Light, fun, breezy, with a gentle punch. Judy Blume for the 21st century. ( )

After years of good grades and preparation, Cecily stands outside the door to her freshman dorm room--and promptly turns around to go home. What happened? Even she can't explain it, but fortunately her dad is understanding enough to take her back home and sort it all out later. "Later" stretches into months, and Dad's patience slowly runs out. Cecily has no idea what caused her to turn around at the very last moment, and even with the help of her friends, a psychologist, and a college counselor, the best she can come up with is that the time was wrong. But taking a year off isn't exactly right, either--Cecily is bored and frustrated with her directionlessness, and doesn't know where to begin fixing it. Her frustrations are straining the good relationship she has with her dad, and what hope can there be for the already-hostile relationship with her sister? This year is Cecily's chance to sort things out and get back on track--if only she knew where, or what, the track was.

Cecily's voice is full of depression, anxiety, and frustration. Watching friends grow and change in their own college experiences is a part of growing up, but without having that experience herself, Cecily finds it increasingly difficult to relate. This isn't a topic frequently addressed in teen books--college has so often become the Next Step that nobody really thinks about not going, or if they do, it's for a Clear Reason. Not to imply that turning around at the dorm room door is a great decision, but this is a great book to address those feelings of "why am I really doing this?" that can haunt high-school graduates. While Cecily is a bit brattish, it's easy to understand where that emotion is coming from.

[Disclaimer: I took a semester off in the middle of my sophomore year, involving phone calls to my parents begging to let me come home and stay there, so I do identify, at least partly, with Cecily. I could have used this book then to at least confirm that I wasn't the only one for whom college was a poor fit at that moment.] ( )

An Off Year by Claire Zulkey was not a good book to read. I completely do not recommend this book to anyone out there. I like reading and I can always find great books to read. Even the books we read in classes aren’t bad, but when I had to read this book, I knew that it was going to be atrocious. The reason why this book was so antagonizingly painful was the way the maincharacter acted. Her name was Cecily. This girl was conceited and only cared about herself and that was probably the whole problem of the story. She whined and complained about every chore, every idea, and every option her dad gave her. She was so childish and immature. There was not one thing I liked about her. This book does not remind me of another book I have read. This may be because this book is not relative to the type of books I normally read, or it may be because if I ever started reading such a book like this by choice, I would have automatically thrown it in to the nearest trash can.. I am sorry, but the only
reason I read this book was because I had to.Let’s just say, if it were a movie, I would rate it R. So, if I were you, don't read this book. ( )

I knew right away when I read the blurb for this book it was made for me. And I was so happy that once I was done reading it that it provided exactly what I was looking for. For me the story was very realistic and relatable. I sort of unknowingly took a year off after I graduated from college and literally did nothing (I watched so many repeats of Scrubs they actual started repeating back to ones I had seen that same year!). I know that some people might have problems reading a story about a girl that really doesn't do anything for a year but for me it was so honest and real. It really made me think back on that time in my life.

I feel like this book could help a lot of people that are thinking about college or what's next for them in their life. Cecily takes the time to think whereas most of us just go onto college and do it because we think that's what we are supposed to do. Whereas for some reason Cecily stops herself and decides she's not ready. I think the characters in the book from Cecily's therapist to her career counselor to her friends all help make the point that most of us don't know what we are doing and are faking it until we make it. Just knowing that I think can make it easier for people.

I really liked the range of secondary characters in the book from Cecily's older sister who is just finding a job after college and trying to avoid Cecily to her father that feels helpless but wants to help her, to her brother and his girlfriend and Cecily's friends she feels like she's growing apart from. The all helped Cecily understand something about herself and helped her grow.

Because of my personal connection to this book, for me it was something special. I hope others can recognize themselves or someone they know in this book as well and get something out of it. ( )