"ttyl" by Lauren Myracle

Explorer’s World – Communication skills

“ttyl” by Lauren Myracle

 “ttyl”, a short teenage novel written by Lauren Myracle, written differently than other typical novels. This novel was written in Instant Messaging (IM) format, having the story to be told in a style that’s alike a script. This dramatic novel tells a story between three girls – Angela, Madigan, and Zoe – who are in high school. At first, you know the characters as their screen name, but as the story unfold; you start to get to know who they really are – their personalities, their real names, and their lifestyles. 

Throughout the story, I think it was Madigan who has changed the most, out of all the rest of the girls. She does, by becoming more distant from Angela and Zoe, and starts spending time with another girl (whom Angela highly dislikes), Jana. Like many friendships, Angela and Zoe are left with confusion and the feeling of betrayal. They want their ‘Maddie’ back. While Angela and Zoe frustrates over Madigan; Madigan is badly influenced by her new friend, Jana. 

Later on, Angela and Zoe get distracted with their own boy problems. More problems occur, mainly because each of them likes to keep secrets from one another. Zoe’s boy problem includes an older man, her English teacher. Honestly, I think that was the turning point, because it seems something unlikely for a teenager (in my perspective). This turning point was foreshadowed, as Zoe’s “relationship” with her teacher, gradually became more of a problem, throughout the story.

The theme that's being played out in this novel is friendship. The author is telling the readers how important friendship can be, how others can be affected by the process of someone leaving/"betraying" a friendship.