Audrey, Wait!

This post originally published December 15, 2009.

Author: Robin Benway
Published: 2008
Publisher: Razorbill
313 pages (paperback)
 
Summary: Audrey’s ex-boyfriend Evan and his band had just signed onto a record label and rocketed to fame — all thanks to a song Evan wrote about Audrey breaking up with him! The song? Audrey, Wait! — also known as the famous last words Evan said to Audrey as Audrey walked away from the break-up. Now Audrey’s famous for being That Girl who broke up with Evan, and her life is thrown upside down. Magazines want to interview her (and misquote her), stalkers and paparazzi follow her, her best friend is concerned with using her to get free stuff and girls from school are trying to grab a piece of her fame for themselves. She can’t even attend school normally and is stuck in the school office by herself doing her schoolwork, as the principal feared she would be distracting the students. When Audrey manages to get herself a new boyfriend, he unfortunately gets dragged into the mess as well. Will life ever get back to normal?

My thoughts: First, I just want to say I usually do not read books that deal with high school coming-of-age stories (I also don’t go for the horror genre much). I’m not the biggest fan of high school/gossip-y type of books, and while this book does kind of fall into those categories, it’s refreshingly original at the same time. I bought this book based on the completely silly reason that the main character is named Audrey, and anyone who knows me knows that that is my favourite name in the whole world and my first daughter is so being named Audrey (can you love a name too much? I wish that was my name!) I read the first page while in the bookstore and was instantly hooked onto the story. Once I properly started reading, I couldn’t take my eyes off. This book is hilarious and well, just plain FUN to read. I. Love. This. Book. All those review quotes plastered on the back cover are so deserved (and there are a LOT on the back of the paperback version).

Audrey is your typical 15 year old teenager girl. She’s funny, sarcastic and a bit shallow on occasions. She also loves music and going to concerts. I adore Audrey, she feels like such a real person despite this being something of an outrageous story, along with her best friend Victoria (who is possibly even more funny than Audrey and a very awesome friend). I think what’s interesting about Audrey is that she never really wanted to be famous at all. She didn’t feel a twinge of regret when she realized her ex is a rock star now. The only time she ‘used her fame’ was for backstage passes to a concert and she sure learned a lesson — fame can be ugly and destructive. After that fiasco, she just wanted to be normal but she couldn’t, and then she wanted to hide, but that didn’t work either.

The book does suffer a bit from high school stereotypes (the reason why high school type books bother me), like the catty popular chick who becomes jealous at Audrey’s fame, and Victoria plays very much like every other awesome best friend sidekick. It’s also at times, ridiculous, because I find it hard to believe that Audrey — who is not a singer, actor, model, or some other kind of celebrity — can be that famous for being the subject of a song! But you know, this isn’t by any means a realistic piece of fiction, it’s meant to be outrageous. It’s supposed to be funny. You’ll be busy laughing, crying, gasping and being mortified with Audrey. After reading this book, God forbid me from ever becoming famous myself, please.

My Rating: 5/5