This is a 2007 read, as some more reviews will be, but I do hope to start reviewing my 2008 reads soon!

Well, if you’ve read her stuff, you know E. Lockhart is pretty brilliant, and she certainly shows it again in this novel! She really understands people, that much is obvious, and has a real talent for creating three-dimensional characters with distinct voices. She does it again in Gretchen Yee, a girl who feels ordinary at an arts high school where the norm is to try as hard as possible to be different.

When Gretchen wishes she could understand boys better by becoming a fly on the wall in the boys’ locker room, she has no idea her wish is about to come true, but it does! How is never explained, but somehow Gretchen ends up able to see and hear everything that goes on in that mysterious place (but she has to do so as a fly…not a body you want to be trapped in). She learns about the boys of The Manhattan  School For Art And Music–their secrets, their real personalities, their (ahem) anatomy.

E. Lockhart is amazing. Her writing style is just fantastic, and she does such a great job of creating this funny, honest story from the point of view of an awesome character. Even though it’s a rather short book, FLY ON THE WALL packs quite a punch.