REVIEW: The Oracle of Dating

[Meg Seth]

The Oracle of Dating

I was surprised by how much I liked this book. I don’t usually take to teen novels that read like an episode of the dating game, but this particular book was refreshing, innocent, and even cute. It is the story of Kayla, a teen with a passion for relationship counseling but an aversion to relationships of her own until a new student, Jared, shows up. Torn between her desire to take her own advice as the online “oracle of dating” and her attraction to Jared, Kayla’s journey examines the condition of teen relationships, intercultural issues, and what a good YA relationship is supposed to be like. Her friends are diverse, including Indian-Americans, nerds, art kids, and elderly patrons of the grocery store at which she works. Her world is pluralized by the wide variety of characters, as well as realistic in her portrayal of teen life in New York, where dating is a vicious game.
This book couldn’t fit more snugly into the general criteria for YA lit. It is fast-paced, narrated by Kayla, and deals with the prevalent issue of dating, lust, and attraction during the teen years. That said, this book was also an apt pick for reluctant readers. The vocab is pretty low-level and approachable, and the characters are realistic and approachable. The narration, through the voice of Kayla, is witty and fun to read, making this novel suitable to kids not normally keen on reading. Even as an adult, I had fun reading this novel, and the whole thing only took me a couple of hours to read, so teens and even pre-teens would have an exceptionally easy time with this read. I would definitely recommend this book to a younger YA audience. Even though this book is all about dating, the material is fairly chaste and age-appropriate for a thirteen to fourteen year-old audience.
Overall, this book was cute, albeit simple, as well as being a generally fun read. I can’t really imagine someone disliking this book, although it is definitely geared more towards girls than boys. The focus on dating and the young girls’ perspectives definitely genders this read, but I don’t necessarily think that this is such a bad thing. The author clearly knows her audience and is writing from her own experience, so the sincerity of the novel compensates for the “girly” nature of the book.
However, I was curious about what this book would have been like written from Jared’s point of view, or even another male student’s perspective. What about you guys? Do you find more love centric/easy-read fiction for girls generally? Do you think there is a need for a boy-focused equivalent?

author's page: http://www.allisonvandiepen.com/

book's official site: http://oracleofdating.wordpress.com/