The Last Virgin

by David Belbin

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2002

About the author

Belbin's work is known for breaking boundaries and dealing responsibly with difficult social issues that affect teenagers. He first attained success with a number of books for Scholastic's Point Crime series.

Reviews

[Mills · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm quite vague as to what the point of The Last Virgin was. I guess I expected a book about six teenage girls contemplating losing their virginity to be one of two things: funny and apt or thoughtful, exploring issues around consent/desire/sexuality/contraception/etc. The Last Virgin wasn't really either.

It's fly-on-the-wall in style but because of the sheer amount of stuff* to cram into barely two hundred pages, it flits from event to event with very little narrative. We never really explore any of the girls' thoughts and Leah and Parvinder are basically bit parts, even though the Sikh's burgeoning relationship with the young man her parents have chosen for her to marry would surely be one of the most interesting things to look at.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

I don't feel anything was achieved here. One girl gets back with the boyfriend who doesn't support her trying to achieve more with her life. The Christian thinks she's lost her virginity, only to find out he got a little too excited too soon (which, somehow, she didn't notice?!). She also finds out that said boy was only thirteen and feels depraved. The hypocritical virgin bride and the man-whore have a battle of wills. One of the Captain Obvious lesbians comes out after turning herself stereotypically butch. The other has yet to notice. The Forty Year Old Virgin** falls for a woman that it's not clear he'd even met.

I mean, really. What was the point?

*Several months' worth of the six girls plus a few boys and a couple of adults.
** mid thirties but who's counting?

[Rachel (aka Ms4Tune) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've had it sitting on my shelf since I was 15 and thought why not, it's only a short one. I think the problem with this book was the fact he tried to follow a group of SIX girls, trying to give them all a different story of losing their virginity. Along side this he tried to fit in two boys, a set of lesbian parents and numerous superfluous characters. It was just a bit much for a book that was only 224 pages long with 12-14pt font.

However it has its merits. It does highlight A LOT of issues the younger teens go through, it does have funny parts and some good characters, and I think it would have been a good read if I was 13, but I'm not so I've given it 2 stars.

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lusno, kratko

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book followed the lives of teens losing their virginity & when I read this I was in my teens deciding whether I was to "save myself for marriage" as my Christian faith required or lose my virginity and feel much more "normal". This book actually gave me at the time, options and viewpoints to help guide me in my decision.
It was a good storyline and had various characters to follow. I think the author had over stretched on the amount of Characters to follow and some characters did fall by the wayside. Essentially this was a good read when I read it in my teens, I don't think this is as entertaining as an adult, but it is good for reference for a parental point of view.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

When virginity was meant for nothing.
I thought it would be as fun as Cathy Hopkins or Ann Brashares teenlit, but nothing can be better than Hopkins' Truth Dare Kiss or Promise.
The last virgin is lighter, lack of intimacy and romance. It was just a group of teenage girls who assume virginity is a kind of 'competition'.
How curious they are to lose their virginity and in the end of the story two of them reveal their sexual orientation as a lesbian.

[K.A. Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book years ago when I was teen. It is really relatable, following several teens as the decide whether or not to loose their virginity. It really captures the hard choices we face in our teen years.

[Hanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, bit slow at times but describes teenage lives as they are.