The Ruling Class
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $14.95
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780689873324
ISBN: 0689873328
Label: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 192
Publication Date: 2004-10-12
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Reading Level: Young Adult
Studio: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
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Editorial Reviews:
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In the posh suburban Dallas high school of Highland Park, the beautiful and perfect Jeanette Sue is queen. The Ruling Class, her clique of spectacularly cruel girls, runs the school. Brutally. And no one questions them. Certainly not the little suck-up Myrna Fry, whose only aim in life is to be part of the Ruling Class, no matter what or who gets trashed. It's a nightmare school caught in the grips of terror until the arrival of the totally undesir-able, absolutely unfashionable, and -- way worse -- poor Twyla Gay Stark. And then, of course, there is the tall and gorgeous hunk, Ryder McQuaid, Jeanette Sue's property. Or so Jeanette Sue thinks. With uncanny insight and unforgettable characters Francine Pascal has created a searing, up-close look into the power games and class struggles within a seemingly friendly clique in a suburban high school. The Ruling Class is a magnetic tour de force created by a master storyteller at the top of her form.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: hopeless book and completely NOT TRUE
Comment: As a student of Highland Park High School I found this book completely demeaning. Not only is it poorly written, the author obviously didn't take the time to visit HP and realize that the student body is made up genuinely nice and caring people. Everything about this book is fabricated. I also resent the reviews published by "iloveteenbooks" (or whatever) citing Highland Park as the most racist part of Dallas. I honestly think she is racist for considering Highland Park only a white, racist suberb of Dallas. Elena from CT also must be incredibly narrow minded to believe that Dallas is simply a honky tonk, cowboy hat, and cheerleader demography. All in all, dont buy this book...i feel so embarrassed for Francine Pascal
Customer Rating:
Summary: Yeah....
Comment: I found the plot laughable. The characters over the top and over-exaggerated. I know, I know I may be bias being from Dallas and HP, but I truly went into to this book trying to keep an open-mind. It was a waste of my time to read it and to me it seemed that the author was trying a little too hard to make this a novelization of Mean Girls. Anyway this book was quite disappointing and very offensive. These girls act more like junior high students then high school students. Yes HP has a valid reputation of being racist and wealthy. But this book took it to another level and completely over the top.
Poorly done Ms. Pascal.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Poorly Written.
Comment: The Ruling CLass by Francine Pascal appears to be poorly written and poorly thought out. I read this book in a few hours, and was disappointed in it overall.
Working backwards, the ending is a letdown. Being the climax of the book, it is not led up to very well, and is very short. There does not seem to be much of a conclusion on the new status of all the students, and it seems as if Francine was in a rush to finish the book.
As for the characters, they are all a little odd. For one, it is increasingly annoying to read 'like', used by all the characters. It is one thing to be a teen and say it in speech, and a complete other thing to write it in literature. Even when pertraying a teen. The book is written in the perspective to two major characters, Myrna Fry and Twyyla Gay, both of whom are unrealistic.
This book seems to be a bad Harry Potter jock. In the sense that there are a lot of background questions that are not answered. Yet, unlike Harry Potter, there are not 6 more books coming out, and they will not be answered. Why is J.S. so mean? How are the R.C.s choosen? Does the school learn anything? Is there a reason Ryder and J.S. are still messing around with each other yet Ryder is asking Twyla out? Also, I'd like to know what went on with the people chasing Twyla after the mall incident. Sure, it made the night awful.. but were they really nessicary in the book? Especially since nothing else happens with them?
Lastly, I think the book is aimed for an older reading crowd, yet it seems like a book for the younder crowd.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick read on a weekend afternoon, but not looking for anything too indepth thinking-wise.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Thoughtless
Comment: I'm from the East Coast, and know nothing about life in Highland Park, Texas. But after reading the first few pages of this book, I thought, "This is an avalanche of stereotypes. This is obviously an East or West Coast person's idea of what 'those backward Texans' are like." I checked the book jacket, and sure enough the author was from the East Coast. I was not at all surprised to find user reviews from real Texans who objected to the book. The character of Myrna is so stupid that she is totally unbelievable. We are supposed to be reading Myrna's inner thoughts, but what we get is actually the excuses that she might tell someone else to explain her behavior. It doesn't really get to the heart of what a "follower" type feels on the inside.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Ruling Class
Comment: Francine Pascal is no stranger to the girl world, having her name featured on the many Sweet Valley High books. If written today, Jessica Wakefield may be viewed differently, not as a popular, mischievous cheerleader, but a cut throat bully. She most likely would have been the character Jeanette Sue in Pascal's most recent novel, The Ruling Class. Jeanette Sue is the ring leader of the clique nicknamed the Ruling Class, surrounded by equally snobby rich girls. At their wealthy upper class high school in Dallas' Highland Park, they are the girls everyone fears but the one's everyone wants to be a part of. Myrna Fry is one of those girls, desperate to join the Ruling Class and foolishly thinking that she already has. She is `best friends' with Jeanette Sue, or JS, as she affectingly refers to her, rewriting every negative thing Jeanette Sue says or does to her in a positive way.
Myrna's delusion is not realistic. It is hard to believe that anyone would lie to themselves this much or lower their self respect as much as Myrna has. Then again, there is not much realistic about this book. Jeanette Sue is a one decisional villain, with no insight into why she is the way she is or why she even has such a hold over people.
Even our heroine, Twyla Gay Stark, is unrealistic. A poor girl that just happens to end up in the rich school, the reader is supposed to believe that Twyla Gay is the only poor student at the school. Everyone else, even the losers, are rich. Hard to believe, but lets just go with it. She is the new girl in town, and Jeanette Sue instantly feels the need to destroy her. Why? Because she is just evil. Oh, and Twyla Gay has attracted the attention of Jeanette Sue's sometime boyfriend Ryder McQuaid. However, in this I sympathize with Jeanette Sue. One moment he is dancing with her, the next he's flirting with Twyla Gay. It would have been nice, if in the end, Jeanette Sue and Twyla Gay teamed up to reveal him for the two timing loser he is. That is not to be though.
In the end, Jeanette Sue gets her just desserts and Twyla Gay becomes everything she hated. I believe we've learned this lesson before.
The Ruling Class gives us no new insight into the mind of a "mean" girl. Jeanette Sue is just bad, Myrna is just desperate to join, and Twyla Gay is just innocent. We're not sure why Jeanette Sue is mean to everyone, just that she is. We are just supposed to except that some girls are mean. That said, The Ruling Class is a fluff read, enjoyable, and a quick way to past a lazy afternoon. Just don't expect too much.
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