Goth Girl Rising - Barry Lyga
By the time GOTH GIRL RISING hits the shelves it will have been three years since THE ASTONISHING ADVENTURES OF FANBOY AND GOTH GIRL was published. For those that haven’t read it, do so now! You will probably enjoy GOTH GIRL RISING even without the backstory from TAAFGG, but not nearly as much as you could if you take the time to read it.Unlike TAAFGG, this story is told from Kyra’s point-of-view. Six-months have passed since the last time we saw her. Because of something that happened at the end of FANBOY, Kyra was sent to stay at the Maryland Mental Health Unit. GOTH GIRL picks up on the day she is released.Kyra is both relieved and nervous to be going home. Dealing with her father is tough and the thought of going back to school turns her stomach upside down. But, she is excited about one thing and that is seeing Fanboy. Here is a what she is thinking when she is walking into the school her first day back and she is looking for Fanboy. “I feel all light and puffy inside, like someone filled me up with a cloud or something. The Spermling doesn’t bother me. Roger doesn’t bother me. I’m going to find Fanboy and then everything is going to be fine. No wait, that’s wrong. Everything is going to be perfect.” (p. 35)What Kyra finds is not what she expects and her world is shaken again. She begins to fill her days with plans of revenge and ways to ruin Fanboy. Thoughts of suicide find their way back into her head and she struggles to make it through each day. So many things are confusing: her feelings toward a long time friend, her relationship with her father, the way she feels about her mother’s death, and her plans for Fanboy.Through letters she writes to her favorite author, Neil Gaiman, Kyra works through her many emotions in an attempt to be satisfied with life. She just can’t decide if it is worth all the trouble.