Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody

Confessions of a Teen Sleuth : A Parodyby Chelsea CainI have to confess I had to put Eclipse down for a while and read something less aggravating. Luckily I had stolen borrowed a few books from Monkey's bookshelf and therefore had some options. I chose Confessions first because it was short and quite frankly I was curious.Now if you know me, you'll know that I am greatly distressed by any sort of slanderous accusations or jokes about "innocent" children's icons and whatnot. I do not care for the insinuation that Shaggy and Scooby are potheads, nor do I like to hear that Bert and Ernie are gay. I don't like to see raunchy cartoons depicting the Peanut's gang. I like my childhood memories to remain innocent, thank you very much. Things like that really bother me and I can't shake the awful feelings I get from seeing innocence corrupted.That goes to say, when Monkey told me that this book was about Nancy Drew, if Nancy Drew was a bad girl, I was worried, yet, intrigued. As far as parodies go, I find they can be humourous (as this book was, thank goodness) or go a little too far and err on the disgusting side. I took my chances because I just couldn't stomach another chapter of whining in Eclipse.These are the memoirs of Ms. Nancy Drew, teen sleuth. Turns out she's a real person and that Carolyn Keen really did exist and was a jealous ex-roommate of Nancy's in college. In her envious revenge, she stole many of the mystery ideas that Nancy told her about, embellished them and sold them as her own creations. You learn a lot about the truth behind many of the mysteries from Nancy Drew who writes this Tell-All book which is to be published after her death in 1992. Many of the mysteries take place while Nancy is older, and yet the stories are always published with her as a Teen Sleuth.Nancy confesses that she never really did love her Special Friend Ned Nickerson as much as he loved her, and was weighed down by domestic life that she never wanted. Nancy's true love was Frank Hardy, and well, the surprised that came from that! It is hinted at that Nancy's tom-boy friend, George is a lesbian, although it's never said outright, and I don't think that Nancy Drew even realized that the friendship between George and her roommate V was more than just that of "roommate".I found myself smirking throughout the book and my morals and childhood memories were not offended all that much. It was really quite a charming and quirky story and amusing to read about the infamous teen sleuth Nancy Drew who had a slightly naughty side.