Everyone is Faking Perfect
Why is the pressure so intense in high school to be perfect? And what if the best you can do is to fake it?
Faking Perfect
"When Lexi Shaw seduced Oakfield High's resident bad boy Tyler Flynn at the beginning of senior year, he seemed perfectly okay with her rules:
- Avoid her at school.
- Keep his mouth shut about what they do together.
- Never tease her about her friend (and unrequited crush) Ben."
- from the book jacket of Faking Perfect
This novel is chock full of issues:
- mother daughter issues
- abandonment issues
- the family you choose
- the stress of high school gossip
- romance issues
- pressure to maintain an image
At first, the similarities between Faking Perfect and Kody Keplinger's The DUFF -- things like secret sex buddies and emotionally bonding over neglectful parents -- were distracting. Eventually the story took new directions and I stopped comparing the two books. The similarities were a smaller part of the overall novel, but the similarities in the issues that teens are coping with and the unhealthy (yet sexy) ways they are choosing to cope really struck me. I recommend this enjoyable, empathetic read to teen fiction and teen romance readers who are interested in stories about family and high school relationships.
The DUFF and Lying Out Loud
Who else is faking perfect? Kody Keplinger writes characters who are faking it so well that sometimes they are even fooling themselves.
In The DUFF, Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper starts sleeping with Wesley Rush, a notorious womanizer who disgusts her, in order to distract her from her personal problems.
In Lying Out Loud, high school senior Sonny Ardmore is an accomplished liar who is staying at her best friend Amy's house every night and accidentally starts a secret online romance with the new guy, Ryder.
Kody Keplinger is one of the most honest, funny and compelling teen authors around. I previously reviewed her novel A Midsummer's Nightmare and I absolutely adore her modern adaptation of Lysistrata, Shut Out.
Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them
“Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.”
― Albert Camus
It's a fine line between faking it and being a liar. Who am I to judge someone else's version of the truth? Popular teen authors have created some fabulous liars to help readers see wonderful truths.
- Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot features a rising high school senior who has become a proficient liar in order to keep everyone happy.
- To Be Perfectly Honest : a novel based on an untrue story by Sonya Sones tells the story of fifteen-year-old Colette, is a compulsive liar spending a miserable summer in California.
- Aces up by Lauren Barnholdt is a romp in which a sixteen-year-old high school honors student lies about her age to get a job at a Connecticut casino so she can earn money for her college tuition.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy reading these books and writing this article. Unfortunately, faking perfect isn't a theme that is limited to high school romance novels. College internships, resumes and interviews, marriage, parenting, careers -- practically anything relating to adult life can be associated with the pressure to get it right and make it look good. (If you don't believe me, see what life has in store for you and read I don't know how she does it : the life of Kate Reddy, working mother by Allison Pearson.)
Maybe you'll recognize that trying to be perfect isn't realistic by reading books like these. You can learn from the characters' experiences, or you can learn it the hard way through your own experiences. Just remember -- you can't keep faking perfect forever!
