March 2010

Author/s: Joanna Nadin
Publisher: Oxford University Press UK
Reviewed by: Esta Burger, Age: 15 years
ISBN 13: 9780192729217

Rachel thinks her life is utterly boring and uneventful. There are no criminals, homo-sexuals or anyone who could make her life more tragic. So she and her friend, Sad Ed, sulk over their irrelevant lives. That’s until Rachel’s best friend, Scarlet, becomes a Goth and Rachel’s grandpa Riley come to live with them. In the first year things started to change in Rachel’s ‘meaningless’ life. The dog starts a war between Rachel’s mum and grandpa, as he devours anything that looks interesting. That includes Lord of the Rings toys form Riley’s brother James, and several DVD’s and CD’s. Then Rachel’s grandpa starts a relationship with Treena, a funny and weird young woman. And that leaves Rachel’s whole family looking after Jesus Riley, which Treena named.

At school Rachel’s crush, Justin, isn’t paying much attention to her as he is already dating someone else. Rachel is sent to her grandma Clegg for the vacation and ends up in a rebound relationship with Will. Scarlet’s brother, Jack, has to kiss Rachel in a school concert and it is uncomfortable. Thin Kylie ends up moving in next to Rachel and neither is pleased about it. When Rachel has to do things for Kylie, a friendship war starts between her, Sad Ed and Scarlet. Then Justin ends up kissing Scarlet and after a huge outburst everyone is friends again. But Justin is still out of reach for Rachel.

In the second year, Rachel continues her fantasy about Justin until there’s a new girl at school: Tuesday Weeks. She is exotic, interesting and tragic. Scarlet falls into Tuesday’s lap, as well as Sad Ed. But somehow Rachel is immune to her powers. After a party at Kylie’s, she ends up with a hangover, with a social scandal surrounding her because she kissed a twelve year old. She realizes that she has no friends. She starts talking to Jack and realizes that she likes him. She likes him a lot. When she and Justin kisses and she feels nothing, she knows it is because of Jack. Now that she could kiss Justin after all, she wanted Jack! But then again, he was her best friend’s brother. What was she going to do?

She and Scarlet still stays friends, Sad Ed starts dating Tuesday and he ends up heartbroken, amongst other things. The year ends where she’s waiting in the closet, making up her mind as to who to choose: Justin or Jack. And you’ll have to read the book to find out who opens the closet!

In the beginning the book was very funny, actually hilarious. But later on in the book, it gets a bit boring. You don’t get to know what Rachel is really like, because she only writes in her diary what happens, she doesn’t really say how she FEELS about anything. It is also a bit immature. Rachel isn’t emotionally very intelligent, and she cannot handle situations well. I think the book would suitable be for the age-group 12 to 14, although it is a bit rude. They speak openly about sex and drugs. The writing is nice for teenagers, as it is written in the way we speak, but there’s a lot of stuff in the book that is not meant for conservative people. On the other hand, it is really how it is at school, especially the schools in Europe and London. So I would recommend it to someone who likes comedy and that can handle open-minded comments. I would not recommend it to sensitive readers. Also, the book is about a normal life of a teenager. There is not much action in that, especially in Rachel’s case - she lives in the lonely town of Saffron Walden. So if you are into action, this book is not for you.

Link to online catalogue
My Double Life: Two Years in the so-called life of Rachel Riley