Girl, 15, Charming But Insane

You can read a multitude of truly bad books and wonder whether your ability to pick a decent read has become non-existent

OR

You can delve deep into your cupboard and unearth an old and reliable favourite and make up for reams of bad plot/prose/characters.

Girl 15, Charming but Insane belongs to the latter category.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

~ The title: It immediately grabs eyeballs. It is quirky, hints at a teen who will rant but in a way that promises to be hilarious and engaging.

~ Main character : Jess. Jess is a dark-haired, slightly (ever-so slightly) overweight Brit teen . She displays typical teen behaviour and rants and rave as one, who is young and mad at the world and it’s uncle, would. But she is also supremely talented and hopes to become a stand-up comedian someday. She’s clumsy, goofy, up for a well-executed prank and has a good heart (outlined by a thin layer of the sarcastic-devil). She hankers after the school’s boy-wonder (Ben Jones); is jealous and proud in equal parts of her beautiful best friend (Flora) and to top it all, comes from a broken family.

~ Aforementioned Broken Family: Jess’s mum is a throwback to the seventies. She is a hare-brained , fighting-for-a-cause librarian. Despite her “men-are-ruthless-manipulative-degenerate-scum-of the-earth” rants, she has a fairly decent relationship with her ex-husband (Jess’ dad). Jess’ dad is an artist living in St.Ives. Although he is wary of expressing sappy-love for his estranged daughter, he shoots a daily horrorscope sms to her. (For e.g. “You will open your wardrobe and find Marilyn Manson roosting there”). It’s an oddly healthy arrangement which seems to work for the trio.

~ Jess’ maternal grandmother: Granny is a blend of old-world fuzziness and homicide-happy bloodthirst. Pulp Fiction is one of her favourite flicks and she routinely scours the papers for grisly murders. She carries her dear departed husband’s ashes around in an urn and it wouldn’t be an odd sight to see said-urn accompanying the rest of the family members at the breakfast table.

~Love Interest: The apple of Jess’s forbidden lust is Ben Jones --- Blonde, blue-eyed and beautiful in a Beckham look-alike way. Luckily, the author has not typecast Ben as a love ‘em and chuck’ em type. He displays a refreshing sensitivity for a high school jock and is a likeable character.

~Best mate (and potential love interest): You have to love Fred Parsons. He is tall, gangly and smart-mouthed. Bearing a resemblance to the humble owl, Fred is Jess’ partner in comedic-crime. He’s witty, prone to mouthing exaggerated dialogue and is Jess’ true port in a storm.

There are several other factors that work together to make this a truly enjoyable read. The droll British humour combined with Jess’ fantastical imagination and over-the-top musings make you smile.

This is a book that makes it to my list of *must-haves* + *must-travel-with* + *must-store-with-ardent-adoration-in-silk-lined-trunk* + *must-possess-in-new-land-after-surviving-the-apocalypse*.