Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls by Bennett Madison, Razorbill, 2005 ISBN: 978-1595140104
Plot Summary
Lulu Dark insists that she isn’t a girl detective. She doesn’t speak multiple languages, she doesn’t have a photographic memory and she definitely doesn’t care about recovering stolen gems. But when her beloved knock-off Kate Spade bag is stolen (with an attractive musician’s phone number in it no less!) she is determined to do as much sleuthing as possible in order to retrieve it. Originally suspecting her snide school rival, Rachel Buttersworth-Taylor she decides to sneak into her place and take back what is rightly hers. But when that trail goes cold and she is tipped off that the mysterious Berlin Silver was last seen with her bag she decides to switch tactics and learn as much information as possible on the bizarre and elusive Berlin. The more information Lulu uncovers the weirder the case of the missing bag gets. Now not only is Berlin nowhere to be found but Lulu is being followed by a creepy woman seemingly everywhere she goes. Finally, when vicious rumors start to fly about Lulu and her best friend starts to believe them she knows that, bag or no bag, she has to get to the bottom of all the mysteries before her reputation is completely ruined. Will Lulu be able to discover the answers to all her questions before her friends desert her? And will she ever see her beloved bag again?
Critical Evaluation
While Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls may not be considered fine literature it is perfectly good fun. Although Lulu is snarky and even cruel at times, readers cannot help but admire her plucky spirit and her determination to find the answers to all the mysteries she manages to get caught up in. She is, in fact, a surprisingly complicated character. While she can be mean she doesn’t intentionally hurt other people, evidenced by her vehement denials of the many wild things attributed to her later in the novel. And while she sometimes appears callous, her actions show her to be otherwise as she starts to genuinely worry about Berlin and her disappearance. The mystery is Lulu Dark is also well crafted with many twists and turns along the way before a solution is revealed. Readers will thoroughly enjoy being baffled alongside Lulu as she tries to solve not only the mystery of her missing bag but Berlin’s disappearance as well. In addition to the text, the physical book itself is pleasing. Measuring 5.25” by 7.25”, the book is smaller than the average novel making it an ideal choice to take on the go. Between its compact size, well-crafted plot, and intriguing protagonist, Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls makes an excellent choice for an avid reader looking for a fun summer read.
Reader’s Annotation
Although Lulu Dark is no girl-detective she finds she has be one if she’s ever going to get her beloved knock-off Kate Spade bag back. Unfortunately things go from bad to worse as Lulu learns that much more is at stake than her purse such as her missing (and probably dead) classmate, her life as she runs from a crazed stalker, and her reputation as a mysterious person spreads malicious rumors about her.
About the Author
Bennett Madison writes, “I’m an editor and writer in Brooklyn. Mostly I write books for teenagers but sometimes I write other things too. My most recent book is The Blonde of the Joke, which was published by HarperCollins and is about skanky shoplifters at a dying suburban shopping mall. My next book is currently in-progress and will be published by Harper Teen in 2013. My previous occupations have included indie bookstore layabout, Senior Receptionist, Gap clerk and phone psychic” (Madison, n.d.)
I was surprised to discover that the author Lulu Dark was a twenty-three-year-old man. Although I only have a limited experience with chick lit, it struck me that a young, male author was unusual in this genre. Curious, I looked up Bennett Madison’s website and e-mailed him the following question:
Hi! I'm reviewing your book Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls for a class and was curious what led you to write chick lit type books? I think it's really cool that you are doing so but I was curious as I haven't noticed many male writers in this field. What connects you to characters like Lulu Dark?
Imagine my surprise when he actually responded! I’m posting a truncated version of his response as it was quite long. However, I’ll include the link to his full blog post in case you want to read it in its entirety.
Hi! Thanks for the question— hope you’re liking the books; it always freaks me out when people read them for anything school-related. I guess the answer to this question has a few different components. The first has to do with why I chose to write a first-person female narrator, and the second has to do with why I chose to write “chick lit,” which is a somewhat separate thing…Lulu came to me as a character pretty quickly and I was lucky enough to sell the idea very quickly too, so there wasn’t a lot of time for the second guessing most of my ideas are subject to. A lot of YA fiction (Not all! Just a lot!) I think focuses on teenage social politics and identities in a really black-and-white way and I wanted to write a character who wasn’t too hung up that stuff…She’s just who she is and is mostly comfortable with that.
As for why I chose to write “chick lit,” the answer is a little more complicated. Again, it was sort of by accident. I don’t think I was really thinking of the first book as chick lit until I saw the first cover, actually. I was just writing a light, funny girl detective. But I read a lot growing up— a lot more than I read now, actually— and because so much kids’ fiction is aimed toward girls, being a reader when you’re a kid pretty much means reading tons of really girly stuff. I didn’t care. I read stuff like the Baby-sitters Club and obviously Nancy Drew and a million other things too. So when it came time to write a book for young teenagers, I really liked the idea of writing something that played around with the genre conventions and cliches of the commercial fiction I’d read as a kid. I wanted it to be both a love letter and an affectionate critique (Madison, 2011).
Madison, B. (2011) Hi! I’m reviewing your book Lulu Dark can see through. Retrieved from http://www.bennett-madison.com/post/7385966525/hi-im-reviewing-your-book-lulu-dark-can-see-through
Madison, B. (n.d.) About. Retrieved from http://www.bennett-madison.com/about
Genre
Chick Lit, Humor, Mean Girls, Mystery, Suspense
Tags
Murder mystery, stolen identity, mean girls, fortunetelling, single parent, LGBTQ, girl detective
Curriculum Ties
N/A
Booktalk Ideas
--Dress up and talk like Lulu Dark as you give the booktalk
--Tell the story from different perspectives and wear a different hat every time you change your persona. For example, when you are Lulu you can wear sunglasses and when you are Berlin you can wear a beret.
Reading Level/Interest Age
Reading Level: 5th grade
Interest Level: 9th-12th grades (14-18 yrs.)
AR BookFinder. (2010). Lulu Dark can see through walls. Retrieved from http://www.arbookfind.com/bookdetail.aspx?q=88327&l=EN&slid=191257288
Challenge Issues
Because this book contains brief inappropriate language and a fortunetelling scene some adults may challenge this book. If challenged, librarians should share the library’s collection policy.
Favorite Quotes
“I do not speak Arabic or Chinese or German or even Spanish like they [girl detectives] do. I speak English, and the only French phrases I know are things like, ‘I go to the beach,’ or ‘We go to the pool, yes?’” (p. 1)
“It [the jungle gym] had been built back in the fifties, when kids were expected to do crazy stuff and no one worried about safety concerns, so the thin was metal and complicated and treacherous. Nowadays, if you tried to build something like that, you’d have some group of Concerned Mothers Against Fun on your back in a second, petitioning city hall to ban playgrounds altogether for the safety of dim toddlers” (p. 85).
“Why do the police always get so caught up in the tiny little details? Hello, big picture! If this is the way that law enforcement operates, it’s no wonder they still haven’t found Tupac’s killer” (p. 110)
Why Was This Included?
I decided to include this book because it was recommended to me by a local Teen librarian. I wanted to include more mysteries and chick lit into my blog and this title was both. I must also confess that the size of the book drew me to it as it is smaller than average and can easily fit into a purse.
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