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Marita's Reviews > Inside the Shadow City
Inside the Shadow City (Kiki Strike, #1)
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So I liked it, but there were some flaws that made it just ok. I assume it aspires to be a book about geeky girls who empower themselves to explore an underground city and save NYC. It falls short in my opinion. The girls may be empowered and brilliant in a singular sense, the "Irregulars" are not an empowered group of women on any level. They are negative and shallow even. I just couldn't stand by when the narrator is told to only have one cookie by a friend because she would be cuter if she lost a few pounds. Then the narrator uses all her money to buy new designer clothes and doesn't eat that second cookie next time. Gross. Why does this have to be the norm for girls. Why can't we just be geeky and enjoy another cookie? Anyway. It was fun to discuss in book club and reflect on my teen years, but over all. ehh.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
January 1, 2009
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Finished Reading
February 10, 2009
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Heather
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rated it 2 stars
Feb 10, 2009 12:41PM
I support you having all the cookies you want, my fabulous friend!
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Thank you. You know I ate SEVERAL more on Sunday!! ;)
Weird--I JUST put in this comment about 30 seconds ago! We're on the same wavelength.
So you girls rated the book much lower than I did. I was thinking around 3.5, but I rounded up. Maybe I should have rounded down. But you got me thinking. I didn't particularly like Kiki as a character, and I had to remind myself to suspend disbelief (a group of preteens aren't going to be totally freaked out by finding rooms full of skeletons?!? That's creepy no matter how old you are!). I think ultimately I gave a high rating to what I had hoped the book would be, not what it actually was. There were some serious stereotypes, but I kept hoping it would be awesome, and I thought the idea of the book was great. I would categorize it with "Twilight." I didn't necessarily enjoy reading it or love the characters, but there was something about it that compelled me to keep reading. Anyway, on a related note--there was an article today in the Boston Globe about the Granary Burial ground (final resting place of John Hancock, Paul Revere and the victims of the Boston Massacre, among others.) A tourist was walking around on a self-guided tour when the ground opened and she fell waist-deep into a hidden stairwell! Does Boston have a Shadow City? Apparently the original slate covering the area was eroded through and eventually the dirt over it caved in. The stairwell leads to a plot from the 18th century. Unlike the book, if a hole opened up in a cemetery, I'd be more likely to start praying the devil hasn't come for me than plan an adventure. I guess I wouldn't make it as an Irregular :)
You can eat how many cookies you want, just don't blame Ananka for not eating the second. By the way, it wasn't a cookie, it was a piece of pie. Thenarrator is told not to eat that second "cookie" by Oona, who is always kind of mean, even though she has a good heart. This does not have to be a norm for girls, but there are lots of girls who want to loose weight and that's perfectly fine if they need to (and the narrator does). Also, what's the problem of spending your extra money in cool clothes? That's good and natural! It's something good to care about looking pretty if you don't exagerate.
it's a damn blintz. get it together with the russian pastries, for god's sake
