Letters from the Inside

I think some of today's best writing comes from the "young adult female" (i.e. teen girl) genre. I'll unabashedly say I read a half-dozen of these books a year, though I left membership in that demographic in the last decade. Australian John Marsden's novel might stun post-teen readers with how good it is. Not a cliché in sight, the writing is not watered-down, and it's more intelligently plotted than most of what's published for "adults". This is an epistolatory novel, set over one year. Read between the lines: that's where the true story lies. Things start when sixteen-year-old Mandy answers an ad placed by Tracey, another sixteen-year-old, seeking a pen-pal. At first letters between this pair are the expected mélange of teenage thoughts and goings-on, but rapidly we get the hint that matters aren't as idyllic in Tracey's life as Tracey leads on. No, this isn't another after-school special where one girl rescues another from abuse, drugs, or any other calamity accounting for most of the fare in teen stories. This is different. It does not slip the reins of realism for one second. If you want to be surprised, stop here. Otherwise.... ....I'll finish. See, Tracey is not truly living the idealistic life about which she first tells Mandy. Tracey's incarcerated for a violent crime that shames her. She faces a sentence that will keep her behind bars well into adult life. Mandy on the other hand comes from a middle-class background with married parents and a brother who .... is not well-adjusted. As the letters come and the story unfolds, we begin to understand that Mandy needs to tell Tracey her problems probably more than Tracey does Mandy. Though they've never met, this is a friendship with great meaning to each of the girls. Over the year, we really get inside their minds and feel for them. We want Tracey to have a second-chance and the future Mandy, free in the outside world, can have. And we want Mandy to never outgrow her friend who is far away and miserable with the circumstances her actions have put her in. We want a lot of things to be different from how we learn they are. Let me end by confessing that this book delivers one of the most emotionally-wrenching conclusions ever written. No, I don't exaggerate. I'll offer this advice: don't read Marsden's book if you think you might not be up to a suggestive ending that hits very, very hard. You're warned.

I read this book, and I've read many other 'bad novels' like it, when I was 13. I really enjoyed it and I couldn't put it down. He is an amazing author, and I couldn't believe that a man could write sounding exactly like a 16 year old girl would write. I loved this book, and I have read many of his books since, but I still believe this is for an older audience. If you believe a 12 year old should be reading this, and you've read it, then maybe you read a lot of 'bad stuff', but this book has many sexual references and curse words that don't belong in a 12 year old's mind. I recommend it for girls 14 and up.

Ten years ago I discovered a copy of John Marsden's Letters from the Inside at my Library. I took it out because I was big into writing pen pals at that time in my life and thought it might be a good book. That one book started a lifelong love of John Marsden's writing.Letters from the Inside is one of the most chilling books I have ever read. I've read it three or four times in the last ten years and in each read-through, I discover one more facet of the story that I've missed. The book itself, taken at face value, is not so chilling - it's what your mind creates to fill in the spaces that Marsden leaves in his story. What did Tracey do to end up where she is? What happened to Mandy? What happened to her family? Who marked "return to sender" on the letters? Will Tracey ever find out what happened to Mandy? Will Tracey ever make it back into the real world? The mind creates the darkest scenarios to those questions.It takes a special kind of writer to make a story work with the "cliffhanger" ending. Any other writer and I'd probably have chucked the book at the wall in frustration. Part of me wishes there was a sequel to this book so that I could find out what happens next... and part of me knows that a sequel to the story wouldn't be possible.Everyone should own this book. Or if not this one, then one of Marsden's other books. Tomorrow, When the War Began is amazing as well. I would place John Marsden at the top of my favorite author list any day, and no matter how old I get (I'm 22 now and still reading him!), I don't think that will change.

I read "Letters From The Inside" in the third grade, and it just... haunted me. The ending I mean. I read it a few times since, and my love for this book didn't go away. The book is about Mandy, who, bored one day, answers an ad she saw in a teen magizine, seeing she has some things in commom with Tracy, the girl she is writing too, like they both like the group Power Without Glory. Mandy and Tracy start writing to each other about their familys, friends, school, boyfriends, ect, and Mandy thinks that Tracy has the perfect life- great boyfriend, nice siblings, rich parents, ect- until Mandy finds out that Tracy in in a teen prison. Only afer "haressing" Tracy for awhile does Tracy aswer Mandy, and then the book goes into an amazing twist. The ending is totally haunting and open, and leaves you with a lot of stuff to think about. Pick this book up.

This is really a terrific young adult book, deserving of all the best book lists it made it to. The whole book is the letters of 2 girls writing to each other, both seeming to have it all. As they write, some surprising truth's come out and they grow closer. The letters and thoughts of these kids are riveting and the ending is powerful, shocking and disturbing. Not like any book I've read before and I still think about it & count it as one of my favorite youth books years after reading it. I'd recommend it for mature teens and adults.