YA Book Blog Post

YA Book Blog Post

                In the book “Ali’s Pretty Little Lies” by Sara Shepard, Courtney pretends to be Ali for a year. Throughout the book, we learn that she has been deprived of a normal life. Her twin started torturing her in third grade and it ended with her in a mental house. She came back to visit her family one day and ended up switching places with her twin. I think she did this because she missed her old life.

                One reason I think she misses her life is because when she goes on her dates with Nick. On her dates, there is always something that reminds her of her old life. For example, when they are on the merry go round, the text says “Ali’s heart beat along with the bass drum that accompanied the carousel’s old timey song.” When it says old timey, this shows that it reminds her of old times. Also before that, it says that she used to go on the carousels with her sister, before things went wrong. Also, Nick reminds her of old times because he used to know Ali, and this is a direct connection with her once loved sister. This shows that she could have admitted to being somebody else for a year, but she loved her life in Rosewood so much that she decided to stay.

                Another reason she switched places with Ali because she misses her life is because all the things that happened to her when she was as the preserve and Radley. For example, when she was talking to Nick, she said that at Radley, she had a pet hamster. She said that he was her only friend. When things her normal with her and her sister, her sister was her best friend. She wanted to feel like she had a friend again. Also, in the prologue the text says “Off Courtney went, away from her family, away from everything she knew.” I think that when she came back to Rosewood to be Ali because she missed her family, and the only way she was able to be with them was being somebody else. For her it was worth it because she missed them so much and long for a normal life. Being somebody else, was the closest thing to it. She was not used to being locked up and her parents never visited her.

                The final reason I think “Ali” switched places with Ali because she missed her life is because she was depressed in Radley and the preserve. For example, the text says that the first few months she was in Radley, she just sat in bed and didn’t do anything. It said that the workers at Radley tried to get her to participate in activities with the other kids, but she didn’t. This shows that she didn’t want to do anything. That she instead of trying to do something that might make her happy, she decided to stay sad. Also, I think “Ali” was depressed at Radley because she got a pet hamster. Although this is a good thing, and the text says that she was one of the most behaved kids at Radley, there had to be another reason for her to get a pet. I think the workers at Radley gave her a pet because they felt bad for her. I think this because you don’t just give someone a pet. They probably gave her the hamster because they thought she needed a friend.

                Poor “Ali” had been deprived of her family for years, and didn’t have a normal one since she was in third grade. Her only option was to switch places with her perfect twin when she had the chance. She only had a year to live the perfect life she dreamed for years until she dies. If you were longing for a perfect or even just normal life, would you do something so horrible?