On The Outside: My Review Of Debutante Hill

High school hasn’t changed much in the past sixty years. There’s still division between social groups, the drive to fit in, and the thrill of first love.

All of these form the basis of Lois Duncan’s 1958 debut novel, Debutante Hill.

Overview

Genre: YA, Classics

Debutante Hill follows high school senior Lynn Chambers, who is the most popular girl at Rivertown High and the princess of The Hill, the town’s richest neighborhood. But when debutante season comes to her small town, her father forbids her from joining in because he believes it divides the rich from the poor.

Though Lynn is heartbroken and angry at her father’s decision, it causes her to look outside of her own friend group where she finds that just because other people didn’t grow up on The Hill, doesn’t mean they aren’t good people.

My Thoughts On Debutante Hill

Despite the fact that this book was first published 65 years ago, many of the issues and themes in Debutante Hill are still relevant today.

The most prominent theme in Debutante Hill is how people often divide themselves by social status, wealth, and pretty much any perceived differences. At the start of the book, Lynn is almost the stereotypical definition of a popular princess. However, she is quickly excluded when all her friends become debutantes and she does not.

I think that this is important to note because even all these years later, high school is still like this for many teens.

I love it however, that when Lynn’s friends reject her for not doing what they do, Lynn makes an effort to search out new relationships beyond the popular crowd. When she does this, the world within the story blooms.

Lynn breaks out of her rich girl mindset and begins to have compassion on those around her.

This book also introduced one of the first love triangles in YA literature between Lynn and her two suitors Paul and Dirk.

Paul is from The Hill just like Lynn. He’s a college freshman who gives to everyone which means that sometimes there isn’t enough left for Lynn.

Dirk is a bad boy from the other side of town who underneath his attitude, almost has a heart of gold.

Personally, the whole time I was reading this, I liked Dirk better than Paul.

I feel like Paul was so busy helping everyone else that he often didn’t put his relationship with Lynn first. This often causes issues between the two of them. Especially when he commits to escorting one of the debutantes to an event instead of spending time with Lynn.

However, Dirk wanted to put Lynn first and did so. When they first started spending time together, Dirk was a little bit of a jerk. But later on, he actually went back and apologized to Lynn for the way he acted and started being a terrific gentleman.

All of that made for a great story, but ultimately the ending wasn’t my favorite.

Final Thoughts And Rating

Duncan seamlessly put together a beautiful story that both teens and adults will enjoy. Debutante Hill is truly a masterpiece of YA literature.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Would I Recommend This Book: Yes!