On a library listserv I read, a children's librarian recently lamented that the dozens of hard-bound Nancy Drew books in her collection don't circulate. She asked for suggestions to promote the series, which likely seems outdated and decrepit to today's Gossip Girls audience.Lucky for the befuddled librarian, girl sleuths are enjoying a pop culture renaissance. In addition to the release of a Nancy Drew movie this summer and the popularity of latter-day titian-haired teen P.I. Veronica Mars, a number of non-fiction books about the original girl detective have been published. I read my mom's vintage Nancy Drew hardcovers as a kid, and given my recent obsession with Ms. Mars, I picked up Chelsea Cain's satirical romp with the expectation of campy amusement. I was not disappointed by Confessions of a Teen Sleuth in that department. The book is purportedly Nancy's first-person autobiography, related via a decade-hopping trail of vignettes - her attempt to set right the errors of Carolyn Keene. It pokes fun at the series' conventions, like Nancy's goody-goody reputation. Turns out she and Frank Hardy were pretty hot and heavy back in the day, and Nurse Cherry Ames was the detective's arch-nemesis. We all knew that deep down, Nancy was kind of a bitch, and this autobiography proves it to humorous effect.These story elements are fun if you're familiar with the numerous heroic do-gooder series of the latter 20th century. (Encyclopedia Brown even makes a cameo as an overweight, pizza-faced, middle-aged version of himself who still lives with his parents.) However, at barely 150 pages - a number of which were captioned illustrations - the book felt over-long and I quickly got bored with the novelty of the premise. Confessions would've been great as a short story or magazine piece, but the gimmick doesn't hold up over the course of a full-length novel. I only recommend this book if you're a die-hard fan of campy teen detectives. Which, embarrassingly enough, I am.
We all great up reading about Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, and Encyclopedia Brown. What would have happened if our favorite young detectives were real people. Cain has taken them all and tried to create a world that did just that with this book, which takes on the form of a tell-all memoir by Nancy Drew herself.In her world, Carolyn Keene was a college roommate of Nancy's who was not only jealous of our favorite girl detective, but decided to write a series of adventures based on Nancy's life. As in the books, Nancy (and her friends) really did do much of what happened in those books, but they went on to live their own lives as well.Now that she is in the waning years of her life, Nancy is looking back and wants to share the realities of her life. While she married her high school sweetheart, she also held a secret love for on of the other young detectives we know and well ... and even had his love child. I found it hysterical that she seemed to have a major problem with Cherry Adams (the girl detective who was constantly taking on the role of a different kind of nurse in each of her books). Cherry and Nancy definitely did not like each other.I thought the book was a lot of fun. Cain does a great job of capturing the tone of the real Nancy Drew books, and each chapter is accompanied with an illustration in the style that was also found in the originals. True fans of the various detective series should beware, though, since many of our favorite young sleuths ended up having lives that would not be what we had hoped, but it only makes the book more interesting. This is definitely a parody, as stated on the cover, and if you are defensive of the characters, you may not be too happy.That doesn't stop this from being a truly enjoyable romp that not only brings back memories, but a put a smile on my face.
Do You like book Confessions Of A Teen Sleuth (2005)?
I read every Nancy Drew book as a kid, so I immediately recognized the over-the-top, perky tone of this book. It's a clever idea--Nancy Drew is a real person, was roommates with Carolyn Keene in college, and Carolyn wrote about her life but got a lot of things wrong. This is supposed to be the "real" story of Nancy Drew, with appearances by the Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, and other fictional sleuths. It was pretty funny and clever in places, but didn't improve on itself or finish well--I soon got tired of the contrived parody (especially all the sexual references).
—Stephanie
This is a *hilarious* parody of Nancy Drew books. After 7 decades of being misrepresented, Nancy finally has her say. Nancy's former college roommate, Carolyn Keene, has been writing about Nancy (without Nancy's permission), and has apparently gotten many details wrong. The truths are that Nancy is a tramp and incredibly vain (!), Frank Hardy played a major role in Nancy's life, and Nancy didn't stay 16 or 18 forever. Each chapter of Confessions is another era in Nancy's life, but also includes some sort of mystery.Cain's version of Nancy's life is hysterical, scandalous, and trampy. Since pretty much everyone knows who Nancy Drew is, anyone can find this funny, but if you're not ready to have your image of the most famous girl detective shaken, you should stay away :)
—Tiffany
First of all, if you haven't read Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, this books will be drudgery. If you inhaled the whole series over and over every summer as I did, this is a quick and amusing trip back through time, breaking all of Stephen King's writing rules. The one that cracked me up when I finally noticed it--on about page 30--was that no one "says" anything. Everyone "exclaims" or "nods" or "declares." Of course, Tom Swift says things "obviously" and "inventively," bringing tears of laughter to my eyes.Yes, all the sleuthing heroes of the 40s through the 60s are here: Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, even Encyclopedia Brown makes a cameo appearance! The chapters are as brief as the chapters in the books always were, and there is much drama, discussion of the combing of titian hair, and mention after mention how slim and attractive Nancy always is. The more I think about the book, the funnier it becomes. Maybe I'll read it in the bathtub again tonight.
—Cat.
