Review: Absolutely Maybe By Lisa Yee

Absolutely Maybe

by Lisa Yee

Publication Date: February 1, 2009

Published by Arthur L. Levine Books

Pages 288

Source: Library

Purchase Amazon /  Indiebound

(from Goodreads)

Meet Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut, named for two Miss Americas and her mother Chessy's favorite brand of mascara.
Chessy teaches the students in her charm school her Seven Select Rules for Young Ladies, but she won't tell Maybe who her real father is - or protect her from her latest scuzzball boyfriend.
So Maybe hitches a ride to California with her friends Hollywood and Thammasat Tantipinichwong Schneider (aka Ted) - and what she finds there is funny, sad, true, and inspiring... vintage Lisa Yee. 

My Thoughts

I came across this book on a Goodreads Giveaway. I didn't win the contest, but I put it in my wishlist notebook so I wouldn't forget about it. Then, when I saw it was on the New Arrivals shelf at my local library, I grabbed it up.

Cover: I am a sucker for bright, red hair and love that about the girl on the cover. It makes me think of Angela on MSCL, "It's not red, it's Crimson Glow." Maybe would say, "It's not red, it's Jamaica Kool-Aid." The girl depicted fits the description of Maybe in the novel, but I questioned the size of the girl pictured. Maybe sees herself as more fleshy and she always dresses herself in a "Men's Beefy Hanes T-Shirt (XL)", but as you read more about the story, the girl pictured makes sense. The Hollywood star is misleading because it implies that Maybe is going to Hollywood for fame when that is not the case at all.

Favorite Line/Quote/Scene: Said by Willow to Maybe, "I hate the Santa Anas and so does Sammy, but they're coming and there's nothing we can do to stop them." After hearing this, Maybe spends the next 4 hours cleaning the house from top to bottom and finished right before the housekeeper shows up.

I really liked reading Absolutely Maybe because you could see Maybe's independence develop throughout the novel. At the beginning of the book, Maybe's individuality is misunderstood by her mother and by the people of her community with the exception of her two friends, Ted and Hollywood. When a terrible confrontation between Maybe and her mother results in Maybe running off with her friends for the summer, you think that she will have a summer filled with adventures while searching for her father. But Ted and Hollywood have their own agendas, leaving Maybe to search for her father and find her own way to survive the summer and her future.

While some parts of the book were more believable than others (like all of the good fortune that fell upon Ted, I mean, come on, really?), I did like the book. And I am still curious what, if anything , will happen between Maybe and Hollywood.