The clique by lisi harrison: A review
Book Review
The Clique (Books 1-4)
By lisi harrison
“Rich, Mean, and Still Thirteen. A Deep Dive Into the Pretty Committee.”
The Series That Never Made It to My Hometown.
The clique by lisi harrison review
About the book:
“The Clique” by Lisi Harrison, first published in 2004. Tween/YA fiction, the first of a fourteen-book series. I’ve read the first four. The Clique, Best Friends for Never, Revenge of the Wannabes, and Invasion of the Boy Snatchers. It got a 2008 direct-to-DVD movie adaptation, produced by none other than Tyra Banks. She’s said she saw herself in both the outsider and the queen bee growing up. If you want the full production trivia — the winter filming, the cast cameos, the actual real sequel currently in the works. I already went down that rabbit hole in “Rich, Mean, And Still Thirteen: What The Clique Got Right”.
Story line
Claire Lyons moves to Westchester, New York, and lands — through pure real estate coincidence — practically on top of Massie Block. Who is queen bee of the Pretty Committee and self-appointed authority on who’s in and who’s out.
Across the first four books, Claire gets pulled in and pushed out of Massie’s orbit on a rotating basis. While the rest of the Committee — Kristen, Dylan, Alicia — jockey for rank underneath her. There are new-girl trials, status wars fought over the right handbag. And the occasional actual friendship breaking through the cruelty, which is really what keeps you reading.
It’s “Mean Girls” relocated to a rich private middle school. Simila to Gossip Girl, minus the part where anyone’s pretending to be older than they are.
Favorite quotes: the clique book series
“I’d rather be a friendless loser than have a bunch of friends who secretly hated me. (spoken by Massie Block)”
“…a wave of loneliness filled the pit of her stomach. She got the same feeling around Christmas when she’d look at the Christmas tree in the middle of the night…Like looking at someone who was all dressed up with nowhere to go.”
“He held up his palm like an Indian but smiled like a cowboy.”
“The Clique: The only thing harder then getting in is staying in.”
The Clique by Lisi Harrison Review
Praise & Critique:
😁
1. Originality: A genre that’s since been done a hundred times, but this was one of the ones doing it first — rich-girl-cruelty-as-comedy, years before it became a whole aisle of its own.
2. Relatable: You get to relate to different characters through out the books as a teenager. But also I’d say aspirational, it is a really fun, eventful lifestyle.
3. Personal taste: Completely my cup of coffee, and I mean that almost literally — I read these the way you’d read something with no one else around to talk about it with, which, as I got into in the essay, was exactly the situation.
4. Artistic writing form: Not eloquent, and not trying to be — the writing is fast, plot-forward, dialogue-driven. It knows exactly what kind of book it is.
😕
If I have to critique something, it’s Addictiveness — but not in the direction you’d expect.
These books are almost too easy to fly through, which means the sharper social commentary underneath (about money, about cruelty, about what “cool” actually costs a person) can get read past instead of sat with.
Being so easy to read, implies it is not a very substantial reading, and it’s filled with stereotypes. But then again, considering they are meant for a young audience, I believe it’s a good way to get middle schoolers hooked on reading.
Recommendation
Read it if you want a completely unpretentious time capsule of the mid-2000s. Or if you want to join the conversation, so that I can finally have who to share this world with. It’s not that deep. It doesn’t need to be. It is a genuinely fun, occasionally sharp portrait of middle school girls. Showing exactly how young people can be cruel while still, blessedly, remaining young.
Rating
I give out a star for each of the following parameters, met with excellency according to my personal opinion.
1. Originality.
2. Relatable.
3. Personal taste.
4. Artistic writing form.
5. Addictiveness.
Results:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4/5 stars
Docking one star for Addictiveness — everything else earned its shine.
If you’ve read any of the books in the series. Or if you are about to. Please comment your thoughts.
With love, Celeste
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Hope to hear from other THE CLIQUE fans soon!