Untitled: A Bad Teen Novel

by Tara Ariano

This book is not good. In fact, it's quite awful. I wrote it in 1987-88, when I was thirteen years old and in grade 8. It is poorly crafted, implausibly plotted, though grammatically quite sound. It is, I hope, amusing in its youthful crappiness.

154 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

Reviews

[Caleb Roehrig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hard to describe, except to say that it is hilarious and familiar in its 8th-grade honesty, and I get boundless joy from laughing and cringing at the exploits of the five main characters every time I read it. This is a soap opera, written by a thirteen-year-old (with added commentary from the author 15 years later that literally makes the entire experience) and it covers a lot of very (VERY) adult topics; if that sounds like your kind of thing, then you're going to love this. Ironically or unironically.

[Suzanne Krempasky · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s so bad, it’s great!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

If ever a novel needed to be made into an audiobook...this kind of wonderful-awful writing begs for an overwrought, dramatic reading.

[Joanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in a few hours, it's totally ridiculous and absolutely hilarious. The author wrote the "book" in junior high and found it at her parents house and decided to get it published. She goes back and critiques her pre-teen writing throughout the book and comments on just how little she knew. Especially funny for anyone who ever tried to write a book when they were younger.

[Linnea · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book! The five star rating is not for its literary merit, but rather for the delightful experience of reading a book written by a then-13 year old and later published with her incredulous commentary. It's quite awful as a piece of writing.

[Jeremy Preacher]

This is a writing guide in that it's an excellent example of what to avoid. It's hilariously bad.

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. Reminds me of my own terrible writing when I was that age, and Ariano's annotations cracked me up.