Reading Response: Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging (#5)

     In the book Angus,Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging the main character Georgia Nicolson underestimates herself. She thinks that she's no good and no one appreciates her for who she really is. "If I did die, I wonder if anyone would really care. Who would come to my funeral? Mum and Dad, I suppose... they'd have to as it's mostly their fault that I was depressed enough to commit suicide in the first place." (pg. 16) Georgia thought. Georgia feels like her parents don't love her. Georgia tries to overcome this problem by trying to be like other 14 year old girls who read teen magazines, put on makeup and talk about boys. 

     On weekends, Georgia is always at home babysitting her younger sister Libby, because her parents like to go out, and she claims that she doesn't have any friends. All of Georgia's friends are allowed to go to parties and each others' homes but Georgia isn't. "I have no friends. Not one single friend. No one has rung, no one has come around. Mum and Dad have gone to work, Libby is at playschool. I may as well be dead." (pg. 15) Georgia complains and compares her life to her friends' lives which shows that she feels excluded. Georgia's friends though offer to take her places and come over to her house whenever they can to keep her company.

     Georgia's parents don't allow her to wear makeup so she always complains about her facial features being imperfect. Georgia thought that because all her friends do it, it was okay to take her mother's tweezers and father's razor when they weren't home and shave her eyebrows. "I can't bear this. I've only taken about five hairs out so far and my eyes are swollen to twice their normal size. Mum nearly dropped Libby when she saw me. Maybe they'll grow back overnight. How long does it take for eyebrows to grow?" Georgia said. To help, Georgia's friends even tried to draw on fake eyebrows for her using a marker. 

     Just because Georgia doesn't have a boyfriend but her friends used to and do have one, she thinks that no boy will ever think she's pretty. Her friends try to make her feel better by telling her cute stories or even by driving the topic away from boys. Georgia states, "I suppose this is what life will be like for me- never having a boyfriend, always just living through others'. This emphasizes that Georgia thinks the only way she can talk about boys is by hearing her friends tell stories about them and their boyfriends. Her friends and family though think that Georgia is just as pretty and shouldn't feel that way about herself because one day she will find someone that she really loves.

     After reading the beginning of this book, I can already tell what the main character's problem is. I also have a bit of an idea of how this character might overcome her problem. I think that the author of this book did a great job introducing the characters in this book and somehow connected them into the main conflict in the story. For example, Georgia's best friends were like the characters who try to help her overcome her problem. I think that anyone who reads this book should be able to identify the main character in this book and her problem as well as how she overcomes it.