September 15, 2026 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
In the 1980s, the narrator (who is unnamed, since the book is told in second person point of view) dreams desperately about going to college, since her home life is centered around her brother, who is addicted to heroin. Her parents always make excuses for him, and blame others for his actions. Finally, he gets himself in trouble that they can't solve without taking the college fund the narrator was left by her grandfather. Realizing that she won't be able to break free, she decides to become an exchange student, and gets matched with a family in Norway. She goes to the country in the summer, takes some intensive language courses, then goes to live with a family with two younger children. They are happy and supportive, and she does well in school. She has a boyfriend, and is glad to be away from her family. There is some drama with her friends from back home, and her relationship with the boyfriend also has its ups and downs, but when she is called back to California suddenly, she realizes that her family doesn't care as much about her as she needs them to, and she must decide where her place in the world is.
This novel in verse is very compelling, but also very much a young adult book. There is more mature language, a little drinking, and more than several mentions of sex. The author spent a year on exchange in Norway in the 1980s, and this is crystal clear. The emotions of going away on one's own, and the casual way in which teens during that era were allowed to solve their own problems, made me nostalgic, since I spent a year in college in Greece. High School readers will be amazed at the differences, but will also enjoy this story about finding one's path. I won't be buying it for my middle school library, but would buy it for a high school library where verse novels are popular.
No comments:
Post a Comment