes, designers, hairstyles, etc. She returns and is suddenly the queen of manipulation, with only the occasional pang of guilt.

But, no. No, no, no, no. Her parents couldn't be scientists. Because that's part of the premise of Mean Girls (zoologists).

Damn, I'm gonna go watch Mean Girls.

(I watched it a record four times while reading through this book)

I had a lot of trouble with Helen/Claire's sudden and complete understandings of the high school and fashion worlds. I needed a reason to believe that Helen/Claire could somehow gain all this knowledge into how to analyze groups of people and their behavior. I found myself wishing her parents were anthropologists instead of hippies. Then I could suspend my disbelief.

Plus, when Helen/Claire's character evolves, I didn't quite understand what was triggering those changes either.

I also had trouble with this book because of how stalkery Helen/Claire is. It doesn't end with facebook. Once she's back in town, Helen/Claire's antics involve sabotaging Lauren's possessions and breaking into her house.

Stalker! STALKER! STALKER!

I hadn't planned to have to drag out my stalker scale so often. But I'm quickly learning the difficult lesson that stalkers are EVERYWHERE in YA literature.

Because of the stalker elements and my trouble believing Helen/Claire's characterization, I was left feeling that Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood was pretty so-so. Having said that though, I can see how the book provides some happy escapism for teen girls who weren't popular or who were bullied.

Also, Eileen Cook and I have something in common: We both graduated from Michigan State.

Go green! Go white! Or whatever.

I wasn't there because I was a sports fan. (Although taking pictures of the riots after games was a surprising good time. And now I can say, "Yes, yes, I have been tear gassed." Thank you, MSU!)

Dinner Conversation:

"Last night I dreamed I dissected Lauren Wood in Earth Sciences class. She was wearing her blue and white cheerleader outfit, the pleated skirt fanned out and the sweater cut right down the middle. She lay there, unmoving, staring straight up at the ceiling tiles. She was annoyed. I could tell from the way her jaw thrust forward and her lips pressed together in a thin line. I opened up her chest, peeling her ribs back like a half-opened Christmas present, and the entire class leaned in to get a good look.
"As I suspected," I declared, "no heart." (p. 1).

"Before the incident there hadn't been a single moment of my life without Lauren in it. We were born in the same hospital, her the day before me. They placed us side by side in the nursery, our first sleepover. Helen Worthington right next to Lauren Wood. Even alphabetically, Lauren came before me. Lauren was in every one of my birthday photos--from age one, when she has her fist buried in my cake, to fourteen when we are both posing supermodel style for the camera, Lauren's outstretched arm covering part of my face. Looking back, I can see how she always had to be front and center" (p. 2).

"I want to be invited out. We were always second string, but now I have a chance to make the A-list."
"And that matters so much?"
"Of course it matters." Lauren tossed her hands in the air and paced back and forth. "My mom tells me that the friends you have in high school determine who your friends are in college, and then who your friends are for the rest of your life."
"Well, my mom says you can't buy friendship," I countered" (p 20).

"Nothing is forever, you know. Once I'm popular, we can be friends again and then you'll be popular too. It will all be worth it."
"What makes you think I'll want to be your friend?"
"What makes you think you'll have other options?" (p. 20).

"...Maybe the universe wants you to come back here to teach her a lesson. Lord knows the girl could use it. You know I'm crazy about your mom and dad, but I'm thinking karma could use a helping hand."
I didn't say anything. I just thought about what [grandma'd] said. That was the first time it occurred to me that instead of just thinking about revenge, dreaming about it, I could actually make it happen. Lauren would never see it coming. She would never expect it" (p. 35).

Tasty Rating: !!! ( )

GETTING REVENGE ON LAUREN WOOD, by Eileen Cook, was high school revenge at its worst (and best). With healthy doses of bitchy-ness and secret identites, this book is the ultimate rule-book for female payback.

This book took girl-revenge to a whole other level. Lauren Wood, former best friend of Helen, made a complete mess of Helen's last few weeks of eighth grade, and Helen never forgot it. When Helen moved back to town, her detailed plan to take down all that Lauren cared about was in full swing. Helen, as Claire, targeted all the things that she thought Lauren couldn't live without, and took them out hard. Helen was such a great character. She was a little obsessed with Lauren, but I think middle school and high school years can really make or break someone, and Helen wanted her vengeance. And Lauren was the epitome of high school royalty. She was the most liked and feared girl, and a worthy opponent for Helen.

While reading, I had a flashback of the movie, Mean Girls, and the striking similarities both this book and the movie possessed. In both instances, a girl wanted revenge on a popular girl and chose to *take out* her prized objects. But along with the similarities, there were unique differences that made this book its own. For instance, Helen already knowing the high school popularity rules and playing them like a violin. I enjoyed the ride that Cook took me on in the quest for Helen to exact her revenge, and I liked the lessons that Helen learned in the process. The presence of karma was always in Helen's mind but most of the time she persuaded herself that she was performing a service to those affected by Lauren. Helen really learned through this process who she was and who she wanted to be, but to actually create that life for herself was quite difficult.

Each chapter furthered the suspense in the final act of how Helen was going to take down Lauren. I laughed and cringed while reading, hoping that Helen would make it through unscathed since her budding friendship with Brenda and relationship with Christopher was hanging in the balance. This was a fun and unforgiving book that did not hold back anything in the pursuit of creating "balance" against evil. ( )

Rate: 3.5

I am all about the mean girl and teenage angst as long as it is made into a comedy and less of a horror story that involves some of the characters dying, ending up in an asylum or worst permanently screwed up. Lauren Wood is your typical high school Queen Bee, she'll use every one important to her to get what she wants. Gossip Girl, Mean girls, It Girls, we are all familiar on how they are and what they are capable of. I will try the lip gloss and mascarra thing next time as an evil prank and see if it will work. The only thing that did not work out was the ending. What. was. that. all about? I feel like it was totally rushed and that none of them completely learned their lessons. I wanted to know if Bailey and the other Lauren pose remain friends with her, how Brenda did with the whole drama thing and if Helen figured out what she want with her life now that she stopped obsessing about Lauren and if Queen bitch decided to mellow out... ( )

Helen is funny as hell! Sometimes she strays a bit too close to being unlikable, but then her wit redeems her (and cracks me up). ( )

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

When Lauren Wood turns Helen Worthington in as the snitch for the senior prank, the last few weeks of Helen's 8th-grade year are torturous. When her parents announce that they are going to be moving from Michigan to New York, Helen couldn't be happier. She thought Lauren was her best friend, but when she confronts Lauren, she finds out that Lauren intends to make it to the top of the popularity ladder. And Helen has no interest in the journey.

So imagine Helen's horror when her parents announce that they are going on a year-long meditation retreat and Helen is going back to Michigan to live with her grandmother. Her parents convince her that karma will catch up with Lauren and can't imagine that anyone remembers Helen's outing in 8th grade.

Thankfully, her grandmother is cool and helps convince her parents to let her enroll under a different name - Claire Dantes. It's only a little lie, as Claire is her middle name and Dantes is her mom's maiden name. And as the new school year approaches, Helen creates an intricate plan to get her revenge on Lauren, whom she's determined to dethrone.

Helen's plan seems to go off without a hitch. Break up Lauren and her boyfriend, done. Cause dissension among her friends, done. It's when she comes to beating out Lauren in the school play and getting her kicked off the cheerleading squad that Helen's conscience starts to get in the way. Innocent people are becoming involved, and Helen doesn't feel as good about her revenge as she thought she would.

GETTING REVENGE ON LAUREN WOOD started out slowly. But Ms. Cook develops the story at just the right pace for the reader to decide if they are rooting for Helen or feel sorry for Lauren. It was refreshing to see the popular girl get her comeuppance without that "all's perfect in the end" wrap-up. But to be honest, it was the secondary characters that I found the most appealing with this story. Lauren's sidekicks, Bailey and Kyla, weren't just two-dimensional characters taking up space. Helen's friend, Brenda, also develops her own backbone as the story progresses. And Christopher sounds simply delicious.

I'd almost like to see a follow-up book with these characters - getting revenge has never been so much fun! ( )