Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t have)
Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't have)
By Sarah Mlynowski (2011)
Sixteen-year-old April, a high school junior, and her friend Vi, a senior, get a crash course in reality as the list of things they should not do becomes a list of things they did while living paren't-free in Westport, Connecticut, for the semester.
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3 thoughts on “Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t have)”
Before I start, let me get one thing straight. The cover on this book is extremely misleading. When I first saw it, the prejudicial side of my brain dismissed ten things we did (and probably shouldn’t have) as a fluffy romance that nobody should be caught dead with in public. However, I was curious to see what the ten mistakes were, so I checked a copy out of the library.
And I actually enjoyed the book.
It had most of the qualities of an enjoyable read – it was light (I finished in approximately two hours), not depressingly serious but definitely not fluffy, funny, and unpredictable. The plotline didn’t centre around April (the protagonist) and her boyfriend like the cover implies. Granted, one of her mistakes was losing her virginity to him, but with consideration to the big picture, she was left with worse things to worry about.
Of course, nothing can be perfect. I also found an intense inability to relate to any and all characters. April is way too rebellious (I could never lie to my paren’ts about living without adult supervision), Noah…well, you’ll see if you read the book, and Vi is rather shallow. I could almost connect with Lucy, but she’s a minor character who only shows up for two or three scenes. Now, I’m not saying that Sarah Mlynowski has done a horrible job at characterization. Everybody in her novel was realistic, but they were just so different from me. A really amazing author can’take characters like those and explain their perspective to make me understand, which is something that this book just couldn’t do for me. I was left baffled at why Vi was so eager to lose her virginity, why Noah did certain things that he definitely shouldn’t have, why April changed her mind about her decisions so rapidly, and so on.
I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a quick and enjoyable read. ten things we did (and probably shouldn’t have) didn’t leave me with anything to analyze or think about, but it made a nice break from my summer reading list for school. Has anyone read any of her other books? If so, would you recommend them?
Hi Joanna
I help select books for the teen collection, and I have a few recommendations for you, if you don’t mind. I recently read Ashley Little’s The New Normal which has a memorable heroine with a very dry sense of humour who is trying to cope after the death of her twin sisters, her paren’ts’ breakdown (her dad becomes a couch potato, her mom embraces yoga), and her sudden onset alopecia (that’s right, she loses all her hair). The Theory of Everything by J.J. Johnson is another novel about a girl trying to cope after a traumatic event. Sarah is really bright, (darkly)funny, and introspective. Since You Asked by Maureen Goo is a new title that I thought was pleasantly light and really funny. Chronically sarcastic Holly Kim accidentally gets herself a column on the school paper and a soapbox from which she can air her decidedly “anti-school spirit” views. She explores what it means to be a Korean American, caught between tradition and wanting to be like her peers. For something less snarky and more romantic, I’d recommend anything by Gayle Forman but especially If It Stay and Where She Went. One of the things I like about her books is that her heroines aren’t overly rebellious, and, generally speaking, they have good, solid relationships with their paren’ts. And, finally, why not check out a guy’s perspective on things? Jordan Sonnenblick’s Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie and its companion After Ever After are fantastic.
Thanks Helena, I will be sure to add those to my very extensive summer reading list. I’ve already read If I Stay and Where She Went, which I adored. Thanks for the recommendations.