The Diamonds Book Review

The Diamonds by Ted Michael

Publisher: Delacorte Books

Release date: April 14, 2009

Source: Bought

At Long Island's Bennington School, the Diamonds rule supreme. They're the girls all the boys want to date and all the girls want to be. And fortunately for Marni, she's right in the middle of them. Best friends with the ring leader, Clarissa, Marni enjoys all the spoils of ultrapopularity: boys, power, and respect. But then Marni gets a little too close to Clarissa's ex-boyfriend, Anderson... wrong move, the Diamonds don't touch each other's exes. And just like that, Marni is jettisoned from Diamond to lower than Cubic Zirconia. But Marni isn't about to take her ouster lying down. She has dirt on the Diamonds, and she's not about to go down without a fight. Everyone knows, the only thing strong enough to cut a Diamond, is another Diamond.

Review:

The Diamonds was a fun, quick read. It really showed the dangers of popularity- one wrong and you're out. At first I wasn't sure it was going to be a great book, because I hated how Marni and "The Diamonds" got everything they wanted and got away with everything. When Marni got outed from the group she started to realize that being a Diamond wasn't the best thing afterall. She liked talking to people she normally wouldn't. Marni was a likable main character and her narration was personal and well written. Ted Michael proved that just because someone thinks they're the best- doesn't mean they are. Books about popularity and finding your self, etc, are very common lately, but I really liked The Diamonds because it seemed if not completely realistic, like something that could actually happen. The characters could be real people, and what happened to Marni could happen to anyone. Although, the mock trial system in the novel that the Diamonds controlled seemed like a crazy idea, it added another angle to the novel that I really liked. Overall, I probably wouldn't read it again, but I did enjoy reading it.

The writing style was easy to read and you could finish it pretty quickly, but the book contained everything it needed. The ending was satisfying and I felt I didn't need anything more, I wasn't left wondering what happened. Another nice aspect of this novel, was the first ten amendments on the top's of each chapter. It added another cool feature to the book. The first part of the book contained the real amendments, the second part had the amendments The Diamonds made up for their court. They were original and fun to read, although a bit outlandish. Another great part of the novel was the way the author emphasized how quickly things can get out of your hands when you're letting someone influence you like Clarissa did to Marni. Marni didn't even realize that Clarissa wasn't really the nice person she seemed. All in all, I liked the book and felt it was a great first novel- I'm looking forward to the author's next book.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars