Anatomy of a Misfit

Starred review from June 9, 2014
As the third most popular girl in school, 15-year-old Anika Dragomir worries a lot about her precarious social rank, which means tolerating the casual cruelties of Becky Vilhauer, who rules their Nebraska high school with an iron fist. Morally conflicted, Anika surreptitiously tries to undo some of Becky’s damage (such as dismantling an invented pregnancy rumor), but Anika’s secret relationship with geek-turned-hottie Logan McDonough only adds to her problems. This nascent romance is further complicated when Jared Kline, “the biggest stone-cold fox in the city, possibly in the state,” unexpectedly starts courting Becky and she gets disturbing glimpses of Logan’s home life. In this YA debut, adult author Portes (Hick; Bury This) serves up a self-deprecating and highly memorable heroine whose bawdy, laceratingly funny narration makes her instantly endearing while also revealing her flaws, uncertainties, and ethical quandaries. Throughout, Portes hints that tragedy is in the cards, and while the final chapters flirt with melodrama, the novel will leave many readers dwelling on missed opportunities to take a stand in their own lives. Ages 14–up. Agent: Katie Shea Boutillier, Donald Maass Literary Agency.

July 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Anika Dragomir is the third most popular girl in school, despite being of mixed heritage in an overwhemingly white neighborhood. She's smart, attractive, and knows that the most popular girl, Becky Vilhauer, is a bully. Still, Anika clings to the tenuous friendship for fear of the total social annihilation that Becky will put her through if she displeases her in any way. Anika is constantly trying to reconcile the "spider stew" of her true self with her social persona, which leads to a series of hilarious escapades and a decidedly double life. When she finds herself falling for former nerd turned hottie, Logan McDonough, she manages to keep their relationship secret by arranging regular midnight rendezvous. In a clandestine act of defiance as employee of Bunza Hut, when she is angered by her boss's hateful treatment of her best friend/coworker, she exacts revenge by covertly dosing him with her mother's valium and routinely stealing from the till. But it's not until her feelings for Logan become muddled by his own personal spider stew that Anika finds her life completely unraveling. Allowing herself to be flattered into a date with the neighborhood heartthrob, she realizes too late that she's in love with Logan. Told in the first person, Anika's droll voice shines, and her emotions are palpable. After a heartbreaking tragedy, Anika's ending, if not particularly realistic, will leave readers cheering.-Cary Frostick, formerly at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2014
Anika Dragomir, the third most popular girl at her high school in 1980s Nebraska, is pursued by two different boys, both off-limits to her, in a romance filled with seriously funny dark humor and tragedy.When, toward the end of this unconventional novel, Anika realizes that she may have inherited her tendency toward mental imbalance from her loving and smart but eccentric mother, it's an epiphany for her. It might not be similarly revelatory for readers, given the first-person window they've been given into her thoughts throughout. Nevertheless, Anika will already have won most of them over, even in the face of some questionable moral lapses, such as dosing her (albeit obnoxious and, it turns out, racist) boss's coffee with Valium and pilfering money from the register. She worries that, inside, she's "spider soup," but it's clear that Anika's a good soul, though she's terrified of her supposed friend, the most popular girl in school. This fear is the reason that she stays quiet about her developing relationships with both reformed outcast Logan, who deals with a paralyzing, sad home life, and the wildly charismatic but possible player Jared. Chapters interspersed that describe Anika pedaling furiously on her bike toward a clearly horrific outcome will brace readers from the start, but this foreshadowing does little to soften the emotional punch of the conclusion.A compelling debut for teens from adult novelist Portes (Hick, 2007, etc.). (Historical fiction. 14-18)

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September 1, 2014
Anika Dragomir is the third most popular girl at her Lincoln, Nebraska, high school, ranking just below sweet but naive Shelli Schroeder ("She's my best friend even though she's kind of a slut") and miles behind uncontested queen bee Becky Vilhauer ("aka the dark side of the force"). Anika looks the part of the blonde, blue-eyed All-American girl-next-door, but "nobody knows that on the inside I am spider soup." On the first day of school, "nerd-ball turned goth romance hero" Logan McDonough rides up on a moped and fixes his smoldering gaze on Anika. They begin a secret, confusing courtship that gets even more complicated when God's gift to Nebraska, Jared Kline, asks Anika's mom for permission to take her daughter out on a date. A dramatic climax is foreshadowed by sections in italics that hint at tragedy. Anika's observations are razor-sharp, especially when she is describing other people (and especially when she's ragging on her own family: "My dad is Romanian and looks like Count Chocula. Seriously. He looks like a vampire"; "My oldest sister...looks, dresses, and acts like Joan Jett and teases me endlessly for having boobs 'cause she is flat as a board, so fuck her"). An introductory note says the story is based on the author's ninth-grade experience. What a year. elissa gershowitz

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2015
Anika Dragomir looks like the All-American girl-next-door, but "nobody knows that on the inside I am spider soup." "Nerd-ball turned goth romance hero" Logan McDonough and God's-gift-to-Nebraska, Jared Kline, vie for her affections. A dramatic climax is foreshadowed by sections in italics that hint at tragedy. Anika's observations are razor-sharp, especially when she's describing other people (and especially when she's ragging on her family).

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)