500 Words or Less by Juleah Del Rosario Published by Simon Pulse on September 25th 2018
Genres: Contemporary
Goodreads
Nic Chen refuses to spend her senior year branded as the girl who cheated on her charismatic and lovable boyfriend. To redefine her reputation among her Ivy League–obsessed classmates, Nic begins writing their college admissions essays.
But the more essays Nic writes for other people, the less sure she becomes of herself, the kind of person she is, and whether her moral compass even points north anymore.
I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher. This doesn’t influence my thoughts on this book or this review.
I’m a huge fan of novels in verse so when I heard about 500 Words or Less, I knew I’d have to read it.
Nic Chen is in her senior year of high school but her reputation hasn’t recovered from last year when she cheated on her perfect boyfriend. To attempt to fix her reputation, she decides to write people’s Ivy League college admission essays. But the more essays she writes, the less she’s sure about who she is and what defines her moral compass.
Despite being a verse novel, I really did connect with the main character Nic. The writing was still very relatable and I do think that readers will be able to connect to her. The premise does make Nic seem untrustworthy, as it’s probably hard for most teens to imagine doing something immoral like writing other people’s essays but I think that despite that, many readers will be interested in Nic’s story.
The only part I didn’t really like was the ending/twist. Because of the limited space (word-wise) and lack of huge world-building outside the poems I understand that there had to be a dramatic plot twist. Even recognizing that, I wasn’t a huge fan of the climax and the direction that the novel took.
Overall, I think 500 Words or Less is definitely a gripping debut and I would recommend it for fans of verse novels.
