Bibliography: Haines, Lise. (2009). 
Girl in the Arena. New York: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books. ISBN: 978-1599903729
Plot Summary: Teenaged Lyn hangs out with her friends and works a not so glamorous job in fast food. But when her latest father has a match, she is expected to be there in the arena watching next to her mother. Her father is a neogladiator and Lyn and her family are bound by the rules of this bloody and gruesome sport. Lyn is both attracted and repelled by the violence and the culture and the rules, and when her latest father is slain by a younger fighter on the rise, the ruling body of the sport decides that Lyn must marry him. Lyn however, decides that she wants to figure out her own life, and realizes the only way out is to fight him in the arena herself.
Critical Analysis: I’m not quite sure what I think about this book. On the one hand, the story and voice of Lyn are very compelling. You fell as though you are inside her head, that you hope she pulls out and succeeds, saving her family, their home, and her dignity and pride. You want her to find her own way, to buck the system. It is an added touch that Haines manages to make her father’s killer a genuinely nice guy.
I see several reviews and the publishers calling this a satire. And perhaps that’s where I am missing something? From the prologue that sets up the beginning of the gladiators and their culture there are spots in the story that just don’t fit somehow, they seem very unserious in the context of life and death. But that is the point, isn’t it? I also find myself slightly irritated by the way the dialogue was formatted in the book. It took me quite some time ot get used to it, and in the beginning I was distracted and had a hard time in some cases determining who was supposed to be speaking.
I also agree with another reviewer, the jacket copy and perhaps even the cover art are misleading as they imply that the book is about Lyn and her fighting when really it is an examination of the sport and her attempts to not fight, to not participate to not do what they want her to do. Several reviews also compare this to The Hunger Games, and I only sort of see that, in that both are taking life and death and turning them into sport. It is hard to articulate, but Girl is a simpler book a different book because it is so focused on Lyn and her inner self, the dichotomy between feeling drawn to the glad culture and violence and repelled by a life ruled by the rules of others. What does all the violence add up to in the end?
Review Excerpts: “Lyn rings true, not least in the conflict between pacifism and her bone-deep allegiance to gladiator culture. The world building, however, carries less resonance…. Entertainingly gruesome and emotionally resonant-but ultimately contrived.”–Kirkus Reviews
“Referencing history and pop culture, Lyn’s droll, sometimes poignant first-person narrative is engaging and intimate, and it deftly combines romance, Lyn’s family responsibilities, and thought-provoking, frequently satirical looks at societal issues, such as celebrity, violence, and a culture that prizes profit over compassion.”–Booklist
“Haines’s protagonist is street-smart, socially conscious, and wise all the way through, even when she begins to have feelings for Uber. Readers will appreciate that her victory comes from life on her own terms and not merely romance.”–School Library Journal
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