Review: The Diary of Pelly D

The Diary of Pelly D by L. J. Adlington
Genre: YA Fiction
Rating: 5/5

I found this book while browsing at my local library. I tried reading it once, and it seemed so trivial and unimportant. I returned it and forgot about it.

A year later, I saw it again and thought "what every happened to Pelly D after she got kicked out of her holo-pool and lost her street-side friend?" So I borrowed it again and read it through in a few hours.

I got a lot more out of it the second time, I'll say that much right away.

The story is futuristic, it takes place on another planet. The author comes from an evolutionary viewpoint, saying that Pelly D’s race has “evolved backwards.” They have gills. They’re like human-fish. Which, in my opinion, is really kind of cool. Pelly D is a gorgeous girl who has nothing better to do than slack off in her homework, watch beautiful ships come into harbor, and kiss the new cute boy in town. Everyone knows Pelly D can have anyone she wants. Everyone knows Pelly D has the best house with the most rooms and the best pool. Everyone knows Pelly D is popular.

But then something changes for Pelly D. the government decides to enforce gene tracing on every citizen. Pelly D finds out that she is descended from (to put it lightly) the most disliked original gene carrier that their new planet was founded with. She is kicked out of her house with her mother and sister, but since her dad doesn’t have the gene, he gets to stay “for business purposes.”  It tears apart the marriage of her parents, her brother leaves so he won’t have to go to City 1 to be a slave boy, and Pelly D experiences poverty, hate, and prejudice from her former “friends.”

This book has a lot of hidden messages in it, and it's not something you can really say in words. The author used this book to paint a picture of something. It's more than fiction, it's a statement; like Orwell's 1984, or Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird . It’s main focus isn't Pelly D, it's actually judgment, prejudice, and politics.

But, it also has the lighthearted addition of a teenage girl who really couldn't give a rat's poo about anyone but herself.

I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, but I do highly recommend it. I'll also say this: the ending is good, but it doesn't wrap up the story like most books do, so be ye warned. It's well written (aside from the missing letters, which is part of the author’s futuristic style of speech and writing used in the book. example: "v" instead of "very" or "cd" instead of "could.") and the characters are very real.

Take a step forward, go onward and upward, and plunge into a very deep, very good book.

~Haleyknitz