Cum Laude by Cecily von Ziegesar

Title: Cum Laude

Author: Cecily von Ziegesar

Series: No Idea

Book #: 1

Pages: 259

Reading Level: Adult

Published Date: June 01, 2010.

Publisher: Hyperion

Book Rating: 

Cover Rating: 

"This was college"

They're here for a higher education . . . and you won't believe how far they'll go.  

Dexter College is a small liberal arts college in the quiet town of Home, Maine. But it won't stay quiet for long with this group of freshmen. There's Shipley--blonde and beautiful, the object of envy and more than a little lust. Determined to assert herself and to shed her good-girl image, she buys cigarettes and condoms, because that's what every self-respecting college girl does. Her edgy roommate, Eliza, came to Dexter to get noticed, and she has the attitude and the mouth to prove it. Then there's Tom. Handsome, privileged, used to getting his own way, he's a jock-turned-artist who thinks his paintings will change the world. Sensitive Nick, Tom's wake-and-bake pot-smoking roommate, wants to follow in the footsteps of his boarding-school hero. And then there are brother and sister Adam and Tragedy Gatz. The freckle-faced farm boy lives at home with his parents and his little sister, who does all she can to stop him from being a wuss.


As Shipley, Eliza, Tom, Nick, and Adam find out, that first year of college is more than credits and cramming. Between the lust and the love, the secrecy and the scandal, they'll all receive an unexpected education. It's a time of shifting alliances, unrequited crushes, and coming of age. Find Yourself is Dexter's motto. And they are determined to do just that.

Taschima's POV:

This story to put it in the simplest of words is about your first year of college. Plain and simple. Shipley, Eliza, Tom, Nick, and Adam are all stereotypical characters, the good girl who doesn't know how hot she really is, the girl with the big "fuck you world" attitude ,the jock (turned artist? That was a bit of a twist), the pothead and the sweet farm boy. They are all trying to find their own place in this sort of big new world that they have been thrown into and are expected to succeed. I would know because I'm in the same situation. Some want to be noticed, some want to change the world, and some just want a bit of attention.

Ive read a lot of reviews on this book, like a lot. And most of them are bad. I suspect that is because when they pick up this novel they are expecting something very similar to Gossip Girl. Drama left and right, plot twists that will blow your mind, and maybe something just completely different than what the novel is really about.

This novel is about your first year of college. As I read it I felt connected to it because I am experiencing right now my first year of college, and I thought it was so interesting to see what roads these characters would take. Don't pick up this book if you are looking for a world shattering novel from the famous author of the Gossip Girl series, because this is not what this novel is. This novel is Cecily's, and here I am taking a guess, way of re-telling the tale of those wonderful years in college, the first time you are truly free to be yourself, to find yourself. The book is wonderful in its own way.

Oh and just because I said the characters are stereotypical doesn't mean they aren't enjoyable (and sometimes unpredictable). I loved reading about most of them, didn't like Tom that much but that was because I don't like guys like him . There are also side characters that take a lot of space in the story, like Adam's sister Tragedy and Shipley's older brother Patrick (very interesting characters). The story is also told in all the characters different POVs, I really liked this! It made the whole point of the book much more easier because you experience college from so many different types of people.

Overall I really liked this book because of what it is. I didn't have any expectations going in, I haven't read the Gossip Girl series, so I guess that helped a bit. It's a fun, light read about a magical time in a person's life.

PS; comment here and get an extra entry on my Goodbye 2010 contest ;)