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The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Posted on 22 October 2009

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:
Debate Club.
Her father’s “bunny rabbit.”
A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:
A knockout figure.
A sharp tongue.
A chip on her shoulder.
And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.

Frankie Landau-Banks.
No longer the kind of girl to take “no” for an answer.
Especially when “no” means she’s excluded from her boyfriend’s all-male secret society.
Not when her ex boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.
Not when she knows she’s smarter than any of them.
When she knows Matthew’s lying to her.
And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.

Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16:
Possibly a criminal mastermind.

This is the story of how she got that way.

This book is fantastic!  I loved everything about Frankie.  I really liked that the book was smart – it wasn’t dumbed down and while many things were explained, I never felt that they were overexplained with big flashing lights like sometimes happens in YA.  I liked Frankie’s inner conflicts – the battle between liking to kiss Matthew and not wanting to be used by him, the battle between wanting to stand up for herself and not wanting to get kicked out of Matthew/Alpha’s group.

I liked the way the book written as a chronicle of what Frankie did.  I liked that we had insight into her thoughts without knowing everything.  The secondary characters were interesting, especially Matthew and Alpha.  And of course, the pranks were hilarious and well thought out.