{Review} The S-Word by Chelsea Pitcher

The S-Word
by Chelsea Pitcher
Pages: 304
Release Date: May 7, 2013
by Gallery Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster)

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First it was SLUT scribbled all over Lizzie Hart’s locker. But one week after Lizzie kills herself, SUICIDE SLUT replaces it—in Lizzie's looping scrawl. Lizzie’s reputation is destroyed when she's caught in bed with her best friend’s boyfriend on prom night. With the whole school turned against her, and Angie not speaking to her, Lizzie takes her own life. But someone isn’t letting her go quietly. As graffiti and photocopies of Lizzie’s diary plaster the school, Angie begins a relentless investigation into who, exactly, made Lizzie feel she didn’t deserve to keep living. And while she claims she simply wants to punish Lizzie’s tormentors, Angie's own anguish over abandoning her best friend will drive her deep into the dark, twisted side of Verity High—and she might not be able to pull herself back out. Debut author Chelsea Pitcher daringly depicts the harsh reality of modern high schools, where one bad decision can ruin a reputation, and one cruel word can ruin a life. Angie’s quest for the truth behind Lizzie’s suicide is addictive and thrilling, and her razor-sharp wit and fierce sleuthing skills makes her impossible not to root for—even when it becomes clear that both avenging Lizzie and avoiding self-destruction might not be possible.

*A copy was provided by Simon & Schuster for review purposes*

This book is kind of hard to talk about.  I don’t go to school (I homeschool) so I don’t know if what happened in this book really happens in real life on a regular basis (I know that it does happen sometimes).  But the fact that people are bullied and driven to hurting themselves is just sickening.  This book is about a girl who sleeps with the main character’s boyfriend, and people start to call the girl a slut and bully her so she commits suicide.  Yeah.

This book is told from a very unique point of view, being that it is told from the best friend of the girl who committed suicide’s point of view.  It took a while to get used to the writing style of the author, so it took a while to get into the story.  Once I did though, I thought the writing was very good, the idea was brilliant, but the story line was, at times, a bit too easy.  But then comes the huge, jaw-dropping twist in this book, and everything makes sense.  I really loved what Pitcher did with this book and the story line, and I loved how everything was wrapped up perfectly at the end and everything ended up fine.

This cast is kind of hard to explain.  You have Lizzie, the “slut” who slept with Angie’s boyfriend.  Angie is Lizzie’s best friend.  Then there is Jesse, the gay guy who helps out Angie.  Then you have various other characters such as Drake, Angie’s boyfriend, and a few other cheerleaders.  I must say, this cast definitely made the story interesting.  Angie was a very troubled character, and you could see her breaking down mentally throughout the book (by the way, I really liked that Pitcher highlighted that she was a flawed character).  Jesse was a really awesome character, spunky and strong, and I really loved reading about him. Drake…well I can’t actually say what I think he is.

This is such a sad book, and kind of depressing as well, but with a few twist that I never saw coming and a solid idea and story line, this is a very impressive debut.

3 pink flowers