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A Girl, A Ghost, And The Hollywood Hills (2010)

by Lizabeth Zindel(Favorite Author)

2.98 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0670011592 (ISBN13: 9780670011599)

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

Viking Juvenile

review 1: As if her mother's death wasn't hard enough to process, Holly's father spring the worst news on her at the worst possible time. He's dating someone: his dead wife's sister. It's just too sick for Holly to think about. But she's forced to deal with both her father and his new zombie loving girlfriend, Aunt Claudia, a horror film producer. It's only a few weeks, and it should be relatively easy to avoid them both since her father is always working and Aunt Claudia doesn't live her.But things have changed since the last time Holly was home from school. Her father still works a lot, but not as much as he used to meaning he's home a lot more. And worst of all, Aunt Claudia has moved in. Okay, no big deal Holly thinks. She'll just have to try harder to avoid them, that's all. An... mored besides, It's only a few weeks. With the help of best friend Felicia and new boyfriend Oliver, winter break will fly by and Holly won't really have to deal with them.That is, until her deceased mother pays Holly a very unexpected visit asking Holly to seek revenge on the one person she's trying to stay as far away from as possible - Aunt Claudia.A Girl, A Ghost, and the Hollywood Hills is a (very) loose rewrite of William Shakespeare's famed play Hamlet. Even though author Lizabeth Zindel doesn't stick closely to the original storyline, readers will see enough similarities within the text to see where inspiration was drawn from.The only real flaw I found to this book was the California slang. It sometimes felt a bit over the top and stereotypical. For example, when Holly and best friend refer to each other as "dudette" at times.Zindel is a strong writer who doesn't beat around the bush. Plunging into the meat of A Girl, A Ghost, and the Hollywood Hills from the start Zindel's book is a quick and fun read. But what really makes it what it is, is her heroin Holly. Holly's determined, passionate almost to the point of obsessive when it comes to seeking revenge, but most of all, she's real.
review 2: In the introduction to A Girl, a Ghost, and the Hollywood Hills, the author explains that her intent is to portray a “Hamlet-inspired ghost story unlike any other”, and there are obvious similarities. Holly has gone off to the East Coast at the start of her freshman year of high school, just a few months after her mother’s death. Not long after her departure for high school, her father drops the bomb that he has begun seeing her aunt; Holly’s late mother’s sister, Claudia. Naturally, Holly is extremely upset with her father and puts off returning home for breaks or holidays to cope with the situation until Christmas break. Shortly after her arrival home for Christmas break, Holly begins seeing her dead mother’s ghost, who asks Holly to seek revenge on Claudia. All of this is very much reminiscent of Hamlet, including the idea that Prince Hamlet may be mad in his visions of the ghost of King Hamlet. In A Girl, a Ghost, and the Hollywood Hills, however, Holly finally agrees toward the end that she is creating these visions, thus ending the idea of a ghostly element. I had high hopes for this novel given the excerpt on the back, but very quickly, I discovered dialogue that seems contrived accompanied by an easily determinable conclusion. No thrills and chills are to be found within the pages. Instead, the reader will likely find themselves feeling a bit slimy from the content as it includes interjections of sexual content, including a scene in which Holly overhears her father and Claudia having sex. As there is no real paranormal/ghostly presence, but instead a distraught teenager who struggles to cope with her mother’s death and her father’s indiscretions, this wouldn’t really fall into the horror category. The publisher’s information says the book is for ages 12 and up; grades 7 and higher, but I would be more apt to say ages 14 and up and grades 9 and higher given the sexual content. If added, I would suggest this be included in a YA public library collection.Contains: Sexual contentReviewed by Kelly Fann less

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