Title: The Lonely Hearts Club
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg
Publisher: Point
Publication Date: Jan 2010
Source: UK Book Tours
Synopsis: From GoodReads
Love is all you need...or is it? Penny's about to find out in this wonderful debut.
Penny is sick of boys and sick of dating. So she vows - no more. It's a personal choice...and, of course, soon everyone wants to know about it. And a few other girls are inspired. A movement is born; The Lonely Hearts Club (named after the band from Sgt. Pepper). Penny is suddenly known for her non-dating ways...which is too bad, because there's this certain boy she can't help but like...
Review:
This book is wonderfully visual incorporating white print on a black background - very striking and demanding attention. Along with little symbols placed throughout, a guitar, a peace symbol, adding to the narrative. The title is wonderfully symbolic yet completely ironic when encompassing the storyline. As you can imagine music plays a strong part within the narrative giving it added appeal.
Written in first person narrative from Penny's perspective, named after The Beatles song Penny Lane, as you can imagine from this alone her family is lovely and quirky and total Beatlemaniacs. For them the answer to anything can be found within a Beatles song, fun huh. The first introduction to Penny is via a flashback to the previous Summer and the 'event' that spurred her decision to form The Lonely Hearts Club.
The story begins with beautiful reminiscing of the events following the cynical and contradictory statement at the start (I am a tease aren't I). The narrative portrays eloquently how easy it is to take relationships further than the point you feel comfortable in order to keep the other person happy. The simple fact is that if you lose them because you won't give them what they want then they are not worth having in the 1st place. This is one of those life lessons that I am hoping my daughters will learn the easy way instead of the hard way.
The way in which girls always blame themselves for the end of a relationship even when the guy is a complete moron was very powerfully and accurately described. It left me wondering if this type of behaviour is inherent or taught, something to consider. I do know that I want my children to be more confident about themselves than that although I am aware that it is a difficult process to have that much pride/respect for yourself.
The basic storyline is similar to that of The Cinderella Society with the support system of amazing friends. The portrayal of romance/dating being valued higher than friendship and how easily friends are forgotten when girls have boyfriends was a poignant part of the narrative. It really made me wonder as to why this happens, is it a learned behaviour dating back to the cavemen where we need a mate for survival. I think this might be one for Dr Winston [ ; D ]
A lovely light story full of inspirational friendships, loving families and a cute romance. Plus I love the word 'himbos' I am adding that to my library vocabulary [ : D ]
I hope my own children will be much more confident in this area too. I try to make my kids not depend on friends too much as at their age they tend to be rather fickle.
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds lovely and one I would definitely enjoy. Fab review.
This sounds like a fun read! I hadn't really noticed this book before. Thanks for the great review! :)
ReplyDeleteI thought this one was super cute and very easy to read. And I loved all the Beatles music.
ReplyDeleteOk, I officially want to read this book. I've been reading so many fantastic reviews for this one and yours only adds to the list. It's sounds like the kind of book that every girl should read! Lovely review as always Emma!
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