A Thousand Lives Lived: The Fashion Committee by Susan Juby // YA? More Like Middle-Grade.

The Fashion Committee, by Susan Juby
Publication: May 23, 2017, by Viking Books for Young Readers
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Pages: 307
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Rating:

Charlie Dean is a style-obsessed girl who eats, sleeps, and breathes fashion.
John Thomas-Smith is a boy who forges metal sculptures in his garage and couldn’t care less about clothes.
Both are gunning for a scholarship to the private art high school that could make all their dreams come true. And whoever wins the fashion competition will win the scholarship.

My Thoughts:

DNF @ 65 pages

Unfortunately, Susan Juby's The Fashion Committee was an extreme disappointment. Perhaps my twelve-year-old self would have enjoyed a story like this, but I rather felt... displeased and sad with its outcome. Given that I had read Juby's work in the past (and felt iffy about it), I wasn't sure what to expect with this one. It's definitely out of my comfort zone as it focuses on the fashion industry and students getting scholarships or whatnot. Once I began reading it, I quickly decided that it was not the kind of book for me and that perhaps middle-grade readers would prefer it. The only good perk about thsi entire story is that it was written in a journal format, which is a fresh way to conquer writing a novel and making your story be heard.

While the story did focus on some darker themes such as domestic violence, I found it to have too many details and it was just all over the place. I wasn't able to pay attention to the plot (and I have a pretty good attention span). I decided to pick it up because it looked to be a light read, but, in fact, it was just boring and disappointing. After 60 pages, I just decided to put it down because I know I would've given it a low rating even if I continued reading.