By: John Marsden Publisher: Laurel Leaf Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Laurel Leaf Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 160 Publication Date: April 01, 1996 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: April 01, 1996
Product Description: Mandy and Tracey have never met, but they know everything about each other. Connected through a pen-pal ad, they exchange frequent letters, writing about boyfriends and siblings, music and friends. They trade stories about school and home. They confide their worries and hopes. It almost makes it easier, and more special, that they’ve never met—they can say whatever they want in the safety of their private world of letters. But that private world may not be as safe as it seems. Can Mandy trust Tracey to be who she says she is? What secrets hide between the lines of their letters?
Lousy Ending Tracey placed an ad in a magazine for a pen pal. Mandy saw the ad and decided to start writing. The two girls, both in high school, begin writing to each other on a regular basis. Tracey writes about her boyfriend and her rich parents and the exciting places she goes on the weekends. Mandy writes about her family. She likes them except for her brother who is often violent and sometimes scary. She is not as rich as Tracey but has a pretty good life.
Then Mandy begins to see holes in Tracey's story, especially when she finds out that Tracey doesn't go to school where she said she did. Under pressure from Mandy to tell the truth, Tracey finally reveals that she isn't who she said she was. In fact, she is in a maximum security prison for girls under 18. When she turns 18 she will be transferred to a real prison for a couple more years. She doesn't want to talk about what she did to get into prison; she just wants to hear what things are like in the real world, on the outside. Mandy talks about what it is like to live a normal teenaged life, and she does her best to boost Tracey's spirits about her situation.
Tracey wants Mandy's life to be perfect, but Mandy is growing more and more worried about her brother. Will Tracey's friendship be able to help Mandy the way Mandy has helped Tracey?
I liked reading this story from two points of view, especially when the characters were going through such different things in their lives. I especially liked seeing what Tracey's life was like while in prison and the way she came to lean on Mandy to help her cope.
However, the ending of the book was horrible. There wasn't really any finality, leaving the reader to wonder about what happened. I also didn't like that there was no real difference in writing style between the two girls, so it was confusing at the beginning, trying to keep straight which was which.
Letters fromthe Inside This really was a great book. It starts out with a girl named Mandy who starts writing to a girl named Tracy (it's in letter format) who seems the ideal life................ or does she?
Letters from the Inside has to be one of my favorite books by John Marsden, the onlt thing about it is, and I don't know if this is a bad thing or not, but it ends with such a cliffhanger it's terrible (not the book, the suspense) in the end you don't really know what happens.
What a waste of time This book was totally not worth reading. It was basically a bunch of pages full of PenPal letters.
Good Read I read 'Letters From The Inside' in French, French is not my first language so some parts I didn't fully understand, but the story is really great. For those of you who haven't read it, it's the story of 16 year olds Mandy and Tracey who start to write to one another after Tracey places an ad in a magazine. Their letters are at first quite normal but soon take on a more intimate quality. They get more then they expected when they each discover shocking truths about their new friend, but they also discover a real friendship. The book ends with an abrupt, emotionally charged ending that's sure to make this novel one you won't forget.
John Marsden has an undeniable talent for writing, and it shows in this novel. He captures the readers attention with his superbly written characters, the subject matter and his genuine, un-cliched way of approaching this unique topic. The ending is chilling, but it fits the book remarkably.
The Ending Is Like A Stealth Bomber Attack
I think some of today's best writing comes from the "young adult female" (i.e. teen girl) genre. I'll unabashedly say I read a half-dozen of these books a year, though I left membership in that demographic in the last decade.
Australian John Marsden's novel might stun post-teen readers with how good it is. Not a cliché in sight, the writing is not watered-down, and it's more intelligently plotted than most of what's published for "adults".
This is an epistolatory novel, set over one year. Read between the lines: that's where the true story lies. Things start when sixteen-year-old Mandy answers an ad placed by Tracey, another sixteen-year-old, seeking a pen-pal. At first letters between this pair are the expected mélange of teenage thoughts and goings-on, but rapidly we get the hint that matters aren't as idyllic in Tracey's life as Tracey leads on. No, this isn't another after-school special where one girl rescues another from abuse, drugs, or any other calamity accounting for most of the fare in teen stories. This is different. It does not slip the reins of realism for one second.
If you want to be surprised, stop here. Otherwise....
....I'll finish. See, Tracey is not truly living the idealistic life about which she first tells Mandy. Tracey's incarcerated for a violent crime that shames her. She faces a sentence that will keep her behind bars well into adult life. Mandy on the other hand comes from a middle-class background with married parents and a brother who .... is not well-adjusted. As the letters come and the story unfolds, we begin to understand that Mandy needs to tell Tracey her problems probably more than Tracey does Mandy. Though they've never met, this is a friendship with great meaning to each of the girls. Over the year, we really get inside their minds and feel for them. We want Tracey to have a second-chance and the future Mandy, free in the outside world, can have. And we want Mandy to never outgrow her friend who is far away and miserable with the circumstances her actions have put her in.
We want a lot of things to be different from how we learn they are.
Let me end by confessing that this book delivers one of the most emotionally-wrenching conclusions ever written. No, I don't exaggerate. I'll offer this advice: don't read Marsden's book if you think you might not be up to a suggestive ending that hits very, very hard. You're warned.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
