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Aug 01, 2010Ubalstecha rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
At the end of Barry Lyga's first novel the Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl, Kyra (Goth Girl) was being shipped of to a mental hospital after her father found out about the bullet she had stolen from Donald (Fanboy). Goth Girl Rising opens with Kyra returning from her institutionalization very angry. She feels that Fanboy has abandoned her and she is out to get revenge. As she works out how exactly to exact her revenge, we see Goth Girl's relationship with her father, whom she calls Roger. The two are struggling to deal with the death from lung cancer of her mother several years before. Roger, the smoker, has with drawn and gone numb, while Goth Girl has taken to lashing out. We also get to meet Goth Girl's other friends in this book. There is Simone, the girl who sleeps with boys to make herself feel loved and is constantly urging Goth Girl to lose her virginity. Goth Girl's other friend Jecca proves to be more of conundrum. She and Goth Girl exchange kisses, yet Jecca purports to be in love with a boy. This is the first time that Lyga has written a novel from the female point of view. For the most part he succeeds, capturing Goth Girl's anger at her mother's death and father's distancing himself quite well. Her thoughts on the supposed power in a female body are also quite true to form. This is a good outing and worth picking up. Teens and up due to language and situations.