Review: Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

Title: Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging
Author: Louise Rennison
Series: Confessions of Georgia Nicholson #1
Pages: 222
Publisher: Avon, Harper Teen
Format: Paperback
Genre: Chick Lit (YA)
Source: Library

Goodreads Description:
She has a precocious 3-year-old sister who tends to leave wet nappies at the foot of her bed, an insane cat who is prone to leg-shredding "Call of the Wild" episodes, and embarrassing parents who make her want to escape to Stonehenge and dance with the Druids. No wonder 14-year-old Georgia Nicolson laments, "Honestly, what is the point?" In this ridiculous, hilarious, comedy of errors, Georgia records the momentous events of her life--and they are all momentous--in her diary, which serves as a truly hilarious account of what it means to be a modern girl on the cusp of womanhood.

My Review:
This was a very cute book. I definitely have a better grasp on what "Chick Lit" is now. I never really gave it a second thought before, but after reading Angus, Thongs, etc., I'm convinced it is a book that a boy, man, or any member of the male species would rather claw his eyes out than be caught reading. I could never imagine my brother or boy toy or any guy even touching this book. Girls on the other hand, will practically be after this book and those like it as if it were chocolate. I'm not going to lie, it was a tad fluffy and light for my tastes. I adored the spin-off of this series, Withering Tights. I reviewed it a few weeks ago. You can see it here. Unfortunately, I just couldn't find myself loving Georgia as much as I loved Tallulah. There wasn't a lot of plot outside of the fact that Georgia wanted to be prettier and have a boyfriend. I like it when my female protagonists are a little less vain and silly. It was still a good book, but there were just a few things about the characters and the plot that bugged me.

Georgia definitely has a hilarious and funny voice. She's a ridiculous and silly teenager and I love all of the crazyness that is bouncing around in her head. She is strong, in that she knows what she wants and strives to get it...however I don't think that the things she wants are very worthwhile. For example, on every page, there is at least one reference to make-up or hair-care or whatever. Maybe I was weird when I was a pre-teen and youngish teenager, but  maybe 10 minutes of my day was spent thinking about makeup. I didn't waste my entire day wondering about how I should wear my god-awful Catholic school uniform, I just wore it. Then again, I had been wearing the same uniform for 8 years, so I was used to wearing it and already knew all of the variations at the time. I dunno...I just wish there would have been a little more depth and a little less lip gloss bopping around in Georgie's head. Still, she seemed to know that she was being ridiculous, so that made me think a lot more of her. And besides, she was ridiculously funny.

I am a facsimile of a sham of a fax of a person. And I have a date with a professional snogger. I don't believe this is my life. 

There's a difference between not liking a character and appreciating a character for being well fleshed out and very well described. Though Georgia isn't my favorite person of all time, she was a tremendous character. Her personality is bigger than she is and she has an amazing characterization and her voice is definitely original. I feel like girls, particularly middle schooler and early high-schoolers can easily identify with Georgia. And possibly learn from her mistakes.

The plot was interesting for a while. You couldn't wait to see what misadventure Georgia would get herself into next, and I really liked the diary style of writing. It helped you identify with the character and really understand her age. Occasionally the situations were so outrageous that you kind of didn't believe that they would ever happen , and after a while I got a little sick of the entire story-line being about Georgia's need for a boyfriend and disastrous attempts at fashion. This is where the depth thing would have been nice. If Georgia would have had a goal like getting into college, or learning to play an instrument, or competing in a sport or something, anything,outside silly frivolous things I think I would have loved this book instead of just liked it. It was interesting in a "watching a train wreck" kind of way, but it did get pretty repetitive and predictable.

1/2

 I give Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging 3 1/2 Keys. It definitely captures the insurmountable joys and inescapable angst of being a teenager, although the teenager in question is a little shallow and ditsy for my taste. Even though the jokes were crying-out-loud funny, I don't know if I can handle ten more of the same thing. The plot just didn't go anywhere.I'm definitely going to read the sequels, but I might save them for when I've been reading deep and insightful textbooks or something so that I need a little fluff. Hopefully as Georgia grows from a teenager into a young woman, she will mature and become a little less flighty, though I love her sense of humor so I won't want her to grow out of that.