The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Described to me as one of the best high school girl romantic shenanigans confessionals out there. I think this might actually be true – high school was just ten years ago for me in real time, even if it was much longer in soultime, and this book feels very familiar and authentic to me. It just had no aliens. Or ghosts, or demons, or telepaths – basically, no one had to save the world, so it didn’t kick up to awesome for me.



That, and the much more important thing. The shtick here is that our narrator is talking to her therapist as part of her treatment for a mild anxiety disorder resulting from some difficult adolescent shenanigans. And the sessions are structured around the boys in her life, one chapter for each.



Yeah. This book is like the anti-Bechtel test. It’s about self-empowerment and speaking up and crediting your own desires, and the whole fucking thing is two women sitting there talking about nothing but men. The structure takes the empowering message, drags it out back and double-taps it to the forehead, then scribbles “boys boys boys!” all over its face in sparkly pen, is what I’m saying.





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