Vintage Veronica

Quick confessions before I get into this book review. In a total first for YA fiction, this book harkened me back to my high school days to the point where I actually looked at my graduating classes' facebook group. (Ugh, btw.) I love vintage and vintage style clothes. I wore a 1960s dress to the biggest social event of my high school career (which, I might add, was NOT prom, but the Thespian Club dinner/awards.) My wonderful grandmother is using a vintage pattern to create my wedding dress. Though I have never been obsessed with vintage funky clothes to the point that Veronica is in the book, I can still relate to using clothes/style as a barrier and shield as well as a sense of identity. I loved this book and can't wait to see more from Erica S. Perl. I actually hope to see more of Veronica, because she's one of those characters that doesn't have just one story to tell.

On a slightly unrelated note this book cover/design is one of my favorites I've seen, especially in YA lit. WELL DONE.

The Review.

Vintage Veronica by Erica S. Perl


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Veronica has a dream job for someone who wears funky and vintage clothes like a shield. She works by herself (dream come true!) in the consignment corner of the largest vintage clothing stored in the Northeast (home of the famous Dollar-A-Pound.) She is the deciding authority of what clothes are depped (sent into the Dollar-A-Pound chute, the language of this book is phenomenal) and what clothes are mined for the higher end spaces of the store. The book sticks mainly in the inner workings of the store and the groups of people working and interacting there, but ventures into Veronica's home life some. The store: there are the Florons (the girls who work on the sales floor), and there are the pickers who spend all day in the Dollar-A-Pound pile, there's Bill the stoner boss, and then there is Lenny a boy who has interesting interests and who thinks Veronica is different in a good way.

This summer job, which her overbearing skinny-is-winny type mom thinks is at an animal shelter, is a turning point in Veronica's life and the way she relates to other people. Two of the Florons actually seem to like her and want to be her friends. But that friendship seems to have a pretty hefty price.

This book is one of those character-driven reads that is just riveting. Un-put-downable, even as I wanted to yell at Veronica that SHE KNOWS BETTER THAN THAT, COME ON! A great read for anyone who likes clothes (or anything) more than most people. Also a great read read for anyone whose ever felt, even a little bit, like an outsider.

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