From Publishers Weekly
Dessen's realistic portrayal of contemporary teens and their moral challenges breathes fresh life into well-worn themes of rebellion and first love. Halley has always been close to her mother, a therapist who publishes books about adolescent behavior. But the summer before her junior year of high school, Halley begins cutting the umbilical cord. She and her best friend, Scarlett, start hanging out with Ginny Tabor ("a cheerleader with a wild streak a mile wide and a reputation among the football team for more than her cheers and famous midair splits"); Halley dumps her nerdy boyfriend (the son of her mother's best friend) and becomes involved with reckless Macon, a boy her parents have forbidden her to see. Then Scarlett discovers she is pregnant two months after her boyfriend Michael is killed in a motorcycle accident. Walking a line between childhood and adulthood, the two girls turn to each other instead of their families for support. Together they explore the meaning of love, sex and responsibility. This romance/coming-of-age story is not as tightly written as Dessen's debut, That Summer; it suffers from some scenes reminiscent of soap opera and from flat presentations of almost all the adult characters. But Dessen's fully developed characterizations of charismatic teens, particularly the rebel-without-a-cause-type Macon, are sure to attract readersAespecially those who, like Halley, have felt the urge to take a walk on the wild side. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Gr. 7^-12. As in her popular first novel,
That Summer (1996), Dessen has a perfect ear for the immediate daily details of a middle-class teenager's home, school, job, party scene--the elemental push and pull of family and friends. In this story, Halley has always been the "perfect daughter," but the year she turns 16, she breaks from her domineering mother, attracted by Macon, a wild, dangerous boy who takes her where she's never been. Should she sleep with him? Her best friend, Scarlett, says no, not until Halley is sure Macon loves her. Then Scarlett turns out to be pregnant--the condom "came off," the boy is dead in an accident--and she refuses an abortion. There is a lot going on, and this novel is not as tautly written as the first one. The metaphors are overstated and contrived, especially the "Grand Canyon" between Halley and her mother. Halley's boyfriend remains vague, even in the love scenes, not only because she doesn't know much about him but also because, like all the males in the story (including Halley's dad), he's only there as background to the women's conflict. The exciting center of the story is Halley's relationship with Scarlett: here Dessen gets it exactly right, from the scenes at the cash register in the supermarket where they work to the candid treatment of Scarlett's pregnancy. Month by month Halley supports her friend through the discomfort and the drag. The climax of the book is the joyful birth scene, when the women are there with Scarlett--Halley, her mother, and Scarlett's mother--all strong and loving together for their newborn girl. The book title fits: many teenage girls will find themselves in this story.
Hazel Rochman
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von Sarah Dessen
von Sarah Dessen
von Sarah Dessen
von Sarah Dessen
von Jay Asher
