Caragh Reviews - The Clique by Lisi Harrison

Published - 1st November 2008
Publisher - Little Brown
Format - Paperback
Synopsis - Kicking off a juicy new series, this book introduces a group of girls who are navigating the social minefields of eighth grade at New York's Westchester County's most exclusive private school.

I saw this graphic novel on the very bottom shelf, hidden behind a bunch of other graphic novels and mangas and being the slightly neurotic book lover that I am, I felt kind of sorry for it sitting there, unloved. So naturally I picked it up, sat myself on my library's extremely comfortable sofa and read it. I knew right away that it wasn't going to be a right fit for me, so it's a little unfair that i'm writing a review for it, but it's Comic Week and I haven't read that many lately! 

The writing and plot is very cutesy and adolescent. A group of spoilt rich kids flaunt their importance, popularity and money whilst degrading the only interesting character that appears in the entire graphic novel. Claire is beautiful and smart but also extremely naive and desperate to make an impression - much like all teenage girls. What really did annoy the crap out of me though was the way Claire gave up her own personality to become Massie's clone. She gossiped, lied and pulled Massie-esque pranks in order for the other girls to like and befriend her. My problem with this is that The Clique is quite obviously aimed at pre-teen/children. I think Harrison would have been much better off teaching her audience that you can make friends with smarts and a friendly attitude; you don't need to lie and cheat! Though this does come through a little, it's a little too late in my opinion.

The girls in the clique are vicious and nasty, and if it wasn't for the fact that i'm a stickler for finishing what I start, I wouldn't have finished this one. That being said, I think young girls probably would enjoy this. The artwork is great and not only adds to the story, it actually kind of makes it worth it. I think i'll be skipping other books like this in future.