Title:  My Life Undecided [Indie Bound] [Amazon]
Author: Jessica Brody [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre:  Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Farrar Straus and Giroux
Series: N/A
Format: Paperback
Source: Provided by Publisher
Parental Advisory: alcohol, criminal activity
Teachable Moments: independence, decision-making skill, responsibility, community service, GLBT, sibling rivalry

“I guess it’s safe to say that if my life were a You Choose the Story novel, I would be just as decisionally challenged as Mrs. Moody.  Cluelessly stumbling through my adolescence, hoping to locate some sort of metaphorical hidden treasure but always finding myself at disappointing dead ends.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Please read this!  My life depends on it!

Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but I’m sorry, I’m feeling a bit melodramatic at the moment.

Here’s the deal.  My name is Brooklyn Pierce, I’m fifteen years old, and I am decisionally challenged.  Seriously, I can’t remember the last good decision I made.  I can remember plenty of crappy ones though.  Including that party I threw when my parents were out of town that accidentally burned down a model home.  Yea, not my finest moment, for sure.

But see, that’s why I started a blog.  To enlist readers to make my decisions for me.  That’s right.  I gave up.  Threw in the towel.  I let someone else be the one to decide which book I read for English.  Or whether or not I accepted an invitation to join the debate team from that cute-in-a-dorky-sort-of-way guy who gave me the Heimlich Maneuver in the cafeteria.  (Note to self: Chew the melon before swallowing it.)  I even let them decide who I dated!

Well, it turns out there are some things in life you simply can’t choose or have chosen for you — like who you fall in love with.  And now everything’s more screwed up than ever.

Opinion:
Brooklyn, oh Brooklyn, how I loved your endearing willingness to allow the public at large to make important decisions for you.  It was a pretty gutsy and fearless move for a girl who, on the outside, appears to be rebellious and disregarding of consequence but on the inside is filled with crippling inadequacy.  But really, I don’t know how realistic the whole thing was.  I mean, it’s realistic in the way that I can totally see someone putting their life out on a blog and asking people to participate in a “choose your own adventure” type game with your decisions.  I truly can see that playing out in a weird voyeuristic kind of way.  BUT, what fell a little short for me was the fact that most people were portrayed as doing right by you.  Now THAT I have a hard time believing.  Especially because most teens would get a giant kick out of getting someone to do the most humiliating, humorous or least desirable thing possible.  Very few would be all about making the “right” life choice which is what happened here more times than not.  Particularly given the anonymous nature of blogging and social media.

So….

Realistic?  Sometimes.  Plausible?  Maybe.  Fun?  Absolutely.

There was substance to be had in this story.  A good many outlets for a reader to walk away having felt fulfilled or more knowledgable.  Watching how Brooklyn and her perfect sister interacted and related to each other had a great deal of potential.  As did the focus on Brooklyn’s growing relationship with Mrs. Moody and her estranged son.  In fact, the latter was the catalyst for Brooklyn’s own “choose your own adventure” experiment.  This gave the perfect opening to weave both stories together for more intimate exploration of several issues.  Sadly, neither were explored at a depth with which a person could really leave the story with solid take aways.

I will say, though, that I don’t think that was the ultimate goal of the book.  My Life Undecided was intended to be a fun romp that gave the reader a few gems to maybe think about later.  I can’t say the exploration was needed, just that for me personally I would have enjoyed seeing it.

Where the strength in this book lied was in it’s humor and wit.  Brody had a knack for taking the serious, making it relatable (even fun at times), and getting a point across.  She did so through the characters she creates.  Brooklyn was a fantastic protagonist that I found myself laughing with and hoping the best for.  I wanted her to succeed and find a way to be responsible for her actions while actually making her own decisions.  I wanted her to make the right decisions but recognize that sometimes making the wrong one can be right too.  In taking that ride with her I was glad that the range of emotions she felt (fear, anger, hope, infatuation, love) were all genuine.  Not a thing about what she experienced felt over the top or unrealistic.

Having said that, Brody did fall into some of the usual trappings of typical teen read characterizations.  Most notably, Shayne was portrayed as the bitchy BFF who dumps Brooklyn in order to maintain her popular status at school.  It isn’t until Brooklyn herself achieves some sort of notoriety that it was ok for Shayne to come back and recognize her own short comings.  Also, there was Hunter the popular boy everyone covets that suddenly liked Brooklyn out of nowhere.  Not to mention the perfect sister who can do no wrong with whom Brooklyn always feels compared and ultimately increases her inferiority complex and feelings of inadequacy.  Even Mrs. Moody was positioned in a typical way as the curmudgeonly counselor type that leads Brooklyn to enlightenment.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think these are bad things.  In fact, I quite enjoyed each of these characters and I certainly appreciated that Brody was able to include as many people as she did without making it feel overbearing or overwhelming.  Each had their role in leading Brooklyn to the end result and that role made sense.  Totally ok with that.

A quick fun read, My Life Undecided is one that lovers of the contemporary genre will likely enjoy.  It’s also a great gateway book for younger middle graders into YA as the story is easy to follow and is clean enough not to offend.  I’d also say that adult readers will like it for it’s high spirited nature and overall feel good tone.