Reading Rumpus: Undiscovered Gyrl by Allison Burnett

It’s so much better when you have low expectations for a novel. I didn’t really think I’d like the premise of Undiscovered Gyrl, thought it would be forced metafiction. The worst. But Undiscovered Gyrl hooked me quickly and didn’t let me go. Like a train wreck, or better yet - an accident waiting to happen, I stared, unblinking, until the last page.

Katie is 17 and (as the book jacket says) a modern-day Lolita. One minute she’s a young woman on the cusp of adulthood, struggling with growing up, boyfriends, sex and normal teen worries. The next minute she’s a seductress, cold and unapologetic in the recounting of her quests. Through her blog, we watch. We sign on each day to read her next post. We watch her unravel, sense a terrible climax coming. A train wreck. A car crash. Then, one day, she’s gone.

Excellently executed, Undiscovered Gyrl leaves us wondering. The epitome of an unreliable narrator leads the action, with Katie wanting her readers to be denied no excitement. Author Allson Burnett does a fine job dropping hints, but until the final blow, we just keep gawking. Upon reflection, we wonder why we didn’t see this coming a mile away.

Undiscovered Gyrl is being marketed to a young adult crowd, but the strong sexual content might be too much for some. Scary? Yes. Sexually explicit? Yes. Impossible to look away. Yes.

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Genre: Realistic Fiction. Age: Young Adult. Pages: 304.

Themes: Sexual Awakening, Making Choices, Coming of Age, Moral Dilemmas, Metafiction

Thank you to Shelf Awareness & Vintage for my advanced copy.
Advisory: Strong sexual content, but also a non-sanctimonious cautionary tale.
Publisher: Vintage. Date: August 2009.
ISBN-13: 9780307473127.

Buy Undiscovered Gyrl HERE

Book's Website HERE

Katie's Blogspot Blog HERE

Here’s a great LA Times review where I learned the author was a male!

Trailer:

Author Interview:

Allison Burnett is a man who wrote a book using the voice of a teenage female. This reader would never have guessed - a great compliment for an author. He has been a high school tutor and a screenplay writer. He has recently returned to his fiction writing roots. You can read more about him on his website.

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Undiscovered Gyrl by Allison Burnett - Book Review