Diary of a Chav, by Grace Dent

This was fantastic. The voice was perfect- I could hear Essex girl Shiraz saying everything, and I could see her and I could see Collette Brown, and Carrie and Bezzer and it was funny and sad and vulgar and kind of depressing. Shiraz at her "superchav academy", waiting to get out at 16 to get a job at a sporting goods shop to earn some real money was heartbreaking, and as she began to look at her real life options the book took on a whole new level. People don't talk about social mobility much in YA.

It was so great (interesting?) to read a UK YA novel that wasn't about the middle class. Georgia Nicolson, for all her flirting and lipgloss, goes to a 'nice' school with 'nice' friends and the boys she and Jools avoid in the park are the very boys that this Shiraz and her mate Carrie eye and ignore and blow bubble gum at, and what's-her-name from the Girl, 15 books is clearly well off what with the trips to France (not package tours) and so on.

Shiraz's neighbor Uma with the ASBO and her 'work experience' at the bhaji packing plant were so well written.

One thing I am struck by, is how the heck did big hoop earrings and tracksuits and hoodies lined with fake fur become the international uniform of the... I don't know if there's a politically correct term for this and I feel like I'm on edgy ground, but what the heck? Was there a memo? UK, Rhode Island- big hoops and skinny headbands, eyeliner and gobs of lipgloss, fake tans and fake nails, rap and cars- amazing.