The beautiful Serena has returned from a sojourn in a ritzy private school and some time in France. Pretty bulimic Blair is dismayed by this, as Serena has unconsciously usurped the position that Blair had been occupying. Even worse, Blair's boyfriend Nate once slept with Serena and is still interested in her, but Serena is not really interested in Nate. Dan is besotted with her, and Jenny looks up to her.

Rumors begin to fly about Serena -- that she's slutty, that she has enough STDs for several people, that she had a baby in France, that she was thrown out of her boarding school, that she's had several abortions, and just about every other kind of vicious rumor. And presiding over all of this is Gossip Girl, a mysterious omniscient observer who reports online about the tangled lives of her friends and peers.

It seems that readers will never tire of the antics of too-rich Manhattanites, especially if they live depraved, empty lives. Like Nick McDonell's "Twelve," this book is filled with shallow, obnoxious characters who do drugs, sex, alcohol, and mourn the problems of their privileged lives. The drugs, sex, alcohol, bulimia and angst serve no actual purpose in the plot; they are merely attempts to shock. The problem is that they are handled in such a haphazard manner that they don't shock at all -- they are merely diversions to spice up the lack of plot. Strip them away, and there's pretty much nothing left. And while McDonell managed some poignant moments and character insights, Von Ziegesar never makes any such attempt. We are never given a reason to react to anyone in this book, either to be interested or repelled by them. I, personally, was only bored by them.

Those characters are also stereotypes, in a fictional world where the elite rich are all gorgeous. The scheming insecure girl, the mystery beauty, the shy naive girl, the weak handsome guy, the promiscuous guy, and dozens of others are devoid of any originality. They are part of the stereotype that teenagers are intrinsically shallow and can't be bothered with anyone who is not of interest to them.

Admittedly, the "Gossip Girl" website extracts are amusing. There's a certain wit to them, and they are also the only parts of the book that show some genuine originality. I only wish there had been more of them, and fewer repetitive rumors about Serena's past. The writing style lacks detail or any sort of wit or spiciness. And, like, the dialogue is so, you know, like, stupid, right?

Perhaps the worst part of the book is the finale, which fails to produce a climax or wrap up any loose threads. The book simply stops. Perhaps this is an effort to get readers to read "You Know You Love Me," if they aren't too disgusted by the plodding storyline and grating characters. Not recommended for anyone whose IQ is higher than their dog's.

137 of 175 found the following review helpful:

Not really recommended  Jul 15, 2002
By Nancy E. "Nancy"
When I picked up this book I was eager for another Cruel Intentions. What I got was much different. Gossip Girl tells the story of teenagers living a privileged life in NYC. Blair Thinks she has a perfect life, she's rich, her boyfriend Nate is wonderful, and she's looking foreword to going to Yale next year. Unfortunatly for Blair, everything changes when Serena comes back to town. Serena is Blair's "best friend" and biggest rival. She's seemingly prefect in every way and out shadows all of her friends. But now that she's back, rumors are flying. She's gotten kicked out of boarding school and according to NYC's rumor mill she's done some pretty dirty things to get expelled.

Sound interesting? Well, it's not. Unlike other people I was not "shocked" or "appalled" at the dirty nature of this book. Personally I've read far worse and have not been offended. The thing that really got me about this book was the sheer bad writing. The characters, which should be the backbone of any novel, are shallow and far too two-dimensional. They're popular, dress in fabulous clothes (which the author can't help but describe, the only real detail you'll get in this book), get drunk, have sex, get high, and spread rumors. Each one of them are the stereotypes of every character you'll find in any trashy teen novels. We have the "popular girls" the "deep poet" the "former popular girl with the bad reputation" the "theater geek" and the infamous "shy naieve girl who wants to be popular."

Recent great YA novels like Speak, and Love and Four Letter words have shown the world that teen books don't have to be shallow. In fact they can have some heart. Gossip girl falls back on the stereotypes that all teens are shallow and have nothing better to do in life than to worry about popularity. I gave it 2 stars instead of one because I'm not naieve, I know that there are people that like books like this, but I'm not that kind of person. If you want a good YA novel read Sloppy Firsts or Feeling sorry for Celia, they focus on the lives of real teens of all different shapes and sizes and are much better written.

13 of 14 found the following review helpful:

Can't Put It Down  Apr 16, 2002
By E. Paolo
The characters in Gossip Girl are like real people. When you get to know them you realize there's still a lot to learn, so you want to keep reading about them.

These kids drink a lot and some of them smoke pot, but the story isn't about alcohol or drugs, it's about growing up. These teenagers could be your friends.

The best part of the book is how well-written it is. It's about teenagers, but it isn't "written down" to their level. The author obviously knows what she's talking about. Is she the Gossip Girl?

11 of 12 found the following review helpful:

An "insider"'s perspective  Mar 19, 2005
By Mara
May I intervene? I've read many reviews blasting Gossip Girl for its unrealistic portrayal of teen life. This is all nice and good, except for that in many respects, it's dead on. I go to an Upper East Side private school in the heart of what I like to call the Pleated Skirt District, and while I'm not exactly the hard-paryin' type, I still know what goes on around me, and Gossip Girl is not that far off. Anyway, Gossip Girl is the bible of many girls in my high school, but I found it ridiculous. I only gave it the extra star for its all-too-accurate portrayal of its subject matter (mind you, its subject matter, which is not all teens by any stretch of the imagination). I have never been impressed with these hotbeds of sin and debauchery, and maybe that is why I was so unimpressed with Gossip Girl. I have to give the author, along with the writers of the OC, credit for making so many people care about the plight of these poor little rich kids. On the other hand, there is a group noticeably missing from these books that can be found even in the worst of the Pleated Skirts- the innocents. Jenny, the closest thing you'll get, it patently dumb and by the end is on the verge of being intiated into the Club. They must exist, so I suppose that the author simply doesn't care about anyone who doesn't look like a model and have dysfunctional CEO parents. After a while, these people just get old. They have no interests other than drinking, drugs and sex, and after a while the envy/disgust wears off and it just gets old. These books could potentially be really interesting, as it's quite a fascinating sector of life in an ohthatssoawfultellmemore tabloid sort of way, but rather than mine opportunities for emotional exposition or character growth, the author simply goes into another story of who slept with whom and who everyone's getting their drugs from. This book and the second one are better than the ones following it- I read up to the third one, by which point Serena and Blair have made up and any pretense of a premise is gone. Oh, sorry, did I just give everything away? Lucky you, now you won't have to waste your time reading this trash.

14 of 16 found the following review helpful:

This book wasn't for me  Jul 05, 2005
By s000beautiful
There are so many girls who read these books at my school, and I have no clue how they can actually like it. The writing was on a fourth grade level and the content was on a tenth grade level. The mature content didn't bother me so much, but how the author tried to make it seem like it was soooo outrageous when it wasn't that bad, now that irked me. I tried to find a character I liked, but it was too hard and so I gave up. The characters were too shallow to identify with, even the ones that would be considered the deep outsiders. The plot was too dry and to me it was also very predictable. The only thing that I liked about this book was the idea of an anonymous GossipGirl devulging details. I may have lost brain cells in the process of reading this book. Caution: Read at your own risk, people!!!

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