ROAR Notes #1:

The Search for the Real Hannah: Everything Sucks

Everything Sucks: Losing My Mind and Finding Myself in a High School Quest for Cool, Hannah Friedman, 2009, Health Communications Inc.

Summary

            In Everything Sucks, Hannah Friedman is the main character. The story is mainly about her trying to fit in at a private school while escaping her early childhood. When she was young, Hannah had an older sister who was a monkey was named Amelia. As she got into middle school, everybody teased her and called her “monkey girl”. Her parents toke that as a sign to send her to private school. She was determined to leave her awkward monkey girl reputation behind her. She automatically latched to the Great Eights. They are a group of popular girls. She also has hippie friends. So far high school was great.

            She was introduced to drugs by her boyfriend Adam and his friends. She was also introduced to starvation and body issues from the Great Eight. Being apart if the Great Eight meant going to an Ivy League school and having the latest Gucci bag. She was determined to go to Yale. She would even take drugs such as crack or Aderal to work on college essays and applications. Her life began to fall apart when she was rejected from early applications from Yale. She would do drugs with her friend Julian and sneak out of the dorms. She got it together when her friend Ian dies of an over dose. She then finds out that she got into Yale and she is very happy.

            As she leaves her crazy double life behind and her boyfriend and the Great Eight for Yale, she realizes that she found herself when she was younger and called monkey girl. She now accepts it and is ready to move on.

Quotation

            “ ‘I’ve got it ! I think maybe we went to kindergarten. Aren’t you…That monkey girl?’……. and I can’t help but smile as I nod and admit that ‘I am’ (Friedman 247).

Quotation Context

            In this quote, Hannah is on her way to her first class at Yale when she runs into a girl looking for directions. After the quote, Hannah smiles and is happy. I picked this quote because it was ironic that in the end, she was happy to be called something that she hated and made her changed so much from.