Please ignore Vera Dietz

This book starts off with a fairly comedic feel, but it does a good job of letting the reader know there will be dramatic things coming ahead.

The author does a good job of building up from slice-of-life to a full on murder mystery. It mostly takes the first person POV of the teenage girl, Vera, but it occasionally takes on the perspective of others to great comedic or dramatic effect. The one thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars was that the main antagonist, a "rival" teenage girl, was mean without any context, and it would have been good to change to her POV to help flesh her out more.

The book touches on a some difficult subjects (alcoholism, domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, bullying) without resorting to being overly graphical. The characters' struggles to cope with all of their traumas is used to help the reader feel the impact.

It is a good read for those that enjoy young adult novels with a good balance of comedy, drama, and discussing some heavy subjects.

Vera Dietz is such an angsty girl, but she is dealing with a lot. The death of her lifelong friend Charlie; in which she was also in love with really throws Vera into the unknown. Please Ignore Vera Dietz is a dramatic and dark novel of exploring the issues a young teenage woman would have to go in an extreme way. The whole concept of love and loss has been done many times but not often done well. This book is no Looking for Alaska that’s for sure but it is still one of the better YA novels I’ve read. Vera is a fantastic character; she works a 40 hour week (seems rather extreme for a teenager) and still goes to high school while trying to come to terms with the loss of Charlie, the truth of his death as well as dealing with her relationship with her dad. While I did enjoy this book, I would say there are better YA novels out there; but that doesn’t mean this one isn’t work a look.