Title: Gotcha!
Author: Shelley Hrdlitschka (pronounced Herda-lich-ka)
First Copyright Date: 2008
Genre: Teen Fiction
General Subject Matter: High school struggle, haze-type games, and relationship
trouble (friends, boyfriend, parents)
Interesting Facts: E-mails are embedded within dialogue, chapters are headed
with a hemp string and a single bead
Price: $9.95 CDN, or borrow it from MW’s library!
is a prime example of teenagers struggling in high school and with their personal lives. It
relates well to the intended audience while being extremely well written. Author
Shelley Hrdlitschka has delved deep into the lives of high school students; it’s
almost scary how accurate she gets. There isn’t much I did not like about
Gotcha!, but for the sake of this book review, I will try to find
something.
This year at Slipper Rock High, the traditional grad game ‘Gotcha’ has been banned
by teachers who think it is too dangerous. The graduating students have decided to
ignore this, and take the game underground, with more grads joining than ever.
Several students begin spiral out of control, and Katie finds her self losing her
friends and falling victim to her classmates’ obsession with the game. How can a
stupid game be so dangerous? Katie finds out soon enough, when her family and
friends are both threatened.
Gotcha! is written in first person, from the perspective of Katie. The
creepy thing here is that the game Gotcha is actually a reality. I didn’t know it
until I had re-read the Acknowledgements, but yes, Gotcha does plague high schools
of North Vancouver. I’ve heard of hazing and even witnessed one account, but I can
definitely see that the harm that could be committed in this game is worse.
Basically, Gotcha is like a game of tag. Each person receives one bead, and
randomly draws the name of another person in the game. You can choose to either
keep your name a secret, or tell someone else. Trading the name you received is not
allowed, but people do it anyway. You have to “tag” the person you drew, and they
must give you their bead (and if they have other beads, those too) and the name of
their next victim. The game cannot be played on school grounds. You have
immunity if you link arms with a person who is also in the game. As soon as you
unlink, you can and will be tagged. If you are tagged, you are out of the
game. The point of Gotcha is to get all the beads, and there is only one winner.
The winner receives a collective sum of money: $10 from every person playing. The
winner may then keep the money for themselves, or split it with someone who helped
them. So, if you have 200 or more grads playing, the prize is over $2, 000. It
sounds like fun, but people can get really into it for the money. That’s
when the fights, breaking and entering, and the crazy stunts begin.
When Facebook was mentioned about a third of the way through the book, I had to
laugh. It’s become such a staple in the life of the young adult, but I was still
surprised to see it there. I was even more surprised when Hrdlitschka properly
named Facebook terms, like wall and group. Then MSN was mentioned.
Oh, Hrdlitschka knows us too well. That’s one of the things I liked about
Gotcha!; it’s just so easy to relate to. The problems between Katie
and her mother, peer pressure at school, exams, graduation coming up, finding a
dress, and getting a scholarship are all problems that many graduating students, including
myself, have to face. Hrdlitschka also captures the beauty of teenage life. It’s a hard thing to
accomplish; many authors have tried to pull it off and have pretty much failed. Not
only that, Hrdlitschka captured the true pettiness of female adolescent squabbles.
The only problem that I encountered was the emails that Katie writes to her
father. They’re filled with MSN lingo, which is hard to understand because I’m not
used to it. However, it is realistic that she used such language because many
teenagers also use the same lingo on MSN. I could say that there should have been
more of a climax...the climax is pretty good as it is but it could have been better
and more epic. Oh, and last thing: character imagery. I had no idea what the
characters looked like, just a vague outline. I like to picture what’s going on in
the book in my head, so character imagery is important for me.
Overall, I’d rate this book a 9 out of 10. It was
really well written, and really captured the essence of teen life. It was
witty and sarcastic, and relatable. It would have been a full 10 if there was more
of a climax and character imagery...but other than that, thumbs up!
Here’s a quote that captures a little bit of what Gotcha is:
How did the party atmosphere turn this mean-spirited so quickly? I know
Paige’s presence has a strong influence, but something else has taken over here. My
classmates have become vulture-like, circling their prey. I force myself to appear
relaxed because I know that instinctively that, just like animals, if they smell my
fear, they’ll grow even more malicious. It’s not so much losing my bead that I’m
worried about, but the pack mentality that has possessed them. Joel must sense it
too. Gotcha has a reputation for turning vicious.
Except for the vicious parts, Gotcha seems like a fun game, don’t you
think?
Shelley Hrdlitschka is the author of many best-selling titles for
teen readers. She is a teacher, a mom, and a full-time writer. Hrdlitschka enjoys:
many kinds of music, browsing at bookstores and libraries, theatre, travelling to
warm places, and hiking. She lives in North Vancouver, British Columbia with her
husband and three daughters.
Find more about her here:
target="_blank">Shelley Hrdlitschka
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