Review: Going Vintage

Title: Going Vintage
Author: Lindsay Leavitt
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Release Date: March 26, 2013
Format: eGalley

When Mallory’s boyfriend, Jeremy, cheats on her with an online girlfriend, Mallory decides the best way to de-Jeremy her life is to de-modernize things too. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in1962, Mallory swears off technology and returns to a simpler time (when boyfriends couldn’t cheat with computer avatars). The List:
1. Run for pep club secretary
2. Host a fancy dinner party/soiree
3. Sew a dress for Homecoming
4. Find a steady
5. Do something dangerous
But simple proves to be crazy-complicated, and the details of the past begin to change Mallory’s present. Add in a too-busy grandmother, a sassy sister, and the cute pep-club president–who just happens to be her ex’s cousin–and soon Mallory begins to wonder if going vintage is going too far.—via Goodreads

I’ll be honest, I really loved the angst and hurt of being on the wrong end of an emotional relationship part of this book better than the whole “going vintage” part of this book.

Though I really understand the main character, Mallory’s, urge to just quit technology for a day or two (or seven), I found that part of the book a little bit cowardly. I completely get the urge to make the thing that is causing you issues to go away, but cleary that isn’t truly the answer. But I guess that’s what grownig up and learning lessons and moving on is all about—learning how to deal with the crap life throws at you.

Which in this case is having your boyfriend cheating on you, but in an emotional way. In my opinion, emotional relationships are far more hurtful than physical ones. And in this day and age when it’s so so easy to “meet” someone who lives miles and miles away, striking up a friendship with them seems harmless. It seems innocent but then all of a sudden you’re spending all of your time emailing/texting/logged into a game just so you can spend more time with this person you’ve never met in the real world. (Obviously emotional relationships can be with people you actually know too, but that doesn’t really come up in this book.) I love that the author chose an emotional relationship to be the thing that breaks Mallory and makes her think that going tech-free is the way to be. (Ugh, sorry. Bad rhyme.)

But my very favorite thing about Going Vintage is the relationship Mallory has with her family. Her family is tight-knit, and though they have their (technology-based) issues throughout the book, I really enjoyed the scenes between Mallory and her sister, and with their grandmother—whose journal inspired Mallory’s technology. But more than just the individual relationships, each of which have their own struggles, I liked that the family was going through a tough time financially, but was still banding together rather than letting the problem pull them apart.

Overall, this is a cute, fun book that pinpoints exactly how hurtful emotional relationships can be, highlights the pros and cons of technology, and enforces the importance of communication in every type of relationship.