But in this novel, Courtney Summers is able to balance that perfectly with Parker, who makes sense even when she doesn’t. And characters who don’t make logical sense seem unrealistic. Real people don’t act like characters whose places in a story are neat and follow a consistent chain of events that makes logical sense. The author’s characterization of Parker is spot-on her actions don’t always make sense, but that’s why she does make sense. Courtney Summers mixes the present with mysterious flashbacks to the past, to the events leading up to Parker’s transformation, in order to keep the suspense, and it’s intriguing, but I wasn’t reading to find out what happened as much as I was reading for Parker. But she can never, ever tell the truth about what happened.Ĭracked Up To Beis an excellent and intense debut novel. She’s not the Parker anyone knew a year ago, and her deepest secret, the one everyone’s trying to pry out of her, is the why. Her parents are afraid she’ll hurt herself irreversibly.

She has weekly meetings with the guidance counselor. Chris, her ex-boyfriend, won’t leave her alone, and neither will the new kid, Jake. People are demanding the truth, but Parker will never give it to them. With the way she’s acting, though, that’s impossible. People think it’s a plea for attention, but all Parker wants is to be left alone. She became self-destructive and hated and is now in danger of not graduating. Parker showed up to school drunk, failed her classes, broke up with her boyfriend, quit the cheerleading squad, neglected her appearance, alienated her friends–anything she could do to ruin her life, she did. She was head cheerleader, she was popular, and she had it all. Perfect looks, perfect boyfriend, perfect grades, perfect life.

Cracked up to be book