#Scandal
Daisy Ockler
Simon Pulse 2014
Lavender Oaks High is online, all
the time. At least the students are… and
most of the staff, too. It’s a digital
world, with Facebook ruling the technological roost – much like the majority of
high school s in the Western world. At Lavender
Oaks, the hive mind is of social media is observed, catalogued and encouraged
by Miss Demeanour, a mysterious figure always on the lookout for the next
scandal. Lucy Vaccaro follows Miss D. as
avidly as the next person but when compromising photos of Lucy and her best
friend’s boyfriend appear online, she finds herself at the heart of her very
own #Scandal.
Lucy, while hardly flawless, is
quick to own her mistakes and over the course of the story comes a long way in
terms of maturity, friendships and perception of others. The relationships that she has with her
friends and family (all of whom are exceptionally well-realised) are extremely
believable as is her confusing romance with Cole, a suitably lovely if equally
flawed character. Her attitude towards
her sister is particularly interesting in that it has been skewed by her sister’s
portrayal in the public eye which in turn has been influenced by her sister’s
very real yet magnified issues. But then
that is what Lucy’s story is all about – perception and communication and the
overload of both in the world of always accessible social media.
#Scandal
is a bit of a rollercoaster ride. It
overflows with the kind of surrealist humour and youthful cynicism of Glee and Easy A and Ockler clearly has her finger on the pulse of new and
less than new pop culture with references to Buffy, Veronica Mars, Twilight and The Hunger Games. Miss
Demeanour is a shameless homage to Gossip
Girl herself. It’s all highly
knowing, more than a little bit meta and extremely entertaining. Yet Ockler, rather than merely providing readers
with a bit of clever fluff (and there is nothing wrong with clever fluff) adds
a murkier layer to what is ultimately a morality tale.
Cyberbullying is a pretty
terrifying reality and #Scandal
demonstrates how swiftly and effectively a reputation can be destroyed, while pointing
out that school administrations and adults in general need to make themselves
aware of exactly what is going on in a world where the millennial generation
and beyond embrace new technology in the manner of fishes and water. While highly entertaining, #Scandal is a tale of our times and I suspect
we should all be taking notes.
The kids we meet at Lavender Oaks
live lives that are utterly informed not only by social but also by traditional
media. Facebook might be at the heart of
Lucy’s scandal, but it quickly becomes clear that the lens through which she
and her friends view the world is one darkened by TV, tabloids, smart phones
and Twitter. They are both the watchers
and the watched and they are hyper both of the power they hold as much as of
the vulnerability engendered by the all-seeing eye of the modern world. Ockler skilfully explores just how much can be
lost through living life online rather than face to face – a lesson that Lucy
learns in time but which will leave you wondering about the rest of us. Highly
recommended.
This review was brought to you by Splendibird. #Scandal is available now. Thank you to the publisher, via Edelweiss, for providing us with a copy of this title to review.
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