ghostgirl: sincerely light reading

My dear friend Jen loaned both of these books to me: ghostgirl and ghostgirl: homecoming. While both are a bit over-the-top dramatic, I enjoyed reading them. When I first started ghostgirl, I thought, "Wow, Abby would really like this cute book." But after the initial "cute" death of the heroine - she chokes to death on a gummy bear in physics class - the plot turns down a few too many inappropriate corners for an eight-year-old.

My best description of the first book is Beetle Juice meets Heathers. Quirky outcast Charlotte Usher longs to be part of the in-crowd - Petula and the Wendys - and to be with her dream-man, Damen, who happens to be Petula's boyfriend. When Charlotte is matched up with Damen as a physics lab partner (book published in 2008, anyone smell a Twilight rip-off?!) she thinks her dreams have come true. Too bad their first class ends with her meeting the reaper via gelatinous candy.

Charlotte attends "Dead Ed," and learns a bit about the afterlife and her former life a little too late. Chock full of references to popular culture and a killer graduation much like the finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 3, ghostgirl made me laugh, reminisce and thank my lucky stars that I'm done with high school.

ghostgirl: homecoming read like a soap opera on overdrive. The cultural references were dripping with an effort at humor; and the plot, which never came around to making any sense, was all over the place. Therefore, I'm sure I'd be no good at trying to describe the story because I'm not even sure what it was.

What's more disturbing is that the second book ended the same as the first - with a strong suggestion that a third book will follow. It shouldn't. I realize I said I enjoyed reading it, but I read it on an elliptical machine for the most part - a place where reading advanced physics is more enjoyable than concentrating on the minutes left in my workout.

I started A Thousand Splendid Suns on Sunday and it is thus far a phenomenally huge step up - at least intellectually - from ghostgirl. Happy reading!