The Blonde of the Joke -- Bennett Madison

Val Martinez sits in the back of the classroom, she doesn't make eye contact with people, she doesn't talk back to teachers, she doesn't talk, period.  She's pretty much invisible.

So she's understandably surprised when Francie Knight decides that they're going to be friends:

Francie was that kind of girl.  You know the type I'm talking about.  Blonde.  Big boobs.  Total slut.  The kind of girl who doesn't need a name.  It's always the blonde, isn't it?  I guess certain things will turn your hair gold.  Francie's hair was hell-of-gold.

As for me:  my hair was brown like something you looked for and looked for and couldn't find until your mom told you to check under your bed, and then there it was, crumpled in a dusty corner where you couldn't reach it.

Francie teaches Val the ins-and-outs of shoplifting, and together, the two of them set out to claim the entire world for themselves:  one tube of liquid eyeliner at a time.  In a voice both hard-boiled and innocent (I know that sounds strange, but she is), Val narrates a story about the rise and fall of friendship, about secrets hidden in suburbia, about being lost, about finding magic in the world and in yourself, about quests and belief and trust, and about becoming who you are, even if you aren't exactly sure what that means.

At least, I think that was what it was about.  The Blonde of the Joke felt like two books in one.  The first half chronicles the relationship between the girls as well as Val's re-creation and re-invention of herself, while the second half isn't quite as easy to describe.  Fittingly, considering the happenings and tone of the second half of the book, the turning point came with Francie and Val's viewing of Blue Velvet:

After the turning point, Val and Francie's story gets stranger and stranger, but I found it no less engrossing -- even though, by the end, I still didn't have answers to a whole lot of questions, and I'm pretty sure that Val didn't, either.  But then, who has all of the answers? 

_____________________________________________________________________

Book source/other info:  Review copy from the publisher; Cybils nominee; read for the RRRead-a-thon.

_________________________________________________________________________

I'm part of the Amazon Affiliate program.  Which I'd assume would be apparent by the ad in the sidebar, but assuming that you're bright enough to understand that is not enough for the FTC.  So, I will spell it out:  if you click through to Amazon and buy something, I get money.  Why?  Dude.  Because in the future, I need to pay someone to entertain Josh while I participate in a read-a-thons.  He's extremely distracting!