Lots of you may know that being a teenager is no picnic: it’s a time of discovery and awkwardness for you and everyone around you. Carolyn Mackler distinctly describes the life of a teenager in her novel ¨Tangled,¨ which caught my eye for its similar name to one of my favorite movies. “Tangled” describes the life of four teenagers whose lives coincidentally get tangled with each other, though they don’t realize it at first. The thing about this book is that it takes on details that are kind of stereotypical in a teenager’s life, like depression, self-consciousness, and being an outsider. However, these stereotypes are more or less true. The four teens whose fates become intertwined are named Jena (self-conscious), Dakota (jock, enough said), Skye (the beauty queen), and Owen (the nerd). Jena and Skye know each other because their mothers are best friends, and Dakota and Owen are brothers. Their lives come together when they all go “Paradise,” a resort, where Jena falls in love with Dakota, who leaves her for Skye. There will be at least one moment of heartbreak in teenager’s life, and Mackler does not sugar-coat this. She makes the jock fall in love with an actress, Skye, instead of making him fall in love with a regular girl. The thing is, Mackler writes the truth: Would you choose a regular old person over an actor or actress?

Skye seems to be going through a type of crisis, though, as she’s experiencing moments of depression to the extent that she wants to commit suicide. People don’t seem to realize that being a teenager is actually very difficult because you’re still trying to figure out the type of person you want to be. Sure, most of us aren’t famous, but that just goes to show that anyone can have something hidden beneath the surface; no one can actually tell what’s going on in a person’s life. Jena certainly didn’t know Skye was having suicidal thoughts until she found a suicide note while on a date with Dakota in the same handwriting as Skye’s. Dakota didn’t know that his brother was running a successful blog, always believing that Owen was a nerd and a weakling. Mackler shows that there can be so much more to person than what meets the eye. To me, this is a very important message to share with readers because it might make them more understanding to someone’s situation.

Carolyn Mackler shows that people have so many secrets in their lives that it somehow consumes them. To quote the movie “The Virgin Suicides,” a doctor asks a teenager why she tried to commit suicide, saying “You’re not even old enough to know how bad life gets.” People always seem to think teenagers are overreacting when they talk about their emotions, but Carolyn Mackler is able to show readers that anyone’s life can be tangled up in a mess. This book is a great read, but it is also very sad. It connects to many people who have gone trough some of these same emotions or experiences. Lives can become intertwined, but that is how people are able to change. Jena, Owen, Skye, and Dakota all were able to discover something about themselves and about those they met. This book was an easy read, but it was a great read all the same. It may not be as common as John Green’s books or works by Suzanne Collins, but I strongly suggest this book because it’s interesting to see how lives can be so different from what they seem.