Book Review: 'Going Vintage' by Lindsey Leavitt

THE DETAILS:
Pages:304
Genre: Teenage Fiction, Contemporary
Release Date: 26/03/2013
Publisher: Scholastic
I bought it online.

THE BLURB:
Mallory loves her boyfriend and she's sure he loves her back. Until she accidentally logs on to his Authentic Life profile, that is.

He's been cheating on her...online!

Mallory's relationship is ruined and the Internet is to blame.
And then Mallory finds a list, written by her grandma as a teenager. Things were so much simpler in the 1960s - it was all about sewing dresses and planning dinner parties.

Maybe it's time for Mallory to go vintage...

MY THOUGHTS:
This book has been out a little while and I thought it was time for me to take a break from the series I had been reading and pick this up. I have heard mixed opinions about 'Going Vintage', but decided to give it a shot anyways because it seemed like my kind of book. I think I actually agree with some of the reviews I've read on this one. While I really did enjoy the book and like the premise, I felt like I wasn't sure about how it played out in the end...

I read this book pretty quickly considering that I hadn't been reading much lately. I really liked the list-making at the start of the chapters and I really liked seeing things from Mallory's POV. I really liked Mallory's sense of humor too. I feel like this book is a fun quick read and that the main character is quite likeable. I can't say for sure that I would read it again, but I would recommend it to someone looking for a light and fluffy summer read.

I feel like Mallory takes going "vintage" to a whole new level. Not only does she avoid the internet at all costs, she gives up her mobile phone, swaps her cordless for an old corded telephone and reinvents her wardrobe. Mallory has decided that she wants to make her life more 1962 and she wants to be as authentic as possible, because modern technology is one of the reasons her relationship failed. While many of the vintage community in the blogging world might feel like they want to dress in retro dresses, I think it's safe to say that most of us wouldn't be able to handle no internet! While I understand that once upon a time people didn't have a choice and had to live without modern technology, I feel like Mallory did go a little overboard by ditching it completely (even for school work). I also think that it seemed a little like Mallory was placing too much blame on the internet.

It did make me think a little bit about how much we rely on technology and how technology has changed our social interactions. Social media has allowed people to say much nastier things to each other online then what they might have done in person, And to say things much more publicly. We also talk to each other less and type/text more. By getting off social media, Mallory was able to start a new club and a meet a new friend.

I felt like some parts of this story were really obvious, but there were still a few surprises which is always nice. I thought that Mallory should of stayed at the dance longer after all of the effort that went into her dress. I wasn't a big fan of the ending of the novel either , because it felt like a promise and promises get broken all the time.

I was also a little annoyed at how quickly she ditched 1962 once she completed the list. Even though she was bound to start living "modern" at some point, I thought it was a shame that she was so ready to give up on "going vintage" after she got what she wanted. The lifestyle change could be compared to a fad diet of some kind i'm sure.

Overall I think this novel is worth 4/5 stars. It was enjoyable, but I wasn't really happy with the way it ended as it didn't feel finished. I would definitely read a sequel though, if one came out... I don't think this was as bad as some of the reviews made out, but it's not perfect.

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