Please Don't Kill The Freshman

The book I am beginning to read is “Please Don’t Kill the Freshmen,” by Zoe Trope. It’s a very interesting book, the most obvious reason being the fact that Trope writes in, as best as I can describe, poetic fragments. “’The amendment that protects…’ Sharp voice falling on muffled ears. I got a perfect score, plus five extra credit points. Pardon me for not seeing the point of listening. I could be doing something constructive or even listening, but I choose not to.” [Page 4] The book itself is a memoir about a girl (who is not mentioned by name, but we know her to be Zoe Trope) who is simply trying to find her way in the world. Most of the passages are extremely easy for any high school student to relate to; overbearing parents, boring classes, new people, or even just ordinary things looked at curiously, yet the novel retains its poetic feeling throughout the book.
Zoe often encounters ‘people you wouldn’t look at twice’ or her new friends; teenagers filled with piercings and tattoos, unemployed high school drop outs, gay or lesbian kids. “I know far too many angry twenty somethings who got burnt out in high school. Hanging out with these witty sarcastic vile twenty-somethings really helps me. I like them. My parents, however, do not. To them I am pleading with the raincoat men to come and rape me. I am trying not to drown. I am trying to bloom. Please don’t kill the flowers.” [Page 11] Zoe does not understand what she is doing with her life, and escapes the pressure by burying herself in her writing and her friends. She is merely watching life around her, trying to fit her piece of life into the big high school puzzle.