Review: Populazzi by Elise Allen

Title: Populazzi Author: Elise Allen Publication Date: August 1, 2011 Synopsis:

Cara has never been one of those girls: confident, self-possessed, and always ready with the perfect thing to say. A girl at the very top of the popularity tower. One of the Populazzi.

Now, junior year could change everything. Cara’s moving to a new school, and her best friend urges her to seize the moment—with the help of the Ladder. Its rungs are relationships, and if Cara transforms into the perfect girlfriend for guys ever-higher on the tower, she’ll reach the ultimate goal: Supreme Populazzi.

The Ladder seems like a lighthearted social experiment, a straight climb up, but it quickly becomes gnarled and twisted. And when everything goes wrong, only the most audacious act Cara can think of has a chance of setting things even a little bit right.

My Thoughts: In kindergarten, Cara Leonard suffered what was known as "the incident", forever labeling her and best friend Claudia as losers. Even now, as juniors, Cara and Claudia are still outcasts. But that is about to change. Cara has moved and is starting a new school, finally giving her the chance to become what she always wanted: Populazzi. Populazzi is the highest level of social status. They are the most popular and elite, everyone wants to be them or be friends with them. Claudia has come up with a plan: The Ladder. By starting low and working her way up, Cara has agreed to climb The Ladder by dating boys in the different rungs. Each new boyfriend will get her the attention of the higher level groups, thereby making her more and more popular, ultimately getting her into the Populazzi. Only Cara didn't realize exactly what The Ladder meant. It meant having to change herself to please everyone else, ultimately losing herself along the way. 
Populazzi has spent a long time on my wish list. A very long time. I first heard about it well over a year ago, months before it was published. I tried to get my hands on an early copy back then, didn't, but then swore to myself that I would buy it as soon as it came out. But I suffer from The Book Store Blank Stare, which means that even if I know exactly what I'm looking for when I get to the book store, my mind is completely wiped clean as soon as I walk in. I wander the aisles for a good hour while trying to remember, and eventually end up leaving with something completely different. When this happens, and it happens far more often that I'd like to admit, the original book I wanted to buy gets shoved deep down into the dark areas of my brain, not to be thought of again for a very long time.  Sadly, this happened with Populazzi. 
Then a few months ago I came across the BookSparksPR Summer Reading Challenge and ha! Populazzi was on the list. I immediately signed up for the challenge and requested my copy. Finally it arrived and I couldn't have been happier, only I was still a few weeks away from reading it due to my review schedule. So again, I had to wait. 
But then it was finally time to sit down and read, and I can promise you that I was not disappointed. Populazzi was everything I thought it would be and more. I liked Cara and Claudia immediately. They were funny, weird and had fun personalities. They also seemed to have a very special bond, the best kind of friendship there is. But as Cara worked her way up The Ladder, she started to change. Even though she knew it wasn't supposed to be for real, she started to actually think and act like those she was trying to emulate. This did not help her keep her true friends, especially Archer, one of the first people she met at her new school who she seemed to really hit it off with. 
Even though Cara did start to change, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. I can't imagine what it must have been like to have something happen to you at such a young age only to never outlive it. I can understand wanting to get a new start and trying to have everything you ever wanted. Did she go about it the right way? Definitely not, but everyone makes mistakes. 
My feelings towards some of the other characters though, were not as sympathetic. Cara's parents, for example, were not my favorite. Her mother seemed more obsessed with keeping Karl, her husband, happy and ignoring the fact that he was very mentally abusive towards Cara. He seemed very jealous over her natural father, even going to extremes and smashing a Christmas gift he has given Cara as a child. If I were the mother, I never would have tolerated this. My only issue with this book was that I was hoping this would become a greater issue and be resolved further, but it wasn't. At least not as much as I hoped.
As much as I loved Archer, my favorite character had to be Robert, the Star Wars loving, Jedi Knight cape-wearing, nerd who first befriends Cara. He was hilarious, always talking in movie quotes or using Yoda Speak. He definitely brought a fun quality to the story.
Overall, I absolutely loved this book. It was funny, clever and brilliantly executed, making it a breeze to  read through and extremely difficult to put down when forced to. It also dealt with many deeper issues other than popularity. We face peer pressure, bullying, drugs and alcohol abuse along with emotional abuse. 
I recommend this book to all teens, especially those who find themselves a little lower on the totem pole of popularity and are desperate to work themselves up. Perhaps this will give them a glimpse of what life is like on the other side and they can make better choices. I also recommend this to parents of teens to help them remember what it's like being a kid and hopefully be more understanding. Of course, I also recommend this to everyone else who is looking for just a fun, quick read. You won't be disappointed!

For more about Elise Allen or Popluazzi, check out her website here.

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*I received this book for free in exchange of my honest review. This did not influence my opinion in any way and all views and opinions expressed are 100% my own.