Like the Red Panda

by Andrea Seigel

Book Overview

Stella Parrish is seventeen, attractive, smart, deeply alienated, and unable to countenance life's absurdities. She is not nihilistic; she is prematurely exhausted. Since her parents OD'd on designer... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156030241
• ISBN13: 9780156030243
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Harvest Books
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 7.4"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Completely engrossing!

I read this book in 48 hours because I couldn't stop. It's funny, it's sad, it's real, it's honest, its' convincing, creative, and insightful. You'll fall in love with Stella and wish you could call her up. Or at least I did. Where to go from here? Try "An Egg on Three Sticks", "Feeling Sorry for Celia", and "A Girl in Parts."

Beautifully and fluidly written -- highly recommended!

This book reminds me why high school and suburban life are so screwed up, and I hope that everyone reads it and learns -- with something raw for anyone who ever felt misunderstood growing up, and with something enlightening for parents and the delusionally happy. Rather than going for the obvious route of the predictably dark and twisted teenager that one would expect, Seigel delves unflinchingly into the mind of a witty, relentlessly honest anti-hero. Emotionally, I feel the same perverted sense of sympathy, appreciation, and repulsion for Stella that I feel with Pechorin in A Hero of Our Time. Looking at the reviews below, I don't entirely see the simplistic comparison to Holden because they're such radically different characters -- and thankfully so -- plus, Stella has much more of a sense of humor!

Fascinating Intellectual Journey! A Must Read!

Stella Parrish is a senior in high school, and on the brink of the inception of the rest of her life (which includes Princeton University). However, she's not exactly interested. Stella is a vigilant intellect who realizes just how insipid and uninspired life is, and she simply doesn't want to deal with the tedious monotony anymore. While some are willing to write off her attitude as mere "senioritis," Stella analogizes herself to a star "dead long before we ever even realize it because of the time it takes for light to travel." She decides that the only solution is to commit suicide by the time her graduation rolls around. This novel is her account of her last two weeks of high school. As the dismal layers are slowly peeled away, we learn that there is more to Stella's decision than meets the eye. Her story is one of tragic loss and dispassionate existence, beginning with the death of her parents during her eleventh birthday party, and continuing with her caring but distant and naive foster parents. More than just a tale of disenchanted youth and teenage angst, this novel tends to veer into the profoundly philosophical realms of the (rare) deeply intellectual teenage mind. While Stella's peers are contemplating how to study for their upcoming final exams, Stella is pondering "just how useless perspective is, since it can always change." Stella approaches these themes with a dark humor and wry wit that is extraordinarily enticing, and will have the reader turning page after page to see what she has to say next. Andrea Seigel has an amazing way with words. She can be humorous, cynical, sarcastic, and contemplative all at the same time. The beautiful prose with which this book is written can be both enthrallingly poetic and caustically blunt and honest simultaneously. Stella is definitely a character that is easy to relate to, and that makes this book highly effective on a personal level. You, the reader, will find yourself travelling right there with Stella on her emotional roller coaster ride towards indifference, and you'll cherish every minute (page) of it and be saddened when it ends. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever felt dispassionate about his or her existence, as though there seems to be something lacking. Or to anyone who has ever felt alienated from the rest of their peers, or even society (which is probably everyone at some point in time). Anyone who "know[s] what it's like to surprise yourself with apathy in the afternoon when you woke up in the morning believing you cared." How about just everyone in general? If you can read at all, then you should pick this book up! This is definitely a novel I can see myself re-reading in the future, which I don't often do. Furthermore, I anxiously await anything else Andrea Seigel puts out. This is a great new author who demands attention!

not for everyone

but hey, what is? I just finished this book an hour ago. The last time I read a book was 3 years ago, but that was only for my English class. I've attempted to read various books since then, but have gotten bored with all of them before getting to the third chapter. "Like the Red Panda" was EXACTLY what I needed at this time in my life. I recommend it to anyone who has ever thought about suicide (not neccessarily as something to do, just something to think about) and those of us who are humored and at the same time bothered daily by the transparency of this world and the people in it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book in every way. The structure was easy to understand but not boring, and the detailed character description affected me the most. Anyway, this is my first book review and it probably didn't say much, but this is a smart book and smart people will enjoy it. :)