tiny pink books

Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty
Crown, 2007

Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling is back, this facing life after college in New York City.  As usual, Jessica examines her life with the same sarcastic, witty voice.  The problem is that nothing really happens in Fourth Comings.  Long time boyfriend Marcus Flutie proposes to Jessica early on in the book, sending Jessica into an existential decision-making crisis.

The problem with Fourth Comings is really that Jessica’s snarky voice, which worked so well for her character through high school and college in the previous books, falls flat in this adult version.  There’s just something that doesn’t translate when taking this once YA character into the adult chicklit genre.  Another problem is that nothing much happens throughout the book, with almost no resolution found in any of the situations Jessica stumbles upon.  Overall, there’s not enough action and those witty observations that once seemed so humorous are tired and at times irritating.

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

Penguin Audiobooks, 2006

Who knew that a book about suicide could be so fun?!  A Long Way Down is the story of four suicidal people who meet one New Year’s Eve on the roof of an infamous suicide spot.  The four potential jumpers have almost nothing in common:  Martin, a breakfast television show host whose life has fallen into despair after he was involved in a widely published scandelous affair with a 15 year old girl. Maureen, a middle aged woman whose entire life for the past twenty years has been consumed with caring for her disabled son…alone.  JJ, an American who is facing the bitter reality of mediocre life not as a rockstar after his band has broken up and his girlfriend has dumped him.  And, finally, Jess, a teenage punk with manic mood swings and a difficult family life, who has just been harshly dumped by her first boyfriend.  The only thing this foresome has in common with one another is the fact that they ended up on a rooftop, ready to plunge themselves off on New Years Eve.  Despite this, the group ends up forming, well, a group.  Their misadventures with suicide take them around London that night and continue on in the coming months.  No one, not even themselves, can really understand the connection they have made as a sort of suicidal family of misfits.

Although based on the concept of suicide, A Long Way Down is really an uplifting and humourous read.  It’s dark humor, yes, but there is a certain lightheartedness that permeates even the most devastating of moments.

The book’s narration is swapped back and fourth among the four characters.  I listened to the audio version which added a significant amount of enjoyment to the experience and worked very well for the format of the book.  The audio version felt much like a play, which in this case turned out to be a very good thing.  The actors chosen for each character add a certian amount of depth, each with very different speech patterns and accents.  Also, the humor translates well to audio format and granted me several laughs on the long drive that I used to listen to A Long Way Down.

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
Viking Books, 2007

Twisted, a young adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak) is the dramatic story of a outcast teenager, Tyler. He got caught vandalizing the school in an attempted prank the previous year and was put on probation and a manditory summer of hard labor community service. as a result, he’s gone from skinny and unknown gaming geek to mysterious super buff loner. Despite his new social status, Tyler is still very much an outcast, though he’s now an outcast that everyone notices. His home life leaves much to be desired with his emotionally cruel father and his alcoholic, can’t-cope-with-it-anymore mom. His younger sister is dating his longtime best friend, leaving Tyler quite alone. The plot meanders in circles for the first third of the book and then suddenly explodes in what is surely supposed to be a realisticly shocking teen problem, but feels very afterschool special. Tyler gets a date with dream girl Bethany and ends up at the local high school party where a vile crime takes place. Tyler, due to his delinquent status from the previous year’s attempted prank, is the number one suspect. Ostracized and treated like a vile criminal by his peers, his school administration, and even his family, Tyler become more and more isolated and depressed as he struggles to make it through this dark period.
Much like Speak, Twisted is the voice of the depressed and isolated high school character. What Twisted lacks, however, is an authentic feeling voice. Perhaps I am just too cynical, but I found the whole treatment to be a little too didactic to really succeed. That said, I did feel motivated to read on through the end of the plot. There’s a dark humor and snarky voice to Twisted that at times works, but felt mostly forced to me.
I would still recommend this one to teen readers who are seeking this sort of dark voice or a problem novel. I think that youngers teens will find this more appealing, as I think that anyone over 15 might have the same reation that I did.