The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting

by Holly Bourne

Bree is a loser, a wannabe author who hides behind words. But when she's told she needs to start living a life worth writing about, The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting is born. Six steps on how to be interesting. Six steps that will see her infiltrate the popular set, fall in love with someone forbidden and make the biggest mistake of her life.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Mental Health, Young Adult Contemporary, Realistic Fiction

460 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

Holly started her writing career as a news journalist, where she was nominated for Best Print Journalist of the Year. She then spent six years working as an editor, a relationship advisor, and general ‘agony aunt’ for a youth charity – helping young people with their relationships and mental health.

Inspired by what she saw, she started writing teen fiction, including the best-selling, award-winning ‘Spinster Club’ series which helps educate teenagers about feminism. When she turned thirty, Holly wrote her first adult novel, 'How Do You Like Me Now?', examining the intensified pressures on women once they hit that landmark.

Alongside her writing, Holly has a keen interest in women’s rights and is an advocate for reducing the stigma of mental health problems. She’s helped create online apps that teach young people about sexual consent, works with Women’s Aid to spread awareness of abusive relationships, and runs Rethink’s mental health book club.

Reviews

[Emma Blackery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible piece of YA literature. Finally, an author who GETS it. You can say "we were all young once..." but if I had a penny for every time I came across a "young adult" novel that had unrelatable characters, no flaws, unconvincing dialogue...

Holly isn't like that. This book will pull you in and refuse to let go. Probably the best YA novel I've ever read, and that's a strong statement to make.

[Aj the Ravenous Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure how to feel about the book. The Manifesto on How to be Interesting is basically about a high school outcast who experiments on how to be interesting as part of her research in becoming a writer. It’s kind of formulaic, cliché-ish, quite bitter and anti-humanistic but with a lot of truth to it.

As usual, the writing is very bold, revolutionary and feministic. At times though, I feel like it went a bit too far. The things Bree personally decided to do as “parts” of her experiment are a bit too cringe-worthy and it broke my heart that she thought she had to do these things to achieve her dream of being a known writer.

I’m still Holly Bourne’s fan. Her themes are always so relevant, current and something that will make you really think about how society really is. I just don’t think this particular book is her best but I’m still looking forward to the rest of the books she wrote.

[Emily May · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars. This is my least favourite by Holly Bourne so far. It's an easy read and I can see the beginnings of a lot of the themes that she will handle better in her later books, but I got the impression that this was the early work of a writer who hadn't quite developed her style yet.

I really struggled with the protagonist, Bree, which has never been a problem in Bourne's books before. It might be because The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting is written in third person, unlike her other books, but I also just felt that not only did Bree do a lot of horrible things, but she also learned all the wrong lessons. I felt like it was implied that the end justified the means, and her actions seemed excused and celebrated at the novel's close.

The story borrows heavily from Mean Girls. Bree is unpopular, but with a makeover and a new wardrobe she is able to infiltrate the "perfects" for research and revenge. Of course, her "research" ends with her getting caught up in the suffocating world of popularity and maintaining perfection, and she cruelly ditches her old friend to be accepted.

Bree tested the boundaries of how much I can feel sympathetic toward an unlikable character. She came from an extremely wealthy family and complained endlessly about it. Her "uncaring" parents seemed to care a great deal about her. And, miserable as she was about being unpopular and uninteresting, she is able to change everything overnight with a haircut and makeup. Right.

But I could sorta forgive this. Who wasn't a bit dramatic and woe-is-me as a teen? Who actually survived their teen years without being a dick to someone? I think, ultimately, my problem was with the overall way the book handled it, treating Bree as a victim even when she was being a total shit to others. Everything she does is okay, I guess, because she exposes the falseness of teen royalty.

The most interesting thing touched upon by the book was the discussion about popular vs quality, mass appeal vs individuality, lowbrow vs highbrow pleasures. I think this could have gone a lot further, and it is something I am personally interested in. Bree laments (obnoxiously) how her totally deep and creative manuscript keeps getting rejected because it is unmarketable. Parallels are made between this and the question of whether it is better to be what society wants and receive popularity and adoration, or stick to your own individual expression and be "got" by only a few.

I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, of course I favour individuality and creativity that results in unique and thought-provoking books, films, and people. On the other, is there anything more annoying than a snooty hipster with Debussy on their bluetooth record player?

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book. That sounds so harsh, because I thought I would never hate a book. I have always valued the authors craft, even if a book just wasn't for me. But this book was... So so so problematic.

Let's start with Bree. She tries to self proclaim herself as a feminist voice but shames girls for liking boys.
'I have self respect'
Yeah, Bree, self respect is self defined. Not up to your judgemental standards. There was an intense amount of girl hate in this book. Why do authors keep writing books about bullying and play it off as girl hate? It's so out of touch to how a real school exists. There will always be bullies in schools, but this book was not about bullying at all. It was girls hating girls, becoming friends with the girls they hate, then hating girls again.
"it must be hard to be male and a feminist"
no it's not?
The author tries to make this funny. But it just misses the mark completely. When she's trying to make Holdo (who I actually liked, shock horror) the only boy in the book who was intelligent and questioning of the world and then portray him as a joke to us. It's like the author can only make 2D characters.
Oh, and don't forget when Bree tries to sleep with him because she feels like he 'deserves' it to make up for her being a shitty friend.
"Shhh Bree. Stop being a feminist just for now."
Bree I would love for you to become a feminist at all. Maybe then you wouldn't succumb to girl hate, would value your worth more than what boys think of you, and would have some self esteem for you to be you.
The author tries to make Bree a feminist voice so so badly. But if your whole book is full of anti feminist ideas then it just doesn't work.
"Someone's got man PMS."
Stop equating womanhood to weakness and over emotional-ness. Stop saying that males have to be emotionally inept. I get that I'm nit picking, but it was a constant stream of things that made me think- Hm. I wouldn't want any young girl to read this and adopt that view.
It also used the 'Popular Girls Don't Eat' cliche at one point. I don't need to explain why that is a bad idea to have in a book.
Bree aspired to be an author, but there was no mention of any characters she had created. She didn't take nay inspiration from the world around her. The manifesto was often in the back ground and literally could have just been about Bree's desire to be popular.
Bree also think she's a good writer because she got full marks in English Language GCSE. In my English Language GCSE, I remember the question being a letter about a music festival, and what events would you plan for the attendees. Either the author didn't do research into this, or she just didn't care.
But I don't think any aspiring writer will hold their GCSE exam as a credit to them and their writing.

Next is the Self-Harm in this book. It was so casually mentioned within the first few pages- and it was only a sentence, We knew that Bree Self-Harmed, but we didn't know anything about how it affected her emotionally. It was like a surface issue. We don't know why Bree does it. We don't know if she wants to stop. We don't know whether she feels guilty about it. Or whether she's ashamed. It was treated so casually, and on the surface. IT's like the Author researched the semantics of Self-Harm, but never went any deeper than that. It's a worrying thing to have in a book. I don't think the author discouraged it, even at the end. where Bree accidentally almost kills herself because of her Self-Harming. She didn't discourage it because the true severity, the true strain it can have on someones life, was never touched upon.

Mental Illness as a whole was touched upon so lightly in this book. There's a part where Bree discovers anti depressants in a characters bathroom when looking for something else.
"The usual anti depressants"
I get that depression is a common mental illness to have, and maybe the author was trying to play it off like this, but if a character had that in their bathroom then they or their family members would have had depression- which is massive. It would have changed their life temporary and the author just skips over that happily to get back to teen drama. It's like Bree has no empathy at all for anyone else, that or she just wants to be popular so badly she's willing to destroy anything in herself that would recognise someone as another human being.

There's so much I could talk about in this book but the worst part is definitely the presence of a teacher student relationship. The author does the usual "Oh, this shouldn't happen. But it feels so RIGHT. Oh, this is illegal. But he's so gorgeous!"
The teacher was a predator. He broke the law. But he gets no repercussions in the book at all! He's free to teach somewhere else, ready to attack another teenage girl.
As always, the author skips over the severity of this issue. It's a very real thing. IT's not that she fails to mention that the teacher was wrong, it's that she fails to reenforce that. Bree doesn't believe that what he does is wrong, therefore we don't believe what he does is wrong.
I don't understand why authors use this relationship so much. It's creepy. It's dangerous. Often, it doesn't get the true resolution it deserves.

There were so many other things in this book I could have talked about but these were the main issues I had. I'll leave you with my favourite quote from the whole thing:

"Her heart...hurt. She didn't know her organs could get cramp."

[julia ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of 70 books, this was the best book I have read this year.
I could give you a 2000 words essay about how much I loved this book, but I don't think anything I'd write would nearly describe just how AWESOME it was.
So I guess you'll have to find out for yourself if you want to know. :-)

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED this! Such a great take on "high school drama", identity & self-harm. So proud of my friend Holly for writing this & so glad I enjoyed it otherwise things would be awkward between us...

[kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly I have to say I really enjoy the way Holly Bourne writes. Her books are such comfortable reads. They flow brilliantly and read so quickly. I pretty much zoomed through and finished this in one sitting. Holly somehow manages to tackle difficult topics in a way that makes them 'easy' to read.

With that being said, I didn't love this book. I enjoyed it but there's something making it hard for me to work out how I feel about it. I'm conflicted. The whole book gave me a huge 'Mean Girls' movie vibe, it was similar in so many ways that I couldn't stop comparing the two. I found myself struggling to warm to Bree's character which is odd considering we're somewhat similar in things we've dealt with/how we've felt. I just think In the ways that we're not similar, we're such polar opposites I found it hard to connect with her and her actions, especially towards others.

BUT I couldn't stop reading, I was drawn into the book and the lives of these characters despite pretty accurately predicting what would happen. I just don't know how to feel. I enjoyed it, I think, just not as much as I had expected too. I think I possibly put my expectations on this book too high after loving Holly's other book 'Am I Normal Yet?' so much.

I will 100% continue to read whatever Holly Bourne writes because, as I said, I LOVE the way she writes and they way I read her books!

[Maddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I still don't know how I feel about this book. It was exactly like 'Mean Girls', in the way that a girl who thinks she's a loser, and social outcast, works her way up to the top of the popularity ladder with the application of lipstick and expensive hosiery. Unfortunately, I couldn't see the reality. The novel only really understood girls on a surface level, and took a long time before an epiphany was reached that even mean girls are human.
I really liked the blogging element, and the idea about getting to know people before you judge them, but a lot of the characters had a very high opinion of themselves, and I just wasn't about that. Still, I'm really intrigued to read more from Holly Bourne, there's definitely something special there.

[Paige Bookdragon]

Six steps that will see her infiltrate the popular set...

Why do people always think that being in the "popular set" can make them "interesting"?

[Badz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually did not finish this book. I meam, I tried so hard to psuh through so that I could give a review concerning its entireity, but after just 100 pages, I just cannot stand it anymore.

You see, I have seen this book everywhere and a lot of people I know completely fell in love with it. And so when I started readong it, I was so surprised at how annoying the main protagonist is.

This is the type of book which claims to portray feminism but ruins the essence of it in actuality. The narrator claims to be a feminist yet she does a lot of thing to condratict that. She is constantly putting down other women, thinking herself as more superior because she doesn't care about looks "like other girls".

I just don't like books like this because it is misleading and it's an example of why people think 'feminism' = 'man-hater' = something negative.

To be more visual, here is how I look while reading through the first few chapters:

“I’m much smarter than most people.“

“What pretty person achieved anything of merit anyway?”

“And for pretty girls at school, their moment would soon be over. They were peaking at their happiness levels much too early. Which is why Bree stayed ugly–to delay the peakage to a usefulage. Another reason why Bree was much smarter than most people.“

“He was the only person who shared her intellect levels and decide to do something with their privilege instead of resting on the laurels of wealth.”

And all these in just the first chapter. I can’t. Oh god.

[Greyson | Use Your Words · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trauma. It doesn't eke itself out over time. It doesn't split itself manageably into bite-sized chunks and distribute itself equally throughout your life.
Trauma is all or nothing. A tsunami wave of destruction.
A tornado of unimaginable awfulness that whooshes into your life - just for one key moment - and wreaks such havoc that, in just an instant, your whole world will never be the same again.

This book! God, this book.
The Manifesto on How to be Interesting is a great book! Bourne has a way of writing that just captures adolescence and mental illness so well. I see a piece of me in all of her main characters, and usually a piece of someone I know in each secondary character too. Reading this book transported me back to a time not too long ago.

After Bree is rejected yet again by a publishing house she decides she needs to be more interesting. Not the kind of interesting that reads literary classics and gets drunk on overpriced wine all the while keeping her self-harming secret close to her chest. No Bree needs to be the kind of interesting that gets people talking and invested in her life even if all she's doing is painting her face and taking photos with friends as if they're just having the best time; while behind the scenes they're really just getting drunk on cocktails and coming up with awful names for their classmates.
So she decides to make the ultimate sacrifice; she's going to worm her way into the Perfect Posse of her school, armed with highly sort after cosmetics and a list of things to check off in her pursuit of being an interesting person, a person who writes books people actually want to read.

She didn't believe there were many great life lessons out there for her still to learn. But perhaps this was one of them. That, by letting people in, even seemingly shallow nasty people like Jassmine, you learn something. Something you can only get through intimacy.

Bree's dive into the crazy world of popularity is an honest one. She brandishes her fathers connections to a big name make up company as tear gas, carefully selecting her targets to create hurt and confusion, but mostly importantly, desperation for a highly sort after product. She uses her natural dry humor and utter dislike for people as a knife, because nothing is as funny as nastiness when you're a teenager. She climbs up the social ladder quickly but, unplanned as it is, she also finds herself caring deeply for the very flawed individuals she has forced friendships with. It's all very confusing for a social outcast who only ever viewed the popular kids as boring and shallow.

A year or so after high school I found myself in a friendship group much like the girls Bree infiltrates in this book. I of course wasn't doing so for research. She was the girl who just held everyone's interest. She was lovely and charming, I couldn't believe she wanted to be friends with someone like me. We were fast friends and before I knew it we became inseparable. I was much like Bree, I was judgmental and always convinced myself I never cared what people thought, in high school I was an outsider.
All of a sudden I had found myself in a group of girls, and such a large group at that. I was completely out of my comfort zone and never really knew what I was doing, just praying I wouldn't be pushed out. I was hyper aware of everything I said, because I was scared of losing everything I had, and in a group like that it quickly becomes the only thing that matters in the world to you, especially if you always felt like an outsider looking in. Bourne captured this so well.

I related to Bree on so many levels. Her experience with this group of girls was so real, though it was kind of the opposite to mine. Where she had loathed the girls from the beginning, I had cared greatly for mine. Over time she found herself caring for the girls, over time I found myself questioning if I belonged in such a world where everyone bitched about everyone and you never quiet knew where you stood. Boy did it tug on my heart strings and pushed me right back into that full house of madness, no matter the differences.

By far my favourite friendship was between Bree and her mother. From being basically strangers sharing a house to a really healthy and supportive relationship between mother and daughter. Bree sees her mother as just as shallow as the perfect posse when we're introduced to her, she doesn't have any respect for her. When she finally reaches out, for what may be the first time, for help with the world of make up and heels Bree is hurt thinking that was all it took for them to develop a relationship. By the end of our journey with Bree it is very clear this is not the case, that what really stood in the way was Bree herself, not willing to open up. It speaks volumes of the situation almost everyone has been through. That teenage angst where you're determined to believe that the world is against you, that you're parents will never understand you and that one day you'll be free from the cage they've built around you. But boy is that not the case and I really hope young readers get that from this book, that no matter how much you feel like your parents don't get it; that there is a huge chance that they've been where you are before, sometimes they just need to a reminder.

Understand what? That sometimes you feel like a boiling kettle, getting hotter and hotter, and the only way to let it all out is to do this- like its erupting steam all over the place? Or that sometimes, when you're really low, it's just nice to feel...something, any kind of physical sensation... and pain is the sensation with the most powerful pull? or that, maybe, it's a way of proving you're alive. I must be, there's blood coming out of me, this proves I exist. or, look, I've got an entire tuft of hair filling my fist- I must be here, I must be real, I can prove it.

One of the most gut wrenching parts of this book were when self harm was staring you in the face. Bree cuts herself and Bourne describes Bree's reasoning in such a way that you can't help but want to reach through the page and hold her. Self harm doesn't make much sense to most people, and the reasons for doing it can be different for each person. When we discover another character self harms as well, we're shown just how different self harm can be for each person stuck under it's thumb. Mental illness doesn't care if you're rich, if you have everything and anything you could ever need. Mental illness doesn't discriminate and when it has a hold of you it's impossible to control. It won't be put in a box, it refuses to be shoved under the rug. It may take sometime but it will reach a point where it will scream and rage and over take you're entire life if you don't find help, the right kind of help to suit you. Bree tries to brush it off, she tries to deal with it by writing possibly the most depressing book in history. Most importantly and unwise; she tries to tackle it alone. This is one of the most common ways to deal with mental illness so it didn't feel like it was being written by someone who had no idea what they were talking about. It felt real, it resonated with me so I'm sure it will resonate with others. Hopefully through Bree's mistakes and lessons, young readers will learn how important it is to seek help when you're fighting a war of the mind.

The Manifesto on How to be Interesting is a lovely coming of age story that touches on so many things that affect millions of teenagers everywhere and I am so glad that I chose to read it and be transported back to a rough time in my life, so that I could reanalyze and learn even more from the experience. For that it will always hold a special place in my heart.
___
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[Eden Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just finished this book and felt compelled to write a review. I seriously have no idea why it's so highly praised.
It's predictable and unrealistic and so unbelievably similar to the plot of Mean Girls... I could hardly believe when I saw that the author had actually quoted 'Mean Girls' in the book! If you've seen the film, this book will feel very familiar - however, it fails to be as funny/iconic.
Also, if you're a PLL fan you'll probably end up guessing one big twist in the story.

I'm not sure why I finished this book, most likely so that I could leave an informed review. It was disappointing, uninspired and just 'meh'. I feel like some girls will relate to some of Bree's problems, but I'd suggest watching My Mad Fat Diary, Skins, Mean Girls and Pretty Little Liars instead of reading this book.


I actually didn't mind the writing style so I'm going to try to read 'Soulmates' and 'Am I Normal Yet?' and hope they have better plots.

[Patricia Crowther · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5*

[Miss Page Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

First impression: Unique story approach and a protagonist worth getting to know better. Holly Bourne introduces us to Bree, a quiet girl who is very intelligent and withdrawn. Soon she's going to change radically. In the beginning she has a fantastic relationship with her best friend Holdo. They watch movies together and hang out. They have a very trusting and intimate friendship that makes both their lives so much brighter. It is a friendship that I recognized as something very important for Bree's story. One that could've worked against the mean girl streak she's developing at some point. Unfortunately, Holly Bourne allowed Bree to completely neglect the great support I saw in their friendship and ditch Holdo for her fake new life.

Second glance: I can honestly say that I didn't like Bree anymore once she was caught in her plan to become popular at all costs. And all for the cause of her own curious social research for her writing. Her goal is to seduce Hugo and become friends with his girlfriend and their clique in order to observe their life and analyse their ways of being interesting and popular. I hated that everythigng was kind of an experiment for her and that she didn't really want to change her life the way she did because she wanted to live it that way. It all felt kind of fake and I couldn't but cringe at the sure future outcome and the unfairness towards the people she was deceiving.

What could've saved Bree's story for me wasn't present. A romance that I could enjoy and get lost in. In all her confusion and revenge I was hoping for Bree to find a person who would be so good for her that she could finally accept herself. Her relationship to her teacher is an prominent part of the story in order to distinguish and show readers the difference between fake and real Bree. But sadly I'm no big fan of reading about student teacher romances. Don't you find them kind of irritating, too?

Still, sometimes I even found myself engaging in Bree's transformation and hoped for the popular kids to actually like her so that she could establish an honest and kind friendship with them. Her manifesto changes the relationship to her parents as well and especially the bond between mother and daughter. The family part of Bree's story was probably my favourite because it was the one most real and emotional.
Holly Bourne's writing was skillful and that's why I'll definitely read her debut novel SOULMATES soon.


3/5 *** THE MANIFESTO ON HOW TO BE INTERESTING - A very delicate thought experiment for every reader!

THE MANIFESTO ON HOW TO BE INTERESTING explores the depths of a teenager's feelings of failure and unacceptance. How important is popularity and success for a young adult? And how much is someone willing to sacrifice of what's been good in his or her life if they can get something supposedly better? Would you be willing to hurt the people you love in order to reach that goal?

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

So what did I think? From my high ranking you can guess that I enjoyed this book a lot. And I did. But it still isn't a book I would recommend everybody. First of all there is a big trigger warning for selfharm. And then again I guess you have to like this kind of story and they way it is told. I thought it was brilliant and didn't feel that connected to a book, not just to the characters but to the whole book in a while. I love it. I really think people overuse the word love and I try not to. But that just sums it up so well. I love it. And I know that not everybody will like this type of humor. Or the moral aspects of this book. I didn't like everything that happened in this book or agreed with everything. But this doesn't change my opinion at all. I think if you like book with a great writing style who talk about serious topics without drowning you in depression, this is the book.
I thought I had more to say, but I don't really want to give others to high expectations. I wouldn't say this is the best book I have ever read. But it is one of the books I related to and felt for the most. Maybe the best book I have read this year. Maybe not. It was different and I enjoyed it. I guess that all I have to say, you have to see yourself.

[Ayushi · Rating 1 out of 5]

No.

[Atlas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I need to be interesting, Logan, I need to be someone

*
1 / 5

My secondary school years a couple of years behind me now, but looking back I feel like I had a fairly typical experience: a small group of close friends, studied hard, mostly enjoyed myself. The worst age was probably fourteen to about sixteen where I was gangly and socially awkward. A couple of boys were mean to me, but I wouldn't say I was bullied. In Sixth Form, aged sixteen to eighteen, I had an amazing time. Not so for Bree.

Bree sighed, bored of this evening, bored of her life. Tired of it always feeling like sludge to wade through.

Queen's Hall school is the most cliche of high schools. I'm not really sure such a thing actually exists in reality. I sat down and thought pretty hard and I couldn't name a "popular clique" from my school; yeah, there were dickwad boys and pretty girls and social circles, but no Queen Bee terrorising the school. Perhaps I was just lucky that there was no Jassmine (with two s's), Gemma, Jessica, or Emily running around spreading evil gossip and naked photos of other girls.

Bree is a failed seventeen year old writer who is instantly dislikable. There's little gems like "Another reason why Bree was much smarter than most people" sprinkled everywhere. Bree and her bestfriend Holdo are social rejects and Bree doesn't care until she realises that her writing sucks and that her life is boring. So she gets a makeover, runs a blog, and decides to infiltrate the popular group and steal Jassmine's boyfriend for an experiment, to give her writing material. The thing is, it could have worked. I read and enjoyed another of Bourne's YA novels, Am I Normal Yet?, about teen girls and she has a really good writing style. Unfortunately, I absolutely hated this book.

Forgive me Virginia Woolf, Bree thought to herself, for I have sinned

No one is likeable. Bree is pitiable and misguided at best, incredibly self-absorbed, naive, and arrogant at worst. Her best friend "Holdo" is a walking cliche: loves the Godfather, names himself after a Catcher in the Rye character, insists on proper grammar, and has a massive pornography stash. I think he's supposed to be likeable and a yardstick to measure Bree by, instead he just reminds me of every sleazy "devil's advocate" boy I've ever met. The mean girl possy is, of course, mean by definition, and I think every single other boy in this book is horny, sleazy, and entirely sex-obsessed. Even Bree's parents are distant and only show a glimmer of promise towards the end.

It's such a doorstopper of a novel. 450 pages is excessive for a YA novel, but it can work. Just not in this case. It doesn't help that the plot is so meandering, wandering from Bree's reflections on her rise to popularity, the "revelation" that mean girls are, gasp, actual human beings with thoughts and feelings, Bree's writing projects (which don't feature nearly enough), her relationships with boys and her parents, and self-harm. I had the same problem with Bourne's other book in that Bourne tries to tackle too much, but I enjoyed Am I Normal Yet? a heck of a lot more than this one.

She'd expected a wealth of knee-jerking discoveries about these girls. A glimpse into the hidden brilliant-ness of what made them so powerful. But they just seemed like normal, average girls

What absolutely cinched this as a one star book, for me, was the presence of a student-teacher relationship. I wouldn't have touched this if I had known it would feature one so heavily. It made me feel ill to read about it, about Bree's married English teacher who kissed her when she was sixteen. Frankly, I thought it was disgusting and Bourne did not do anywhere near enough to condemn it. It's not that I think Bourne approves of student-teacher relationships, it's just that the book is so heavily from Bree's perspective that all you get, all you experience is Bree's utter adoration and fascination with this man who, objectively, is not only disgusting but also sad, shallow, and pathetic.

Overall, I recommend people skip this book and try some of Bourne's The Spinster Club books, which I found to be much more enjoyable.

Read this review and more on my blog: https://atlasrisingbooks.wordpress.co...

[Ashleigh (a frolic through fiction) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review originally posted on A Frolic Through Fiction (book blog): https://afrolicthroughfiction.wordpre...

I’m just going to go ahead and say it: I should have read this book first.

Out of all of Holly Bourne’s books that I’ve read so far, I should’ve started with this one. Purely because when I read Am I Normal Yet? and How Hard Can Love Be? I absolutely adored them, so my expectations for this one were high, to say the least. Everything that was said in those books I agreed with…and I feel like the exact opposite happened with this one, so that was a shock to the system.

But more on that later.

I did enjoy this book. I’m pretty sure by now that Holly Bourne has a theme of mentioning important topics in her books. Well, this one’s no different. While the main theme is popularity, self harm, friendship, family and many teenage issues are mentioned throughout. The amount of things covered actually impressed me. And they were all done quite well – even if they were only mentioned rather than being explored in more depth, just that acknowledgment that these issues exist was enough for me to add a tick.

With this book being set in a school, the teen culture was obviously really strong. The way people act, the groups that form in school, the workload – everything seemed exactly the same as when I was in school myself. Which again, impressed me, because every time I’ve read a book set in a school so far it’s been a bit cheesy and full of stereotypes. But in this case, it felt real and I could relate to the experiences there.

I really liked one specific thing this book explained about writing. I’m not a writer myself, but still this one thing really stood out to me. Our main character Bree is a wannabe writer, and so obviously she tries. That’s how the story kicks off. But what this book does is point out that while school is important, getting the grades is usually only helpful for getting further education. The writing you do in your GCSE’s is not the sort of thing that would be published and read for enjoyment. To be a good writer, you need to be passionate about what you’re writing, not just believe you’re good at it because of your grades. And like I said before, even though I’m not a writer myself, I was really glad to see this mentioned. To get the message out there.

From the synopsis you can see this is a story about unpopular nerdy girl Bree trying to change herself in order to be more interesting. And I think it’s this what made me a bit..hesitant towards this book. For me, if I’m going to really enjoy a book, I have to either really like the main character or at least be able to relate to them. And with myself being one of those unpopular nerdy girls in school (and currently in college), I thought I’d be able to relate to Bree. But honestly, I couldn’t.

And I know exactly why. While I liked the fact that Bree was nerdy and loved reading, I didn’t have anything else in common with her in ways of attitude. Like I said, the entire synopsis of the book is about how she’s planning on changing herself to suit other people more. And that, I actually really hate the idea of. She hides the fact that she loves reading, whereas I’m the sort who proudly talks about it nonstop. Granted, I was a bit awed at her determination to carry the entire idea out, but other than that, every single decision she made had me shaking my head slightly.

I couldn’t really connect with her, since every time she did something I’d be sat thinking “whyyyyy Bree whyyyy?!?“

The ending of this book was really quite dramatic. I mean, the events leading up to it were dramatic enough, and some of them were slightly uncomfortable to read about, I must say. But they WERE interesting to read about, so I guess the point of “the manifesto on how to be interesting” worked after all. And that’s why I appreciated this book – even though I hardly agreed with anything from it, I still found it interesting to read about.

I do still have some questions after reading. The dramatic ending seemed a little bit cut short to me, and I want to know just a little bit more about what happened after. But other than that, I quite liked how the story was rounded off.

I still wish I’d read this book of Holly Bourne’s first. I feel like if I had, the high expectations wouldn’t have been knocked down, and the rating might have been slightly higher. I know the ratings for this book are quite mixed, so I suppose it depends on the person. But even so, I thought this was an enjoyable read, and I would recommend picking it up if you’re interested.

[sandra ☕️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just a huge disappointment.

The whole idea behind the book sounded so interesting to me but what the author made out of it is just a mess.

Bree is an outsider at her school and her two novels have been rejected by many publishers. That's why she wants to become interesting, to become popular. So she can live a better life or how she called it "A life worth writing about". Then she starts this absolutely ridiculous blog called "The Manifesto on How to be Interesting". Her blog posts made me just so angry.

She actually wrote things like:
"would you really want to follow my little experiment if I was an ugly chick? If I did all this with a face that still resembled an arse? I'm lucky enough that, apparently, I'm naturally quite a looker."

Lines like this appeared throughout the whole book and they made me just really angry. I mean, what does the author want to tell us with these lines? That not everyone is beautiful? What kind of message is that?

Then, Bree is a feminist, apparently, but calls other girls sluts and talks shit about them. This book was just full of anti-feministic comments.

Then we have Holdo, her best friend. He was such an interesting character and a really good friend to Bree? And what does she do? She kisses him and wants to have sex with him because she feels sorry for him? Sorry, because he won't really have other chances to do it due to his “bad looks”?! Like, what the hell?!?!?
And at the end of the book they're suddenly friends again? Who would want to be friends with her after something like that?

Bree befriended the popular girls and hung out with them a lot. Then, one day, she was getting ready with one of them; Jassmine. She accidentally saw Bree's scars but instead of laughing at her, she was really kind and caring. A few hours later, Bree slept with her boyfriend. WHY?? Jassmine was being such a good friend and she just slept with her boyfriend because it was part of her little experiment?! How can you do something like that?

The thing I probably hated the most about the book was the teacher-student relationship. It's just not okay. Bree was seventeen while her teacher was in his thirties and MARRIED! Since he was a loser during high school he had this disgusting fantasies about Bree, about the popular girl finally wanting him. He had told her how much he loved her and then, after he found out about Bree sleeping with Hugo, he told her that it has been a huge mistake and that he hadn't meant what he said? I think I hated him even more than I hated Bree.

The most unrealistic part about this book was the ending. Bree's blog was really popular but she didn't notice until Holdo showed her. Who doesn't notice thousands of comments? WHO?!

The whole book was just not what I expected it to be. I had such high expectations because everyone’s always talking about how good Holly Bourne's books are but well, this one just really disappointed me. The plot and the characters were just bad.

There were a few good parts in the book which made me give 1.5 as the final rating but well, the rest was just bad.

Rating: 1.5 stars

[Larnacouer de SH · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

İlk çeyrekte tamam dedim, yine bildiğimiz sıradan kötü kızlar ve diğerleri teması, yarıya kalmaz keserim bunun biletini ama gördüğünüz gibi kesmeye kalmadan kitabı bitirdim. *Smirking-Face-Emoji*

Konu bildiğimiz bi' Mean Girls olsa da keyifle okunduğunu söyleyebilirim. Gariptir ki altını çizecek cümleler bulabilir ve henüz 47 yaşında değilseniz hayatınıza yön verecek fikirler edinebilirsiniz.

Ben mi? Benim için artık çok geç; 25 yıldır yaşıyorum, 47 yaşındayım geceleri uyumadan evvel Ludovico Einaudi'nin albümlerini dinliyorum teşekkürler​.

[Laura Tenfingers · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK book but my least favourite Holly Bourne book to date. I found the setup to be too unlikely, cliche and a bit icky at times. Once things started getting interesting I admit that I did get more interested. And I loved the mental health empowerment messages that Holly always gives. The ones in this book were as good as ever. I do think it likely that I would have enjoyed this more if my high school days were not so far in the distant past...

Overall, a good book but she's got others that are way better.

[Saliha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yazarın vermeye çalıştığı mesajı kitabın tamamından defalarca kez daha çok sevdim. -> "Being interesting isn’t important. But being happy is. As well as being a person you’re proud of.”

[joie de livre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this a year ago and my review was long but crappy.I decided that I won't rewrite it because right now I don't have much time but I wanted to state that even though this book was entertaining(and I really enjoy reading about boarding or prep schools)and the writing was good enough though not special the book was just too cliché,it was not special or original,it seemed partly pointless,the characters were mostly there to exist and had no personality,the MC made me shake my head myriads of times with her stupid and bad thought out decisions and even though the message was good it was very indirect and sometimes too direct and basically like a cliché movie which was partly like Mean Girls and partly like other girly teen movies.The cover was gorgeous but that really does not count.Lastly teacher-student relationships are ,in my opinion,wrong and usually fake in a way(platonic is the word) and I'm glad that at the end Bree realized that even though it took her a lot of time.

At the end of the day I found myself spending a lot of time reading this book,staying up at nights,sometimes rooting for Bree and loving the mother-daughter bond that was created so I have to say that Holly is a skillful writer and that I would buy more of her books to see if there's character development,a more original plot and devour the addicting writing as well as showcase the beautiful neon covers of her books.I've heard a lot about how heartbreaking and beautiful her debut is and I have my eye on it.

By the way I don't know if Bourne knows French but Hugo D'Felance...you can't really put an apostrophe when there is no vowel,it's De Felance,but that's another thing altogether.:D

[Mafi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 estrelas
--
''Manifesto de como ser interessante'' foi a última leitura de Abril e era um livro que já estava na estante desde 2015. Ele tem 424 páginas mas mais de 300 páginas foram lidas num só dia. Mas a leitura compulsiva não é sinónimo de ter gostado mas também não odiei, apenas achei um livro mediano. Aqui temos Bree, uma rapariga que não é nada popular, nada social, que não se importa com o seu aspecto físico...mas inveja quem o assim é. E portanto decide começar um blog onde irá passo a passo mostrar como ser interessante e é aqui que começa a sua experiência. Muda de visual, de gostos e de amizades. Claro que as coisas não vão correr bem, porque nunca corre bem quando deixamos de lado aquilo que gostamos e quem gosta de nós, por algo diferente só porque sim.

Opinião completa: https://algodaodoceparaocerebro.blogs...

[Anna (Enchanted by YA)]

Did not finish at page 112

Maybe I was yet to find the message in this book, maybe it was too critical on teenage life, maybe the main character wasn't at all relateable, maybe I'm not the right age so this hits too close to home. Or maybe this book simply wasn’t for me.
Whatever the case, I won’t be continuing this book, though I hope to read Soulmates in the future.

[Andrea]

DNF
This manifesto could not hold my interest.

[emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS

[Kara Babcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rang in 2017 with a Holly Bourne, so I was hoping to wait until the New Year to read this. But Thursday saw me feeling a little down—not in any serious way, but just in the sense that I wanted a book that wouldn’t be too sad. Bourne’s writing, despite involving sensitive issues—in this case, bullying, sexual harassment/assault, and self-harm and attempted suicide (trigger warning: I will discuss these later)—always puts me in a better mood. She has this way of buoying you, of making you feel hopeful even as she portrays adolescents at the nadir of their experiences. So I opened up The Manifesto on How to be Interesting, figuring I would read the first few chapters in the bath, then knit and watch a movie for the rest of the evening. I should have known better: I ended up reading nearly two-thirds of the book that night and finished it early the next morning.

Bree begins this book as a self-professed “loser” whose obsession with writing and disappointment over her rejections clouds her enjoyment of her college (A-Level) years. A comment from her English teacher gives her the idea to start an anonymous blog, titled the same as this book, and completely change her look, behaviour, and attitude in an effort to become more “interesting”. Bree’s alterations will have her growing closer to her mom, at least superficially, and befriending the Popular Girls at her school—but she will alienate her best friend, make decisions she will come to regret, and sacrifice her core beliefs, all in the name of experiencing enough that she might finally write something “good”.

Bourne perfectly captures the particular brand of desperation that follows you around in adolescence. This is not the same desperation that those of us in our late twenties feel—that ticking clock of “Wait, is this all there is? I haven’t even figured out my life yet! Oh God, don’t tell me I need to do grad school to get a real job!” No, this is a fresher sense of desperation; it still has that new-hormone smell. Bree needs to be published, needs to be recognized, needs to be interesting. It’s a conflict created by her internal ambition trying to express itself in a world that, sadly, often tells teenagers to sit down and shut up—or encourages them to funnel their self-expression into acceptable, muted, channelled avenues.

On the surface, Bree’s journey into the land of pretty and popular follows the trajectory of numerous other, similar stories: she gets herself a makeover, shows up at school a Whole New Girl™, knocks the socks off everyone, and slides into the Popular Girls clique. She takes on a new persona—kind of, though she’s allowing herself little breathers by helping her English teacher with the Year 8 creative writing club. She collects as much material as possible and begins to formulate the “rules” that make up her manifesto, the ways in which to live in order to ensure maximum Life Experience and therefore, hopefully, maximum interesting writing.

Dig deeper, though, and that’s where The Manifesto on How to be Interesting really gets … well … interesting. Bourne is here to remind us that all those stock characters in the books and movies like this one are actually, when you dig down, real people. Bree’s mom isn’t aloof—she’s confused and conflicted about her daughter’s teenage reticence to bond, and until Bree asks her to go shopping, has no idea how to talk to her daughter. Jassmine, Jessica, Gemma, and Emily aren’t plastic bitch-queens-in-training: they’re girls Bree’s own age, just as human and damaged as she is, just coping with it differently.

The best and rawest moments of this book are when Bree has a heart-to-heart with the least likely of people. For example, when she and Jassmine are preparing for a party, and the latter discovers Bree’s cut marks on her thighs, Jassmine confesses to her own type of self-harm. It’s a significant, genuine moment undercut by the dramatic irony of Bree deceiving Jassmine when it comes to the reasons behind their newfound friendship. Bourne has a knack for depicting teenagers’ behaviours in interesting, dynamic, and accurate ways. From the interactions among the girls to the posturing of Hugo or the actual meanness beneath his exterior, Bourne shows us the myriad ways in which teenagers are constantly re-evaluating their relationships with one another.

As a high school teacher myself, I have to confess I found the relationship between Bree and Mr. Fellows difficult to read at the best of times. This is not a criticism of Bourne for including it; she definitely portrays it the way it should be portrayed. I just hate subplots involving teacher–student relationships … I kept yelling at the book as I watched these two characters orbit each other, Bree enjoying the attention, Fellows acting like a creepy, skeevy man who shouldn’t be allowed near children.

And then we reach the climax and what, as I’m coming to realize, is Bourne’s hallmark: everything goes pear-shaped. In this particular case, Bree reaches a point where the only recourse seems to be to begin cutting again, and she takes it too far and nearly kills herself. She doesn’t, though, of course, because this is not that kind of book. She wakes up in a hospital, under careful watch—and her parents and her live happily-ever-after, and everything is fine. Except it isn’t, because this is not that kind of book either.

No, this is the brilliance of Bourne and the reason I keep reading her books: she finds a middle way. She finds this hopeful path through the dark forest, and it feels very true. Bree is not automatically going to be All Right now that she has had her crisis moment. Nor is she totally lost. There is a darkness in The Manifesto on How to be Interesting, but there is also so much compassion and empathy. There is a message reminding us that even in those moments of absolute loss, there is still hope. But we have to fight for it. And when we are too weak or tired of fighting, we have to be willing to let those who care about us in, so they can fight on our behalf.

At over 400 pages, this is a pretty long book. But it moves so fast, and it is so fascinating, and it is so good, that you will probably inhale it like I did. The Manifesto on How to be Interesting is just another example of why I love Bourne’s work and will keep picking up her stuff, hopefully for years to come.

Oh, and pat on the back for making it through this entire review without a Mean Girls comparison!

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well...this is somewhere I didn't think I'd be giving a Holly Bourne book such a low rating.

This story really doesn't live up to her other ones I've read, and I actually really disliked a lot about this book.
I hated pretty much all the characters apart from Holdo. The main character Bree - was just so self absorbed and didn't ever think about how what she was doing would impact others and hurt them. They were always an afterthought. She did things that were really quite despicable and for what - an experiment to make her writing more interesting...
I really disliked the plot - it was kind of like reading a revamp of mean girls but not in a good way, there was no Janice to cheer you up and stupid joke moments, and in a way Bree was way worse than Cadie. It was just ripping on others emotions and being obsessed with the idea that everyone wants to be you.
I'm surprised I got through and finished the book, at points I was so mad about what Bree had done and how she approached the situation...just all wrong.
The epilogue was the only bit that was good about the book and the message, although I really don't think that was reflected in the rest of the book.
Others seem to enjoy this and I'm glad for them, but I really couldn't vibe with what happened or the characters actions.
Such a shame because the writing itself wasn't bad, it was more the content I had issues with.
I'm just going to move on from this, I still love Holly's work, just not this one so much!

[Ioana Şiman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually read YA and I realized I should do this more often. I wish I read this book when I was in junior high and going through a rough time, trying to prove myself to the cool kids and being all stupid about it. It might have changed my perspective of what's really important. Good stuff, really.