Satire, the saying goes, is making fun of people richer than you, and Gigi Lavingie's Seven Deadlies does it well. It is not so much a novel as a string of connected fables about the seven deadly sins, as practiced by uber-rich Southern Californians. Fourteen-year-old Perry Gonzales is a babysitter to her much-wealthier peers, and tries to help them (or, more accurately, their parents) correct unacceptable behavior. Some she wins, some she loses, but all get their come-uppance. My personal favorites in this quick read were the ones on Wrath and Pride, possibly because those are also sins that I am prey to. Will Perry get into Bennington with this, her personal essay? It's a wild, funny, just-the-other-side-of-believeable ride.
The After Wife by Gigi Lavingie Grazer. Another book by the same author, taking a zany look at widowhood in, once again, Southern California.
Inferno by Dante Alighieri. The classic poem about what happens to you in the afterlife if you are naughty.
The Bling Ring Directed by Sophia Coppola. Fictional movie based on a true story of Beverly Hills teenagers behaving very badly.
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