Book Review: The Ruling Class, by Francine Pascal

I chose The Ruling Class, by Francine Pascal only based on its cover. I know they say you can't judge a book by it's cover...but I always do.

I found it while browsing the very small book section of young adult books at my local Borders. By the looks of the attractive cover, I assumed immediately that it was going to very similar to the movie Mean Girls, starring Lindsay Lohan.

The cover features a pair of legs, with waring a gorgeous pair of stiletto shoes.

The book has 3 main characters. The way it is written, its almost like taking a peek into all three of their diaries.

J.S. is the most popular and beautiful girl in school. Shes the girl every other girl wants to be, or be with. She is referred to as the leader of the R.C.'s. (ruling class) which consists of about 4 or 5 more extremely beautiful girls. They're nothing more than a shadow of J.S.

Then there is Myrna Fry. She is like a puppy dog on a leash, and has forever longed to be in with the R.C's. She even at times in the book thinks she is part of the group when all she ever was, was a pushover. Like the loser that was only allowed in the popular group so everyone could use them. She was in denial about it though, and even when J.S. and the rest of the R.C's were nasty to her, she thought it was just poking fun because that's what girls do when they're so close.

Next we meet Twyla Gay. The new girl. Most of the story is surrounded around her. She comes from a poor family and all she longs for is acceptance. She immediately attaches to Myrna Fry because she became aware that the R.C's were just using her. She figured if she became friends with Myrna she'd also have an in into the popular crowd.

How was Twyla to know Ryder was J.S's boyfriend, or boy toy?
Noting really works out as planned for Twyla in the beginning of the book, and when the R.C's play a nasty prank on her so horrific, to the point where she was almost raped by a group of guys, is when Twyla goes from wanting to fit in, to her wanting to get the ultimate revenge on the R.C's.

Somehow though revenge comes slowly for her. J.S. has the entire school making fun of her. Having Gay as a last name certainly didn't help Twyla either.

After you get your introduction into all of their lives, or shall I say, thoughts, the book switches from Myrna, J.S's and Twyla's point of view. Which is very amusing seeing how each girl has a total opposite thought of the last girl, yet the thoughts of each of them mesh in to one another in order to create a story.

It's a wicked book, and your going to enjoy how the writer has put it together. Some of girls being mean, and other times you'll be laughing out loud. Especially when J.S. takes her great fall on the bar while dancing over lip gloss. There's even little traces of romance in the book as well.

This book had some really good cat fights, and if you're a fan of the movie Mean Girls, its almost like a new group of them. I feel it could possibly be a sequel to the movie. Only they'd have to spice it up a bit, as some chapters did tend to drag on.

The pranks pulled by the R.C's and Twyla Gay were cool, and comical. But they lacked from reality of how mean girls could 'really' be in junior high school.

I'm hoping that Francine Pascal writes a sequel to the Ruling Class. I would love to see what happens after. The ending sort of just left you wanting more, and asking questions, which I didn't like.

To sum it up, I would definitely recommend this book to my friends, and I have. I read it in only 2 days, so you can tell how absorbed in the reading you can become with this book.
Like I said though, I wish it was more realistic.