[.ca] Better Than Running at Night (ISBN 0618250735)

From Amazon.com:
Ellie Yelinsky is starting her freshman year at the New England College of Art and Design, and it's not exactly turning out like she expected. She falls for the devil at a costume party (in reality, cute sophomore Nate Finerman). She finds that her hippie parents have hidden pot in her baggage. Her beginning art instructor is a hysterical arm waver who only speaks in one tone: earsplitting. But the most disturbing discovery Ellie makes is that her paintings, mostly "screaming heads strangled by boa constrictors" are not dark, brooding masterpieces, but cheesy melodrama. However life, like art, isn't always what it seems. Nate actually is the devil, or at least a smooth-talking painter who considers himself the campus de-virginizer. Her dad only put pot in her suitcase in an attempt to make a meaningful connection with her. And even if Mr. Gilloggley is in desperate need of volume control, the more Ellie listens to him, the more she sees that what he has to share might actually help her grow past teen angst into true art. Using spare language and a dry, witty tone, Hillary Frank skewers the hypocritical world of art school in this brilliant debut novel. Ellie's sharp, restrained observances are a refreshing change from the gushing girl novels that have sprung up in the wake of Louise Rennison's Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging. Intelligent and mature, Better Than Running at Night will appeal most to those discerning teen connoisseurs of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky, and My Heartbeat, by Garret Freymann-Weyr. (Ages 14 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

read it on one plane ride:
THis is one of those fully enveloping books, you just sink into it and that's all you know for a few hours. I loved the voice of Ellie, so insightful yet still the sort of clueless teenage girl we all were (at least I was). I was also releived that the expected ending never came; it was something surprising yet satisfying. It was also a great rendering of the art school absurdity. Hurrah for this book! I will now have to go look for her radio stories on This American Life.

I loved this book!:
I usually only buy books that I really really love and this the best book I have read in a really long time! I really identified with Ellie, an art student with a lousy boyfriend. I felt like Hilary Frank wrote about MY freshman year at college. I highly recommend this story if you're an art student, a girl or had a crummy no-good boyfriend and didn't know how to deal with it!

Great YA Read I Have Been Waiting On....:
Hillary Frank has set the precedent for up-and-coming young adult novels. Better Than Running At Night is real and clean, but yet all the while being messy with life. The reader can feel every emotion the main character, Ellie Yelinsky, feels from the very first page. A powerful read, and a must have for people seeking a new, exhilirating read!

A keeper:
I am usually a bit hesitant to read teen books, being not a teen, and having read teen lit, as a teen. However, someone suggested this book for a lit circle I am running online, and I figured i'd give it a try. What I found was that I was instantly drawn into Ellie's world. Some books just captivate you and this is one. I couldn't put it down! The whole art school thing is nicely balanced with her "romantic" life as the story flickers back and forth between the various things she does and spurts ahead in increments of time. The author is very capable and uses words well to convey her ideas. I like that the author seems to be only about 25 years old. She is likely writing with a freshness and insight that can be directly linked to her experiences not so long ago as a young college student. Nate turns out to be quite the gameplayer. But, hey, I think it would have been corny and very unrealistic to think that Ellie, as a naive freshman, changes this unruly, experienced man, he commits to her and they live happily ever after. So, big points for hitting the core reality of early college relationships! Also, I was a bit perturbed at first when Sam had another girlfriend after Ellie sort of became interested. Then, I came to the conclusion that it's a good thing, because she wasn't truly interested in him anyway. Overall, a deep and somewhat profound read. As a 23 year old soon -to- be teacher I didn't relate to much more than the humanity of it all, and that was powerful enough to make it work!

A fantastic read for older teens...:
I'm a teen, and finding YA (young adult) novels that are mature and up-to-par with the adult novels I read alongside them is very difficult. Hillary Frank has brought a realistic, detailed view of an older teen's (I hate this term, but it suits) 'coming-of-age' in a new city with a new perspective on life. Frank's use of language evokes a feeling of closeness to the main character, Ellie. THe reader is drawn into her first love affair, first college course at art school, and her ex-hippie parents who never cease to embarass and confuse her. Ellie's struggles become the reader's, and I know that I was so absorbed in this novel that I finished it in less than two days. Many, many authors have tried and failed at evoking the kind of college-age teen feelings and relationships, but Hillary Frank shows her youth and maturity at the same time in this novel. I highly recommend it.