The Tragedy Paper Review

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TITLE: The Tragedy Paper

AUTHOR: Elizabeth Laban

PUBLISHER: Knopf Books for Young Readers

PUBLICATION DATE: 1/8/2013

PAGES: 320

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Tim Macbeth is a seventeen-year-old albino and a recent transfer to the prestigious Irving School, where the motto is "Enter here to be and find a friend." Tim does not expect to find a friend; all he really wants to do is escape his senior year unnoticed. Despite his efforts to blend into the background, he finds himself falling for the quintessential it-girl Vanessa Sheller, girlfriend of Irving's most popular boy. To Tim's surprise, Vanessa is into him too, but she can kiss her social status good-bye if anyone finds out. Tim and Vanessa begin a clandestine relationship while looming over them is The Tragedy Paper, Irving's version of a senior-year thesis, assigned by the school's least forgiving teacher, Mr. Simon.

Elizabeth LaBan's stunning novel unfolds from two alternating viewpoints: Tim, the love-struck new kid, and Duncan, a current senior, who uncovers the truth behind Tim and Vanessa's story and will consequently product the greatest Tragedy Paper in Irving's history.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I was definitely interested from the moment I started reading. It was a very gripping story and I needed to keep reading. I actually got angry whenever Duncan (he is listening to Tim's story) took breaks from listening to take care of something in his world, but I was relieved because all of these breaks were fairly short.

CHARACTERS: Tim is really the main character of this story. I feel like he is his own worst enemy. He brought up his being albino way too often. I realize that this is a condition that would make someone feel very self conscious, but I feel like he is the only one in the story who seemed to care about it. And just when I had forgotten about it, he would bring it up again. 

I wanted to like Vanessa's character because she seems like she has a good heart, but I feel she is very manipulative. She is not open and honest about her feelings and she strings Tim along to get what she wants.

Patrick is a huge jerk and I did not like him at all.

COVER: The cover is a little bit trippy. I like how the words are out of focus. It gives us an insight to what Tim must see when his eyes start acting up. 

**I Received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.