Penelope

My Freshman year was incredibly different then the one depicted by Rebecca Harrington’s Penelope. I arrived at my Big 12 school only knowing one girl, who spent most of her time back in Texas, and the boy who would end up being my on & off again boyfriend for the better part of two years. I then spent the next 8 months drinking, sporadically attending classes and breaking up & getting back together with said boyfriend. Sure, there are unspoken “rules” on any campus but even though I didn’t know a lot of people I definitely felt included- mostly because my roommate was a local who graciously included me in her life.  I “participated” and it was a great experience that helped shape the remainder of my early adulthood.

Penelope O’Shaunessy is an incoming freshman who  arrives at Harvard without knowing a soul, without reading any of her incoming Freshman packets and she isn’t up to speed on any of the unspoken “rules.” Her mom drops her off, leaving her with words of wisdom: “don’t be too enthusiastic, don’t talk to people who seem to be getting annoyed and for heaven’s sake, stop playing Tetris on your phone at parties.”

The novel follows Penelope through her Freshman year and the biggest criticism I (and those who have read & reviewed on Goodreads) have is that there is no growth. You could start the entire novel over for her Sophomore year and it would probably read the same. She has shitty roommates that she allows to walk over her, she has a flirtatious relationship with a boy in her dorm & then sends him into the arms of the only girl she has any semblance of a friendship with, and she has a terrible booty call relationship with a foreign socialite (is that a unisex term?). You spend a lot of time screaming at Penelope in your head.

Harrington went to Harvard, she studied History & English (like our heroine) so there is a bit of “insider” information about some of the clubs, classes and students which makes the novel a bit more interesting. It also makes me glad I didn’t attend an Ivy league college (and gives me a list of questions to ask the few acquaintances I know who did…). Everyone is a bit vapid and kind of dumb- considering they’re at one of the top schools in the country- but aren’t most 18-year-olds?

 

(Ed. note: My freshman year was so great my mother informed me she was not going to continue bankrolling it and I moved to a local liberal arts college for the remainder of my education… maybe Penelope got it right?)