Inferno

by Robin Stevenson

Paperback, 2009

Status

Available

Call number

STE

Description

Dante thinks high school is an earthly version of hell. She hates her new home in the suburbs, her best friend has moved away, her homeroom teacher mocks her and her mother is making her attend a social skills group for teenage girls. When a stranger shows up at school and hands Dante a flyer that reads: Woof, woof. You are not a dog. Why are you going to obedience school?, Dante thinks she's found a soul mate. Someone who understands. Someone else who wants to make real changes in the world. But there are all kinds of ways of bringing about change...and some are more dangerous than others.

Publication

Orca Book Publishers (2009), 240 pages

User reviews

LibraryThing member ZareksMom
Inferno by Robin Stevenson is a quick and fascinating read. Dante (formerly Emily) doesn't fit in at her movie-stereotypical high school. She has problems with her homeroom teacher and her heart was broken when her secret girlfriend moved away over the summer. Nobody seems to understand her, least
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of all her overly-optimistic mother.

Then Dante meets Parker, who seems to say aloud everything that Dante has been thinking. Parker is the rebel Dante always wanted to be.

I couldn't put this book down, because I was dying to know where Parker would lead Dante next, and just how far Dante would follow.
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LibraryThing member ChemChick
I found this book to be a bit contrived.
LibraryThing member elizardkwik
This story is conceptually different from most teen angst novels, focusing on a group of teenagers who do not attend school and hope to convert others to their cause through a series of protests. The main character, Dante, is one of these recruits, an outsider who begins to seriously question her
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willingness to follow along with society's norms. While the issues and controversies that the book covers are interesting and fairly unique, the writing itself lacks the quality that would make it an irresistible read. The characters are rather static and lack the depth of description to make them feel real. Overall, the book seems light on description, the prose is repetitive, and the conclusion was unsatisfying. The cover, however, is very cool and I appreciated the references to Dante's Inferno.
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LibraryThing member stephxsu
Ever since her only friend, Beth, moved away, Dante has hated her new high school, Glen Ridge Secondary School. Hours of sitting in pointless classes, being bullied by mean teachers, forced to follow the school rules without complaint…Her parents aren’t making it better for her either. Her
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mother doesn’t want Dante to become a social outcast, and yet insist on keeping her tightly reined, as if that will help her daughter.

Then one day, a strange girl thrusts a flyer that says “Woof, woof. You are not a dog. Why are you going to obedience school?” into Dante’s hands, and Dante thinks she has found a soulmate. The girl, Parker, introduces Dante to two other guys who have similar thoughts about established institutions such as schools and jails, and they do things to protest the mundanity of it all. For once, Dante is elated, and she continues to be inexplicably drawn to Parker and unable—or unwilling—to explain her feelings.

But when her friends plan something that can really be out of control, and Parker needs her help, what is Dante to do? How much is too much, and what done in the name of protest is actually useless, unhelpful, and dangerous?

INFERNO deals with an overwhelming number of issues in a way that leaves us unsatisfied. In the span of a little over 200 pages, Stevenson tries to deal with rebellion, parental misunderstanding, homosexuality, arson, unhealthy vs. healthy friendships…Whoa! There are probably more that I missed. Just one of these topics is something that deserves a book to itself. Cramming all of these into one book results in me feeling dissatisfied and cheated out of a better, more complete and fulfilling story.

Dante is a mediocre protagonist who makes bad decisions I often can’t relate to; as a result, she hardly garners my respect and empathy. Similarly, Parker, while a compelling IDEA of a character, falls flat in practice. Her personality ranges from enigmatic, strong, and intelligent to scared and indecisive, to flirtatious and manipulative. While it is totally possible that all of these traits exist in one character, in Parker they felt disjointed, as if she were three different characters trying—and failing—to masquerade as one. As a result, I was unable to sympathize with her character, even though I admit that her problems are plenty and definitely deserve attention and maybe even therapy.

Similarly, other supporting characters are either one-dimensional or else so caricature-esque that I couldn’t get into them. Jamie, Parker’s boyfriend, is unrelentingly the angry disenfranchised youth with the unexplained past. Leo, their other friend, has a backstory, but it seems totally separate from the person he is now. Dante’s mother was infuriating, but that was probably for personal reasons. I only wish that Dante’s parents were more complex characters, so I could actually believe their shifts in emotions and the mother-daughter bonding moments. Because right now I don’t believe them.

All hope is NOT lost, however. The plot, while predictable, still managed to capture my attention and keep me reading. This book is really a plot-driven one. INFERNO is a beginners’ introduction to a variety of complex issues that need to be explored at a greater depth. I’m not sure who to recommend this to because there are much better books that discuss these topics out there.
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LibraryThing member sharonluvscats
I don't really have much to say about this one. As you can see from my low rating I did not care for Inferno very much. I just found it to be very boring. The plot was completely predictable and really slow moving. I started skimming at around page 30 because I just so bored with the whole story.

I
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didn't really care for Dante very much either. She was very arrogant and annoying at times. Most of the characters were just really stereotypical. Dante is the rebel without a cause and all of her new friends were variations of the same stereotype.

I know this review is very short, but I honestly have nothing else to share. If this was a vlog review there would be a lot of umming and uhhing.
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LibraryThing member mosylu1
How refreshing is it to have a book with a lesbian main character without it being about the Agony and the Suffering of Being Different from Everyone Because I Like Girls, O Woe is Me. That said, this book didn't stick with me very well.

Dante has just moved from the city to the 'burbs, and her
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school is at least one of the lower circles of hell. That all starts to change when she meets--and starts to fall for--the beautiful Parker, who sucks Dante into her rebellion. To tell the truth, I read this a few months ago and all I remember is the refreshing lack of angst around Dante's sexuality.
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Language

Original language

English

Physical description

240 p.; 8.25 inches

ISBN

1554690773 / 9781554690770

Barcode

4048
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