Very LeFreak

November 23, 2009
As in Cohn's books starring Cyd Charisse, a wild child with a complicated past is at the center of this coming-of-age story. It's easy to fall for lively Very: she plans flash mobs using a social network she programmed at college, makes play-lists for every situation (even to apologize to her roommate after hooking up with a mutual friend), and has an intense fantasy life with El Virus, a mysterious stranger she met on the Internet. However, the author's mix of fun, far-out characters sits uncomfortably with somber subject matter, including Very's bad first sexual experience at age 12 and the death of her mother. These shifts in tone make it hard to know how seriously to take the book's central problem, when perpetually plugged-in Very is sent to a computer-addiction recovery center. There she eventually realizes “I prefer the virtual world because the real one is hard, and cruel, and scary.” Her story never feels entirely cohesive, but readers will have fun watching Very in action. Ages 14–up.

January 1, 2010
Gr 10 Up-Meet Very (short for Veronica) LeFreak (from the disco-era song of the same name"C'est Chic!"), a modern party girl with eclectic musical tastes. She is 100 percent plugged in to her electronic life as a freshman at Columbia University and not quite so attached to mundane concerns like going to class and managing her finances. Famous on campus for her creation of "The Grid," an online dorm social-networking site, and for organizing off-kilter flash-mob events and killer parties, Very skids from coasting to possible expulsion and scholarship loss. Brian, a best bud, until she sleeps with him; Jennifer, the roommate Very insists on calling Lavinia; and an irate RA stage an intervention at the behest of the dean. Very needs to go cold turkey and give up her total reliance on electronics. No iPod, no iPhone, no laptop. And that means no searching for her missing online crush. After things turn even uglier, the second half of Very's story takes place at a 28-day ESCAPE (Emergency Services for Computer-Addicted Persons) program at a former fat farm in Vermont. There, Very will have to learn to sink or swim after her forced break from technology. With the quiet blaring, she might have the time to figure out a future, or she just might go so crazy that she falls off the wagon into an untenable virtual existence with emoticons in place of relationships. Very's unique take on the world brings plenty of humor and a vicarious ride through racy modern college life."Suzanne Gordon, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee, GA"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2009
Grades 10-1 Its the second semester of freshman year for Very (short for Veronica) at New Yorks Columbia University, and things are either going splendidly or catastrophically, depending on who you ask. Self-described as a freak and a slut and a very bad student, Very is the bisexual queen of campus, creator of the Grid (a wildly popular underground student-body networking site), and organizer of flash mobs and parties that are as legendary as they are illegal. Her imminent flunking out has to do with her inability to concentratewhy would she listen to her professor when she could be iTunes-ing, instant messaging, or meme-ing? Cohn creates a wondrous, sometimes breathtaking character with Very, a wholly believable modern-day multitasker who is unabashedly sexual. Thats why the second half of the book is something of a disappointment: Very is entered into a tech-rehab facility, wherein too-easy psychoanalysis makes rote what was so fabulously free. Teens who identify with the protagonist may feel betrayed by the switcheroo, though their admiration for the engrossing character will not ebb.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2010
Nineteen-year-old Very (Veronica) LeFreak texts, Tweets, and dreams up new playlists 24/7, leaving little time for her freshman-year responsibilities at Columbia. In therapy, Very realizes her addiction to technology is her way of crowding out difficult, painful issues (a rape, her mother's drug overdose). Cohn's portrayal of teen culture is spot on, and her writing, sharp and wired and LOL-funny, is fittingly addictive.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)