Surviving High School by M. Doty

Surviving High School by M. Doty

Review of Surviving High School

Title & Author:
Surviving High School by M. Doty
Publisher:
Poppy
Publication Date:
September 04, 2012
Pages:
272
Source:
BEA

What’s the secret to surviving your freshman year of high school?

Emily Kessler thinks she has it all figured out. She eats, sleeps and trains for competitive swimming. All she has to do is keep her grades high and swim times short — short enough to live up to her sister Sara’s. But walking the crowded maze of unfamiliar high school hallways is like diving headfirst into shark-infested waters. Shark #1: Dominique, her biggest competition on the swim team and all-around mean girl. Shark #2: The adorable and popular Ben Kale… Emily can’t resist his smile no matter how hard she tries. When the pressure builds to the point where Emily isn’t sure she can stay afloat, she begins to question the strict path her life has always followed.

Maybe there is more to life than studying and swimming. Maybe the secret to surviving high school is just to have a little fun.

The hit mobile game Surviving High School comes to life in an original novel about perfection, failure, and following your dreams. – Goodreads

Surviving High School by M. Doty was an interesting read for me and I definitely enjoyed it. I was concerned at first because the back of the book says it’s based on a mobile game and I wasn’t really sure what depth Surviving High School would bring. I just don’t have a lot of confidence that a game for phones can truly bring across the emotional aspects of losing your sister.

And Surviving High School, while not the sort of typically fluffy and hilarious book that I’ve come to expect from YA contemps involving freshman year, definitely did the grief in a lighter sort of tone. Rather than focusing on how Emily really felt about the loss of her sister (although there were certainly moments where she was clearly grieving), a lot of it was Emily trying to discover what really happened the night her sister died and also showing everyone that she’s not her sister. If any of that makes sense.

But Surviving High School certainly packed an emotional punch. I loved the way Emily’s relationship with her father was done – the strains in their bond was so clear and so upsetting and I really felt for Emily every time her dad acted like he was just her Coach, even at home. For me their relationship was the biggest part of Surviving High School and I really liked how it was handled throughout the story.

And, of course, there’s the romance. The romance in Surviving High School was very sweet and I was really rooting for Emily to stick it to her parents and go out with Ben. I didn’t see a huge connection developing between them at first, it kind of just happened, but even still, I really liked them together.

Overall, Surviving High School by M. Doty is certainly an enjoyable contemp that made laugh but still had a lot of depth to it. There’s a lot of little life lessons in Surviving High School, but I thought the focus on family was done perfectly. I recommend Surviving High School to fans of contemps looking for an engrossing but quick read., and I’ll certainly be reading the second book in this series, based on Emily’s best friend.

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