Hacking Harvard by Robin Wasserman

Title: Hacking Harvard
Author: Robin Wasserman
Pages: 336
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: September 11, 2007

It's the ultimate challenge: breaking into the Ivy League.

THE HACK:

To get one deadbeat, fully unqualified slacker into the most prestigious school in the country.

THE CREW:

Eric Roth -- the good guy, the voice of reason.

Max Kim -- the player who made the bet in the first place.

Schwartz -- the kid genius already on the inside...of Harvard, that is.

Lexi -- the beauty-queen valedictorian who insists on getting in the game.

THE PLAN:

Use only the most undetectable schemes and techno-brilliant skills. Don't break the Hacker's Code. Don't get distracted. Don't get caught. Take down someone who deserves it.

THE STAKES:

A lot higher than they think.

They've got the players, the plot, and soon -- the prize.

It's go time.

NOTE: No short summary for this one...the summary they have is too good to compete with!

Hacking Harvard is a humorous, witty read that readers will mostly enjoy. Wasserman alternates with Lex's point of view, and third person narration. At first, I got a little confused with this. I didn't know who was narrating for about three chapters until I finally figured it out.

The dynamics between characters wasn't contrived, allowing me to relate to them and their relationships between each other. Deceit, lies, and sharp wit was basically all that consumed their friendships. Lex wasn't a good choice for a narrator. She wasn't really included until later througout the book. A better narrator would have been Eric. He was a big part of the hack and could've performed smoother transitions between the POVs and was more connected with all of the main characters. He was the glue that held everyone together but his relationship and growing romance with Lex was confusing and useless.

An aspect of the book that I truly loved, was the scintillating dialogue/banter between the characters. Without it, the book would have been humorless and dull. The dialogue also let the reader subtly get to know the characters more without it being overdone. C+ :-)

The Bottom Line: This book was okay-ish. I kept putting it off until I had nothing left to read. It took me longer to get absorbed and compelled to it. The ending was also pretty bleak and boring. Wasserman tied everything too obviously. It was dull.

---Report Card---
Originality: 8/10
Ending: 3/10
Characters: 6/10
Plot: 8.5/10
My reaction/enjoyment: 7.5/10
Theme: 8/10
Imagery: 6/10
Setting: 2.5/5
Voice: 2.5/5
Style: 2/5
Tone: 4/5
Cover: 9/10
Total Score: 69/100 (C+)