Undiscovered Gyrl (Vintage Contemporaries Orig)

Katie Kampenfelt is smart, but not educated. She’s sassy, erratic, impulsive, and yet totally honest with the readers of her blog. She types away at her computer telling us the story of her life. Her decision to forego college, her feelings regarding her divorced parents, her appetite for drugs, sex, and alcohol. Katie’s blog is honest and revealing; she makes no attempt to hide any detail of her life from the reader (except for her true identity). Her blog soon attracts a steady following and Katie notes that only on the Internet can one be famous and lonely at the same time.

So why is this blog noteworthy? Why does an obscure blog, written by an obscure teenager garner so much attention? Did I mention Katie’s honesty and appetites?

Katie is ruthlessly honest and what she lacks in judgment is made up for in her ability to reflect and analyze her behavior. Her posts are a poignant comment on the age we live in and give the reader a glimpse into the troubled soul of a young girl struggling to find her place in the world.

Clichéd? At times. It may sound a little run-of-the-mill, yet another story of a young person in our modern age trying to find their way to adulthood but what makes Gyrl so engaging are the questions Katie’s blog raises. While Katie can be insightful and hilarious do we really know her? Is this real or just an attempt by a young, lonely girl to embellish the truth? Given what happens at the end to Katie, is anyone really anonymous on the Internet?

Undiscovered Gyrl  is an intriguing read that will leave you shaking your head and muttering on one page and cheering for Katie on the next.