Gossip Girl - Surprisingly True to Life

I have to admit, I was thrilled when I saw Gossip Girl on the syllabus. I have been wanting to read the series for a few years, and this gave me the perfect excuse. The book was everything I thought it would be - trashy and awesome at the same time. What struck me about it though, all the materialism and upper class privilege aside, I think it is one of the most accurate portrayals of teens that we have read so far in this class. The teenagers I know now (as well as when I actually was a teenager), smoke lots of pot, drink and have sex. The way it is treated as sort of matter of fact in Gossip Girl really seemed true to me. Maybe this is one of the reasons why the books are so popular - the characters do all these things, but the story is not about that specifically. There are no dire consequences for getting drunk and having sex. In other words, it is not a morality tale which I think oftentimes is a problem with Young Adult books. Teenagers don't always need to learn a lesson when they read...sometimes things should just be fun.