Like the Red Panda

by Andrea Seigel

Stella Parrish is seventeen, attractive, smart, deeply alienated, and unable to countenance life's absurdities. She is not nihilistic; she is prematurely exhausted. Since her parents OD'd on designer drugs when she was eleven, she has lived with well-meaning but inexperienced foster parents, while her grandfather, her only living relative, tries ever more ingenious ways of committing suicide in his retirement home. Here are the last two weeks of Stella's senior year in Orange County, California: the intensive AP final exams; the childish, celebratory trips; the totemic importance attached to graduation. Beneath Stella's mordantly funny take on her life is the decisiveness with which she disengages from it, planting clues and providing explanations for those who will try to understand the act she is about to commit. With perfect pitch, remarkable wit, and a spare, vivid prose, Stella turns her farewell to suburbia into a wry philosophical inquiry.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Coming Of Age, Contemporary, Mental Health, Dark, Adult Fiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published April 5, 2004

About the author

ANDREA SEIGEL is the author of two novels for adults, Like the Red Panda and To Feel Stuff, as well as the YA novel, The Kid Table, and the forthcoming YA novel, Everybody Knows Your Name, co-written with Brent Bradshaw. In September 2014 A24 will release the film Laggies, written by Seigel, directed by Lynn Shelton, and starring Keira Knightley, Chloe Moretz, and Sam Rockwell.

Reviews

[Karlyflower *The Vampire Ninja, Luminescent Monster & Wendigo Nerd Goddess of Canada (according to The Hulk)* · Rating 2 out of 5]

S, is for Seigel.

2.5 Stars

I have been dreading writing this review. This review could possibly make me some enemies, but here I go.

I hate Holden Caulfield. Hate him! There is not a single literary character I can think of that I loathe more than that boy. Seriously, I can’t think of a single one! And while I didn’t loathe Catcher in the Rye in its entirety I certainly didn’t like it either. Why am I bringing this up you may ask? I am bringing this up because the main character of Like the Red Panda reminds me, in all the worst ways, of Holden. She’s like a lovechild from hell of Holden and Lux Lisbon from The Virgin Suicides. (Probably the saving grace of why I enjoyed the latter is due to the fact that it is NOT told from Lux’s point of view.)

I have a serious dislike for emotionally numb main characters. Not sociopaths, mind, I can get down with those (in a strictly literary sense). I understand that numbness is a by-product of trauma, and Stella certainly has her fair share of that, but as a reader it is incredibly difficult for me to be invested in a character who, themselves, isn’t invested in ANYTHING. Stella doesn’t really give a shit about anything. It’s all numbness and twelve steps back, and I get it I really do! I was a numb teenager myself, owing to trauma of an entirely different nature, so I do understand that outward protective shell BUT I cared about shit in my own head. I had passions and drives even when my exterior put off “hello my name is Karly and I am a fucking android”. Stella has no such inner drives. She is judgmental, petty and quite frankly a bitch.

The writing itself is pretty decent. I think Seigel definitely has a solid voice it’s simply that it’s not a voice I can get especially involved with. I have to admit that I am NOT a fan of teen suicide books, the fact that I enjoyed The Virgin Suicides so much is really a testament to writing not storyline. I find most suicide, like cancer, books infuriating to read. If you, unlike me, enjoy this subject in stories you may like this book a whole hell of a lot more than I did. I know the lovely Nenia was a big fan.

Meh.

Oh, and also, it loses a star because it claims red panda and doesn't deliver.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's happened... I've officially become... old? Mature? I don't know...

Just another book about a suicidal teenager and her screwed up life, which, from the prospective of someone approaching 30 more quickly than she'd like to admit, really isn't all that screwed up for a 17/18-year old. Your teen years are supposed to be screwed up. Those who can handle it do so and move on and make it to the quarter-century birthday and beyond. Those who can't... well, they whine and get apathetic and make suicide pacts with their senile grandfathers.

I didn't hate the book... it was merely ok... not something I would necessarily recommend to... anyone.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book - a well-developed main character carries the story. Full of emotional punch that weaves through the story like a spider's web, pulling all the parts into a whole. Beautiful imagery, also.

I love how this books deals with the topic of suicide, but does not go into over-angsty melodrama. Stella lives a calm, normal day-to-day life, but it is well illustrated how something inside her is just irrepairably broken. It's almost as if she regards herself as a vase or something with giant cracks in it, and death is just putting herself out on the curb for garbage pickup. It sounds strange, but it really works.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a compelling read. A teen-lit book, recommended to me by a real-life teen librarian. It's about a Princeton-bound high school senior (Stella) who suddenly stops caring about pretty much everything, from taking exams, to, well, living. Going in, I thought I was in for a kind of lightweight, angsty, coming-of-age story. And I read reviews that said the book was just a laugh a minute. But the not-caring-about-living part sort of stamped out the levity for me. I suspect that, were I a teen today, I would appreciate this book's non-chick-litty tone, Stella's intelligence and snarkiness, and the not exactly satisfying ending. I remember how I was completely OVER high school at least a year before it finally ended, so I related to certain aspects of the main character, at least in her detachment from high school and its general annoyingness. But, because I am not a teen today, I felt a guidance-counselor-style urge to leap into the pages of this book to encourage Stella to just hang in there (!) because life gets so much better after the blip that is high school.

[Sian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was immediately captivated by the narrator's voice:

'This afternoon in drama (I'm taking it because Mrs Amis said I needed to show interest in the arts on my transcript and I can't draw) I was supposed to be throwing a fake beach ball up and down, but I just couldn't do it anymore.'

... and really enjoyed this novel, which is somewhat bleak and unemotional with the odd dash of humour now and again.

Although the story is told by Stella about her life, you don't really get that much of a sense of her as a person - partly, I guess, because she's pretty depressed, and some characters (like her kind of boyfriend Daniel) just appear and disappear with no explanation or back story (which I liked). I also liked that some of the characters are awful and are not redeemed by the end either.

Reminded me of The Bell Jar and White Oleander although 'Like the read panda' isn't as affecting or perhaps as powerful as either of these... I think that the guardedness of the narrator means that the reader is always held at arms length, which is interesting though ultimately uninvolving.

Read it in a couple of days over the Christmas break and am interested in reading more by Seigel.

[Laurel Hechanova · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm kind of jealous that teenagers out there get to have Stella Parrish around while they're in high school. When I finally closed the book, it felt like the end of junior year when my best friend's family got transferred and I knew I'd probably never see her again. Parrish is a great narrator / navigator. And (spoiler? so many other people have already said it) her decision to stop living was made in the most graceful way possible. Seigel isn't recommending it. It's just a conclusion. I thought it was well done.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really don't like to review books I don't like -but.... Stella - 17, two weeks from high school graduation, pretty, smart and already accepted into Princeton, decides that life has no meaning in Irvine, CA. So she decides to commit suicide (not a spoiler - it says so on the back of the book). She has so much - yet feels very disconnected to everyone and everything.

The reader discovers that at Stella's 11th birthday party, both of her parents OD on coke (mixed with heroin). That is literally the only negative thing that happened to the girl. I didn't really feel any empathy for her -- I more wanted to slap her upside her head and tell her to quit whining because - all in all - her life is pretty good and was bound to improve at Princeton. Actually, Stella doesn't really whine -- she is very dispassionate. I was bored reading this - I guess Stella was bored living it? I'm sure some people love this book - but I'm not one.

[Kelly Pattison · Rating 4 out of 5]

“To see the world romantically, you’ve got to find a way to make it invisible (unconsciously, because once you figure out what you’ve been doing, everything just turns way too depressing)”

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an 'alright' read. Not the best, but not the worst, either. Maybe my 'not-blown-away' feelings about the book have to do with how real-life the whole setting of the book is (and how much I could regrettably relate and was forced to relive, ughh, high school). The main character, Stella, is within two weeks of graduating high school, and she just sort of gets hit with this wave of apathy and 'done-ness' with the whole getting on with life thing. The book is full of wit, so the subject of someone planning on killing themselves isn't as depressing as it would seem, but it's no fluffy-bunny read, for sure.

Her "awakening" of sorts comes in drama class:

"But then today, when Mr. Nichols told me that my beach ball wasn't going high enough (and considering that it's invisible, how did he know?), I knew I was done. That's it. There comes a point when you're just too exhausted to pretend to have fun at a beach that doesn't exist." -- p.2

Stella's a straight-A student, on the Honor track, in AP classes her Senior year, and she's on her way to the principal due to her refusal to throw an invisible beach ball and she reflects on the 'bad' kids sitting around not in class:

"When you think of the bad kids, you think they're the ones who are bitter and hating school. But today I realized that they're actually happy. The narcs come by and threaten yellow slips and detention, but then the narcs just end up laughing with the kids and making up inside jokes. And then, like I said before, the principal watches out for them, and the teachers want to make a difference in their lives, so the bad kids are probably the most beloved people in the entire school. If Princeton stopped caring about grades and extracurricular activities and started admitting some of these people from the quad, it just might end up with a more likable student body." -- p.5

Another apt description of this type of girl, Stella (which I could relate to totally, minus the Catholic schoolgirl gear):

"I wouldn't say I'm unpopular because if you asked other kids about me, they would say, "She's so smart" first and "She dresses like a Catholic schoolgirl" second. They'd know who I am. And even though I don't really have any friends as far as having someone to hang out with on the weekend, everybody at my school would tell you I have lots of friends because I have so many acquaintances. The thing with acquaintances is that one acquaintance probably assumes that the other acquaintances are your best friends, and the the latter group assumes that the original acquaintance is your soul mate, and that's how everybody stays at arm's length." -- p.10

The last quote, I swear -- probably the most revealing of the reasonable thought process Stella is going through:

"I'd just rather discuss how today I had some sort of abstract revelation that showed me how arbitrary the world is, and as soon as I realized that, what was I supposed to do? Pretend it wasn't arbitrary? It's like I have X-ray goggles on that show me that Princeton is just a Kmart with a nice facade on it and John Steiner is just a skeleton with some skin (and acne, sorry) slapped on top of it. All these pieces of the puzzle are clicking together in my head. They were all floating around in my brain before, but I could never make sense of them. Every time I felt these hints of discontent I would just study a little more or do some extra credit or apply to another Ivy League college. But today, the beach ball -- it's so clear how we make everything up." -- p.19

So anyway, that's just the first 20 pages! What follows is less intense, more plot and situational dealings, less deep thought stuff (which I wish there had been more of, but oh well). The author does a really good job of tapping into a teenager's brain, and writing a book entirely from a teenage girl's perspective, so kudos to her for that!

[Jordan M · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review of Like the Red Panda

What can I say about ‘Like the Red Panda”? I thought this book was heavily depressing as it’s about a girl who wants to commit suicide two weeks before graduating high school. Stella Parrish, the protagonist, is a seventeen year old foster child. Her parents died from a cocaine overdose when she was at the precious age of eleven. Ever since then she has been living with two colourless foster parents and visiting her exuberant yet obnoxious grandfather, Donald—the only family she has left— every Sunday. So in a way I can kind of understand that she has lived a hard life. She’s a stranger in her own home and an outcast at school. Honestly though, when I look at all the great things that she has, I’m almost a bit jealous. She has excellent grades in school and she’s attending Princeton in the fall to show for it. Also, it’s not like she is living in the slums—rather she is living in the suburbs. “And that’s the thing about Woodbridge, the village where I live now. You can’t call it a mediocre or deadened place. You just can’t. There’s incredible focus in the street lamps that light up the night like he whole city’s an accident on the free-way. There are lush parks and sparkling pools to be shared with every hundred home owners, even though tons of them already have parks or pools on their backyards. The grocery stores are bright and elegant, with marbleized floors and women that get dressed up to buy Lysol”. C’mon, she’s living in luxury land! I realize that it is hard to make friends—especially in high school— but what has she been doing the past four years?
Another part of the novel that irritated me was the fall-out that occurred in the Macy’s department store between Stella and her foster mother Shana. At one moment they were ‘peacefully’ shopping for grad dresses and at the next, they were at each others throats in the change room! I just don’t see the logic that the author, Andrea Seigel, had when putting this scene in the book. I recognize that it had to happen at one point or another but there was definitely a better place like their home or in the car for this to have happened. I wasn’t all that impressed with the style of writing that Seigel used. I understand that she was portraying the mind of a teenage girl but the novel just didn’t withhold me interest. The writing style was just too dumb- downed that at one point I thought ‘am I actually reading this’. Overall I though the premise of the book was good, but the ideas just needed to be developed better. I wouldn’t recommend this book however, unless you’re in the mood to be depressed and bored.

[Michael.ju]

Review of Like the Red Panda

Michael.Ju
Sadness is my first sensation when I finished reading this story. The protagonist of this story is Stella who is an intelligent and smart girl in high school, no one can deny that her childhood is totally a tragedy, she early get involved with drugs, sex, and anything a student ought not have because of her environment of growth, anything that can hurt a teenager’s heart happened on her, terrified marriage of her parents; adopted at the age of eleven by an emotionally distant couple; and a boyfriend who doesn’t real like her, all these kind of dark elements nailed the best time of a girl, so she starts to despair to this world, and finally, she decides that the only solution is to commit suicide by the time her graduation rolls around.
This book is written like a journal that almost record everything and every moment for her last two weeks of her life, I have to say it’s really attractive for me to read, it contain every detail in the time of her rest of life, these details also tell me she has a serious attitude treat that, she finally do herself once. When I am reading her as if I am going into Stella’s heart world, I can clear find out what her thought is, it’s like a process to exploring a person, I even cannot put it down when I put it up. For the end of this story, maybe it’s a little bit sad that Stella plan to die, but it’s the truth, life doesn’t always go where we expect to go, and that’s reality. I don’t like her choice to her life because I think when she gives up the world is equal to give up the hope, what a terrible thing for a teenager to lose hope to the world, how irony it is. As a conclusion, I think this is one of the best books for the teenager theme, there are many elements to express the trouble during teenager’s process of growth, maybe it hurts, but it’s true.

[Caren · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Like the red panda” by Andrea Seigel is pleasurable read. It unfolds the story of a teenage girl’s last two weeks in high school. Unlike other novels, it presents the topic of suicide in a less serious manner. The novel is written in a diary form, the readers will be able to observe things through Stella’s perspective and understand the reasons behind her suicide. The readers could focus more on the character’s internal conflicts.
The protagonist Stella has an attitude, she is very smart; however, this doesn’t stop her from hating school. She doesn’t like the idea of how students need to follow the customary path to succeed; nor the idea of taking the courses she doesn’t like so she could show a good transcript. Especially for drama class, when the teacher tells her pretend to hit a beach ball, however, she “was too exhausted to pretend to have fun at a beach that doesn’t exist.”(Seigel 2). Her lackadaisical attitudes toward the surroundings make readers to reconsider the true meaning of life.
One thing I don’t like about the novel is that it’s doesn’t appear too realistic to me. The novel doesn’t involve many cliffhanging plots and it’s a bit dragging, though the author is able to capture readers’ interest through series of small internal conflicts, however, it lacks of a more complex external conflict.
The ending of the novel is very surprising, it doesn’t go as the way readers anticipated, in the last piece of her journal; Stella only briefly mentions that “I’m going to stop this.” (Seigel 274). I think the author is implying something else rather than what is stated, I reread the last piece of her journal trying to figure out the ending, however, I was unable to because the protagonist’s thoughts are very different and unpredictable.
Through the book, the readers will explore through the dark and strange thoughts from Stella’s perspective. Her unique attitude and unpredictable thoughts are what make “Like the read panda” an interesting read.

[Océlô · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like the Red Panda stunned me - I'm not and have never been used to authors treating the subject of suicide with such empathy and compassion. Actually, I've never encountered any author treating it with more than a self-righteous Moral Main Character line or a cheap plot point. But Andrea Seigel somehow managed to take the life and times - and willful self-annihilation - of a highschool girl and make it something else. Don't kid yourself; the main character, Stella, does kill herself in the end. That's exactly what makes this book so impressive and, in the end, compelling.

Andrea Seigel doesn't treat Stella like a cheap toy through which she can mouth moral platitudes, the failing point of so many authors. What is so gripping about it, in fact, is that she doesn't - Stella is her own person with her own life, and Seigel doesn't take the easy route of moralizing or having Stella 'repent' so that she can at last Be Free From Evil. Stella makes mistakes, she fucks up and she hurts people, and she can't fix all of these with a wave of her hand; she doesn't have time to. Stella, in the end, has to live with the fact that we all must live with... that we are not perfect, but that our imperfection is not necessarily acceptable. We cannot rationalize or justify our actions, and that we must live to learn with ambivalence. Stella - and Seigel - force the reader back to the ultimate conclusion:

Even we are a matter of greys.

That's why, unlike so many other main characters, Stella is real.

[Allison Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite being about teenage suicide, this book was actually really funny. Stella, the main character, is a witty seventeen year old who has a firm grip on life. She's not depressed or attention-seeking, she's just not thrilled with living. The book is Stella's own account of what happens during the last two weeks of her life, which includes the last few days of senior year, before she's meant to go to Princeton. I was curious to see how new and changed relationships throughout the story might make Stella change her mind. The characters are all interesting and realistic and definitely made the book. Stella herself is realistic, but the way she relates to and plays off others was the best part.
     There were many great quotes, my favorite being: "You don't ever know how happy you are until you remember how sad you once were and vice versa. Nothing is anything until I decide to hold nothing next to something, and declare that I see a difference."
     The ending was a little lackluster for me. I don't think it was meant to be open-ended - I think the author knows what happens, but it's presented in this drab way that made me wonder. I didn't need any gruesome details, but Stella had been very frank with us the entire book, so I thought it was strange the ending kind of trailed off. I realize this is Stella's account of what happened, so we can't expect her to keep narrating, but I wish the ending had been more definite.

[Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A suicide journal-the final look into a deeply emotional teenager going through the mundane motions of every day life and experiencing each present moment more vibrantly because she is not concerned with the possibility of the future. By the second chapter I was completely taken by the writing style and felt like I was actually looking into this young woman's life. An emotional portrayal of the problems that seem to engulf your world as an adolescent.


"Nothing is anything until I decide to hold nothing next to something, and declare that I see a difference."

"I'm trying to keep going because if I keep moving fast enough, I think I appreciate life more. It's when I take a pause and look around that I see the details I wish I hadn't."

"Today in my mind I can actually see the way that every day is a chain of rules made up of completely random opposites, and there are even arbitrary ways of breaking those opposites down...a lot of people choose to see all those choices as proof of the great variety of life's paths, but what's pretty obvious to me is that when there are so many paths, they all become weak and shaky. Which one stands out among the others?"

[Nightfalltwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given this book way more stars than three if I'd been able to understand the plot. The writing was really good. Very expressive and fluid but the plotline was disturbingly hard to follow. It wasn't until I came back to goodreads to add my review that I learned what this book was about...

I'm all for metaphor as much as the next person, but there has to come a time when an author is much more clear about things than this.

[Jill Upton(ogood) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow....That was the only word in my head when I finished this book. I would definitely recommend this book! I had in my mind how I thought it was going to end and I was no where close to how it really ended. Stella the main character was very intriguing and very deep into her mind much more than you would expect from a high school senior. The book covers the complexities in life and family. Her foster parents have a unique angle of how expectations are not always met.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure if this was young adult or is just centered around Stella, an incredibly precocious high school senior and orphan. Well written, but although it's likely that many of the characters are intended to be portrayed as ciphers, Stella also felt very bloodless...I have to admit that I didn't much care what happened to her or to anyone else.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Please note the mention of a Mrs. Simonson. Interesting. The author went to my high school and did I good job and reminding of the bubble that is Irvine.

[Hyperactive · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really thought this was going to be one of those story where at the end they don't do it and I was frustrated because teens do kill themselves and book actually going there and not the "everything gets better" or they found a reason to live route is needed. Stella's life was messed up and while suicide may not have been the best option for her or her only option, its the only one SHE saw because she had been let down horrifically by all 4 of her parents. And to anyone arguing it may have been different if she'd had different foster parents she still would have had some major depression issues. Clearly her grandfather is depressed and her parents were addicted to drugs and died of an overdose on their daughters 11th birthday so they also clearly had mental health issues, likely some depression at least. So its clear that the depression is genetic, even the way she speaks about life before her parents died you can see the depression in how she experiences life. Pile on her parents dying on her 11th birthday at her party, no other family besides a depressed asshole uninvolved grandfather, a social worker (not really in the story) who just kind of left her with people, no therapy, and honestly shitty foster parents, who were hoping to help save some poor orphaned child--but no not one that has issues after their parents died. Of course she thinks suicide was her only option. And this story was brave enough to go there.


Her brain isn't fully developed to where she can logically think through all her options the same way we can as adults, she raging in teenage hormones, and has never had an adult actually put her best interests first, how could she have known that help actually existed.

Stop telling teenagers that what they feel is meaningless or they'll grow out of it or they're being dramatic. Teenagers experiencing their first love and first heartbreak literally is the most painful thing they've experienced because if they've been parented well its the first time they experiencing real hurt. Stella never had an opportunity to feel what happiness is (at least long term-like more than a few hours). Literally no one in her life made her feel wanted how was she supposed to know she supposedly was (I'd argue she wasn't).

[Amy Grimm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stella describes the last few weeks of her high school life in a journal format. She's a troubled girl whose parents overdosed and died together at her 11th birthday party, and she has lived in foster care ever since. She seems strong at first, and has already been accepted at Princeton so she's obviously intelligent. But as she details her daily life, we see her mind wandering to darker thoughts, and soon we recognize she's contemplated ending her life. I won't spoil the book by revealing the way it ends, but it's well written and extremely depressing. The character development is excellent, not only for Stella herself but for the peripheral characters too. Not my favorite read this year.




.

[Alison Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I love good character development and this book did a great job of that. I loved how she got in a young woman’s mind and also very realistically explored suicide. Unlike some of the other reviewers who felt this was just another book about suicide that it didn’t have anything fresh to offer, I found it very unique. I thought it showed how she got in the place she was in well and with excellent insight into grief and loss that all of us go through when we lose a parent, no matter the age.

[Anjum Choudhury · Rating 2 out of 5]

well, I knew pretty quickly that I wouldn't like this book, but I read it to the end anyway. honestly comma Stella's character didn't do anything for me. First of all, I can't really complain about her whole stance on the meaninglessness of life comma because that's kind of the point the book comma but it didn't make me feel anything except for disappointed in her, which didn't even get me any good catharsis or anything. beyond that, she wasn't likable at all save for a couple of nice moments with Ainsley. is this book had contained some nice, insightful ideas about life, then maybe I would have liked it more, but I just don't feel like I got anything out of this book. would not recommend.

[Ree · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this when I was a teen it just did not enjoy it at the time. Its not one I would read again for fun.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing and somewhat disjointed. Left you hanging at the end.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like the Red Carpet, Strong and Bold
Like the Red Panda By: Andrea Seigel
To tell you the truth, when I first picked up Like the Red Panda by Andrea Seigel, I judged the book by its cover and thought to myself, just another one of those novels on suicide. The typical, “There is no meaning to life so I’m going to end it” kind of book. The thing is, right when I picked up the book, I could not put it down! This intense, deep, and dark book kept me flipping each page thinking what was going to happen next. This is a read that I would definitely recommend to all teenagers!
Stella was an intelligent and pretty girl who had lost her parents from drug overdose in sixth grade and was sent to live with her foster parents. Stella said, “So basically, I didn’t answer any of the pop quiz questions today” (Seigel 72). With only two weeks left of school, Stella stops caring about the future and completely takes school out of her mind. She struggles to hang onto her life as it blows away each day. Like the Red Panda is a weird novel that is intriguing at the same time. It contradicts the idea of a happy suicide causing readers to try and understand why something so dark and evil can be described in a light and happy manner. In the real world, the thought of suicide will scare people away but when written in text, the complexity of that thought brings readers closer. The way Seigel slows down the pace of the narration causes the mind of a reader to think about everything that has been written and allows them to pick up the key facts which help connect the puzzle pieces that hold the intricate story together.
Although Like the Red Panda interests all the aspects that I look for, there were some flaws in her writing. Many readers could not wrap their head around the fact that Seigel brings up a new scenario but does not lead to finish. Stella blurts out, “I pulled you aside because I wanted to know if you could get me a gun” (Seigel 90). As she brings this topic of a gun up, thoughts and images immediately rush through the readers minds. The discomforting part was that the thought of Stella getting a gun was never brought up again. However, while others believe this to be a weak point in the story, I can lead to believe that this was very effective. As she brings up the idea of a gun, many readers are anxious to see what happens next so they continue reading and reading until the idea is brought up again. This technique caused readers to keep flipping pages and read until the end.
Like I said before, I did not think that I would like this book, but as the days went by, I have grown to love it! Imagine a girl in your school that you believe is perfect. While everyone around sees her as perfect, she begs to differ. There are little things in her “perfect” life that just push her over the edge. This intricate and powerful read pushed me to look at life differently in the real world. So I can proudly say that Like the Red Panda belongs on the red carpet.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The voice. I loved her voice. It said all the things we don't say because we think they aren't important, but they are what makes the character relatable. They are the little things the character agonized over and chose to let the the world think she wasn't aware of, because she didn't know how to tell people she registered everything. She got what people wanted her to understand, but was so many steps ahead of them, it was exhausting to play the game of the simple minded and verbalize every nuance they wanted to hear. Her response was usually sarcastic or dumbed down after scrutinizing every possible scenario that could play out from the words she chose to speak. She was done choosing the least confrontational and/or most liked phrase to utter. She was done reading people to find out what they needed to hear from her. If life was this complicated dealing with normal people, what did Princeton hold? Would there be a sea of manipulators waiting to play mind games? When did she just get to be honest and be herself without other people reacting so offendedly? This is what I read between the lines. The lines themselves hold wit and intrigue, but mostly depression. That is why there are 4 stars. It is a tough read.

[Cynthia]

This novel is called Like the Red panda which is written by Andrea Seigel. This book is mostly
about a girl called Stella who is a smart high school student, that her parents were both died
and she had to live in a foster home that she didn’t like her foster parents at all and she felt
isolated. And of some motivation she decided to suicide . After finishing this novel, I think that
this book is really good and is my first time to read it. As the story starts , she mentions the
modern life that Stella is having now and the life that she was having when she was young. I
think she want to compare the life and feeling that Stella has before and now as a comparison.
The interesting part of this novel is at the end, that the Arthur didn’t write so horrible to
describe how Stella suicide but with the best format to express that, I think the writer’s writing
caught my interested in it . She wrote, “he’s getting up going to the bottom drawer of his
dresser, he’s pulling out a book on Roman philosophy. It has statues on the front , and some of
their noses are chipped off. He has a piece of yarn marking one of pages. He’s holding the
book very close to his eyes, and wiping the tears to see better. I just told him I think that’s very
good, and now I’m going to put this down.” These things are the thing that I think is appreciate.
But sometimes she wrote some bad language that being in the book, ex: ‘ “ Would you please
just shut up and try to breath!” I screamed’, ‘ Then I walked up the shower and pressed my face
against the glass and yelled, “Donald, you’re fucking crazy!” ‘, which I didn’t like it. But I think
overall , I think this book is really good.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

like the red panada was depressing as shit. i read it because of the whole coming of age thing that i love reading, but it wasn't really coming of age so much as something else. stella (try to read that without thinking of elaine screaming it high on painkiller) is the main character. she's 18, graduating high school and smart as shit going to princeton. but she decides her life is empty or pointless or something and decides to kill herself on the day after the last day of school. the thing that bugged me the most is that i wasn't entirely clear why she wanted to kill herself. sure, there was the general malaise and so forth, but she never gave an actually reason. at first i thought she was TELLING us the story of her last two weeks of high school, but then i figured out that she had written everything down and we were reading it after the fact. does that make sense? her writing reminded me a lot of raspil's writing (not that i think raspil wants to kill herself). so anyway. the book is depressing. it reminds me of why i hated high school and why it was so hard for me. she doesn't seem to have a bad time of it at school though. her parents died of cocaine/heroin overdoeses when she was 11 so she went to live with a married couple who didn't love her but didnt' abuse her either. she's smart as hell and has some friends. she has a sort of boyfriend with whom she has hot sex. so i'm still not sure WHY she wanted to kill herself. she doesn't even strike me as entirely unhappy--besides the fact she wants to kill herself. so i dunno. the book wasn't bad, but it wasn't something i would read again.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stella's utterly unwavering committment to her suicide decision was disturbing to me. I had to wonder about the authenticity of her lack of emotion in pursuing her plan. Regardless of how unhappy and disconnected one is, wouldn't there be a few moments of doubt, or of fear?

One of the most chilling aspects of the book, to me, was Stella' relationship with her foster parents. She went to live with them as an 11-year old girl. Her perspective of them is that they are totally "off" and are completely detached from her. The "mother's" perspective, revealed near the end, of being afraid of Stella because she senses how condescending Stella is about them, seems to be the final straw. It suggests Stella created the detached life that is making her so unhappy. Yet it really bothers me that these parents, even if they sensed that contempt from a child who had just lost her parents, would be so "scared" they'd never try to make a true connection.

Stella's revelations about the insignificance of her straight As and her perfect behavior rang more true to me. That I can understand. The same is true of her "love" for her boyfriend, who it is revealed, wants only to be a drug dealer. The only person Stella connects with offers only a life that Stella does not want. Stella's pull toward a grandparent who wants no part of her, and who is unworthy of her love, also rang true to me. While the man was awful, he was the only family she had, and she could relate to him in that he did not consider his life worth living any more than she did.

This was an interesting read. I enjoyed it. It made me think. I just didn't always "believe" it.