Boys Over Flowers (Hana, Yori, Dango), Volume 1
- Book Reviews,
by Yoko Kamio
Boys Over Flowers (Hana, Yori, Dango), Volume 1 FROM THE PUBLISHER This classic shojo is featured in a 51-episode anime series. Because she stood up to the F4 gang, Tsukushi is now a celebrity. But not everyone has joined her fan club. A boy playing a violin is rude to her. A trio of girls tricks her at a party. They kidnap and take her to Tsukasa's mansion, where she and her sometimes enemy have a fight and he spreads cruel gossip about her around the school. Tsukushi is certainly resourceful, but how will she handle the challenge?
FROM THE CRITICS KLIATT - GeorgeGaluschak
Tsukushi Makino, the protagonist of Boys Over Flowers, is a middle-class transfer student who runs afoul of the F4, the clique that rules her private, super-rich high school. For this sin Tsukushi is ostracized by her schoolmates and subjected to increasing abuse—her desk is stolen, an egg is thrown in her face, and someone writes that she had a pair of abortions on the school blackboard. Tsukushi is a born fighter, however, and fight back she does—with fist, flyswatter and foot. F4 stands for "Flowery Four," by the way—sounds silly, but it works. The members of the F4 are rich and good-looking, dress like supermodels, and strut around the school like peacocks. They have an aura that is both attractive and repellent, the pull of which both Tsukushi and the reader feel. The F4's leader is the creepy Tsukasa Domyoji, who wears pseudo-dreds and is constantly mixing up his phrases. Domyoji pays a bunch of guys to gang rape Tsukushi (they fail), and then falls in love with her when she kicks him in the head. He has her kidnapped so as to give her an expensive haircut and makeover, his way of saying that he wants to be friends. Teens will respond to Boys Over Flowers. It's part soap opera, part pro-wrestling, with surprisingly complex characters. Tsukushi is a strong, attractive protagonist, and I almost felt sorry for Domyoji, who has no social skills and equates physical abuse with love. Boys Over Flowers contains mean people, intense situations and mild vulgarity. This is the first book in a series; if it circulates, keep going! KLIATT Codes: S—Recommended for senior high school students. 2003, VIZ, 192p. illus., Ages 15 to 18.
Buy from Barnes & Noble
Compare Prices
|
|
Home
