Will it All Turn Out Okay?

Montana's life turns out better than you'd think. In the end, she got her dream boy and it seems that that is all she really needed considering the way everything else turned out. Montana ended up marrying Bernardo, her high school sweetheart which is everything she hoped for. He was the only thing keeping her sane. Montana ended up staying in the city with her horrible family, although I am not sure why. Personally I do not like the way the book ended because it left a lot of unanswered questions that were confusing. If Montana moved away from her family and the city with Bernardo after high school than her life could have turned out much better. She says at the end of the book "New York City can't possibly continue on without us." Clearly she was too used to the city to actually leave. Maybe she was more of a city girl than I anticipated in the middle of the book. She says "We are the ones keeping it alive, I think. With our cigarettes and dyed hair and cursing and snoop sitting and coffee inhaling, aren't we the very essence of the city? The city and the impact of others changed her very much throughout the book into someone I consider, she isn't. She turned into a whole new person after everything she went through.

On the last page of the book, Montana makes a list of things to be grateful for: Bernardo Edition, which states "1. The way the city looks when you are holding hands with someone versus the way it looks when you are not. That it is beautiful either way. That it changes but it doesn't change. 2. How much can shift when you go from dirty blond to dirty pink.(when she died her hair pink, this is when Bernardo decided to first talk to her, to say her hair looked different but nice) The space between pretty and being loved, and not having to know which you actually are. 3. The things that didn't happen. The words I didn't say The promises I didn't keep. The undone. The things I didn't hold on to. The things I'll never know. The person I didn't become for you." Montana fell so hard in love with Bernardo that just one summer changed her whole life. 

After reading your whole book, how do you feel about it? Did it turn out how you predicted, or was it something unexpected? Did you generally like it, or was it not very interesting for you?

I liked my book overall, but I think there are many things that could have been changed that would have made the book a lot more interesting. I would not recommend this book to someone else though because it did drag on a bit/got boring. The ending was not good either, so overall it does not make it a good enough book to recommend. It did not get very good reviews, but I am glad I read it. 

Life is Short, & the World is Wide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqRMD8fFg90


Throughout the book, Montana sees that living in the city isn't easy. It comes along with city life, and that life wasn't always the life of the party. It came with unnecessary drama, and problems that she did not need added into her stressful life. The author does a great job incorporating the city in the book explaining things like "the upper east side, the lower east side, Manhattan, the parks, the corner food stands, etc." The city has a lot to offer, but not even that is enough to live up to Montana's wants and needs. As far as she is concerned, she is ready to get out of the city away from her crazy family and move on with her life. The only thing that happened to make things okay in the city, was her city summer love with the mysterious park boy, Bernardo. Montana falls hard for him, and gives this relationship her all. He is always there for her, even though her crazy family issues, and being lost with who she wants to be. He stays loyal to her, and this is very helpful to keep Montana's life steady for some moments. The city seems to make her life more stressful at times because of how rushed things can come along in the city.

After living in the city her whole life, Montana seems like she could use a nice, calm, quiet place to live as she grows older. All she wants is to get away from her family, as all they do is cause her more stress and drama. Montana does not even have the personality/attitude of a city girl. In my personal opinion, a city girl often catches on to the rudeness of others all around. They tend to be snobby and selfish. Montana is anything but this. She is shy, and has so many thoughts about people. She even tends to overthink, but she never once stuck up for herself. She always held in the way she felt. She really should find a better place to live with a lifestyle she can fit into. 

Karissa Ruining Life at its Finest for Montana?

As if Montana's life wasn't hard enough, now her dad was getting to involved. We find out throughout the book that Montana's dad always seemed to have a new girl around. We never caught an eye of his taste, but then we find out when Montana goes to dinner to meet her new possible step mom, she sees it is Karissa, her "best friend". This made her feel insane. How could this be happening? As I got deeper into the book, it reminded me very much of the book "The Secret Year" by Jennifer R. Hubbard. Although they do have their differences, it still reminded me of it. Just like in this book, in The Secret Year, Julia(main character) faces many family problems along with social problems at school. She was a rich girl who got everything she asked of, but this was not the life she wanted. She got caught up trying to find herself in the midst of it all and it ended up leading to bad friendships and relationships just like Montana faces in "Making Pretty." Montana thought that everything was going to turn out good, she was having such a fun summer with Karissa. This was, until one day when she goes to meet dad's new girlfriend, there she was! This was crazy, all the illegal things she has been doing with Karissa. Was her dad going to find this out, or did he even already know? Although, Karissa does not see a problem with her and Montana remaining best friends, I could understand where Montana is coming from.

Karissa says to Montana "What if this was really good for both of us?"
In the book Montana describes the way she feels as "I hate her and love her. I want to yell at her about finding her own family, not stealing mine. That dating my dad is disgusting. That she's a liar and a fake and an awful person who I wish I'd never met."
Then again, she is worried about her. She knows her dad is going to hurt her, and she knows everything about this girl, it was her best friend! At this point of the book, Montana just feels so lost with herself and doesn't know what to do anymore. 

Everything was fun and games, until now when Montana is left feeling more alone and depressed than ever. She feels back stabbed, just like in "The Secret Year" Julia also feels a bit betrayed after what happened. Have you ever felt betrayed by someone you thought was your best friend? If so, how did it make you feel? I know I personally have been and it was not a good feeling. No feeling of betrayal would ever feel good, and that is what these two authors are trying to show in the books. These girls are going through a rough life. Being a teenager is difficult as we face the stress of high school, friends, family, and finding ourselves along the way of it all. 

Along with all of this happening in Montana's life, there is still this boy from the park. Eventually this boy works up the courage to go over and talk to her at the park. Throughout the book, they start getting to know each other more and find out they actually have a lot in common. Montana finds a heady distraction in Bernardo. He’s serious and spontaneous, and he looks at Montana in the way she wants to be seen. For the first time, Montana understands how you can become both lost and found in somebody else. But when that love becomes everything, where does it leave the rest of her imperfect life?

Who Will You Be?

Montana and her sister Arizona are named after the beautiful mountain states that their mother left them for, but they are nothing like a mountain state. Montana is a New York City girl, and she sure is influenced by the city life. Her older sister Arizona on the other hand, is caught up in her college world which always leaves Montana the feeling of wanting to be older than she is. With Arizona gone at school, along with Montana’s best friend who is also a college student, Montana is left in the city alone. Her father is a plastic surgeon which leaves him to always be on the go working. Montana being left alone has really put her in the position to try and find herself. She feels so alone in her high school world, and she dreams of a life with more fun living in the city.

Since all this is going on, Montana has found herself a new friend who she met from her acting class. Karissa is bold, perfectly beautiful, and unafraid to be vulnerable. She is everything that Montana would like to become. Although Montana for sure is not 21, in the first chapter Karissa brings Montana to a bar. Since Karissa is this perfect girl that everyone would like some part of, she sees to always get her way. As she approaches the bouncer she says “This is Montana, she cool?” The bouncer can tell she isn’t old enough, but since Karissa always gets her way, he lets her in anyway. It is summer in the first few chapters of the book, so Montana just wants to have fun and find herself.

In chapter one, Montana explains “Arizona(her sister) gets back tonight. We haven’t spoken in over a month, which seems impossible for someone I used to co-parent a stuffed elephant with. She won’t even be living at home over the summer. Dad’s letting her split a summer sublet with one of her new Colby friends. I hate that the word sister has this shifting, changeable definition that doesn’t mean two people who share a room and a brain and a speech pattern and a body type anymore.” You can tell she misses the old days with her sister. She is trying to ignore those feelings and act like a 21 year old girl that she tries to be at the bar. The city really impacts her life that way because the stereotypical city life is about going out all night, going to bars, and having the life of the party. Along with all of this, Karissa makes life harder on Montana by bringing boys into it. At the bar she exclaims “If I find you a cute college guy to hook up with, would you ditch your other best friends and become mine?” Even though Montana says she will consider it, she knows what she really wants, she is just too afraid to tell Karissa what that is. In reality, there is this guy who she sometimes sees in the park. She says she is pretty sure they have developed a whole relationship based on continuous awkward eye contact over the past 2 months. This is who she really wants, and wants something real with. Montana does have a rough life at this age. She is dealing with the headiness of first love thoughts, the battle lines of family drama, and trying to form her own identity in the midst of craziness that surrounds her. Although her soon to be best friend Karissa and her are alike, they also have too many differences. Sure, they both have rough lives and problems to deal with, but Montana has it so much different. She is still in high school, she still has time to find herself, and by hanging around Karissa this is not impacting her life in a good way. In high school, it is hard for everyone. You are trying to find yourself. There will always be the “high school cliques” and trying to put yourself in the right one, but in a few years what will it matter? In a few years, who do you want to be? To me, I want to be myself. It won’t matter that you were friends with the coolest kids, or had the quarterback boyfriend. That isn’t what life is all about, because everyone is different and we will all go our own places. So who will you be throughout high school, and will you let what others think of you impact the way you live your life? I know I won’t. You have to believe in yourself, and live for what you want.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjZ0KbJcav0

Above is a link to a video about finding yourself, and believing in who you will become.