Heroine, Bridget Duke, rules her high school, but when she crashes her car and ends up in limbo, she must confront the people she has wronged, all of whom want her to go to hell. The outcome of these meetings will decide her final destination.
High school for me was an interesting experience, very interesting. Don’t get me wrong I had friends, good friends and I did well, however my school was full of so many social clicks it was ridiculous. There were those that you knew and talked about, and they probably had no idea who you were, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. There were some nasty girls for sure, but none of them were like Bridget Duke star of Paige Harbison’s Here Lies Bridget. No, none of the girls I went to school with were like this foul mouth, selfish little brat.
I was lucky enough to gain a copy of this book through netGalley, lucky because Harbison did an amazing job in making you truly hate the protagonist. There is absolutely no way to like Bridget. You can’t. It’s not possible. She is honestly a terrible person. Some of the things she does and some of the things she says, well they make you just want to shout, and wonder why her “friends” put up with her abuse. Being able to see into Bridget’s head and know what she’s thinking and know that she is aware of her behaviour and “unable” to help herself is even more maddening. I laugh now thinking about it. How much I disliked this character, and that you were supposed to not like her.
I liked this book. I’ve read a few reviews were people did not like it, but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was well written and dare I say it, cute. Bridget is a terrible person who hurt a lot of people. She did this mostly because she was scared of being herself. But when Bridget drives her car over a cliff, she is forced to step into someone else’s shoes and see just how much her actions have hurt others. She is forced to decide whether this is the kind of life she wants to continue living. Most of what I have read about people not enjoying this book is that they think Bridget doesn’t grovel enough in the end. This is true, however, to play Devil’s advocate here; Bridget knows what she’s done wrong and she’s trying to make things right. At that point she wasn’t trying to be forgiven she was trying acknowledge her behaviour and apologize (she was about to die).
Over all Here Lies Bridget was a good read. It was maddening and annoying, it was happy and hopeful, and it sometimes brought a tear to my eye. Who doesn't deserve a second chance now and again?