Review: The Day Before

THE DAY BEFORE
Lisa Schroeder
Simon Pulse

With her life completely out of her control, Amber disappears to the beach for a day. Away from her family, away from her friends, and away from her problems. One perfect day. She doesn't expect to meet Cade, an interesting boy who seems to be escaping something just like she is. Together they agree to have the perfect day: no regrets, no problems, no questions. But of course, the more Amber gets to know Cade the more she cares about him and the more she wants to ask: what is he running from?

Told in verse (which I love), this book had unlimited potential. A perfect day, no regrets, like the angsty book version of Ferris Beuller's Day Off. And while in some ways the book more than lived up to this potential, in other ways it didn't. For starters, I love novels in verse and this one was written spectacularly. The beauty and simplicity of Lisa Schroeder's poems is so much more than I was expecting. However, because the subject of the book - the thing Amber's trying to escape - isn't revealed until over 75 pages in, the start of her story is confusing. It's clear that she loves her family and that she has amazing friends and without knowing what was going on in her life that was so horrible, it was difficult to connect with her. And the subject matter, once it's revealed, is one that I had many questions about and novels in verse make it difficult to answer a lot of these non-emotional questions, so I was left wanting more explanation for some things.

However, my biggest problem with the book, the main reason I didn't absolutely 100% love it, was because of the relationship between Amber and Cade. Her attraction to Cade is incredibly fast, especially considering how little they knew about each other. In her mind she connected with him on a deep and very real level, and though I saw this connection between them to a certain extent, it didn't come across as powerfully as Amber felt it and the character of Cade on his own was, while not unappealing, definitely more boring than I would have expected for the majority of the book. I wanted more focus on Amber's story and the book's huge focus on the romance between Amber and Cade never captivated me. Much of my ambivalence about Cade was redeemed in the book's ending, but I'd rather not say any more about that because I really, definitely don't want to spoil anything that happens.

That all said, can we please go back to the writing of this book? Because the straight-to-the-heart simplicity of the poems is the exact reason I love verse novels so much. They're emotionally charged without sidelining into wordiness and purple prose. At its best, a novel written in verse is relatable and heart-tugging even if, as in the case of this book, the characters and their problems are very different from your own. And The Day Before achieved that level of relatability. Amber's love for her mother, her confusion at the crazy way her life was spinning out of control, was written so well, as were the many little moments captured during her day with Cade. So while the romance may not have captivated me, the story and especially the writing definitely did.

Review: The Best and Hardest Thing

THE BEST AND HARDEST THING
Pat Brisson
Viking Juvenile

Molly Biden, sick of being seen as "saintly," decides to go after bad-boy Grady Dillon. With the help of her best friend she undergoes a makeover to become the sort of girl a boy like him could be interested in and for the first time in her life she isn't the quiet, studious good girl everyone expects her to be: she's bad. But when she ends up pregnant, she realizes that her new personality and affections for a boy she really doesn't know very well has gone too far and she finds herself having to make some very tough decisions.

A big part of the reason I wanted to read this book was because it's written in verse and I have a love for novels in verse. With some stories it works extraordinarily well but unfortunately with this particular story I felt like the poems were more of a liability. Though sex and pregnancy are talked about very frankly, I felt that there was so much glossed over. Molly's a smart-but-stupid girl being raised by her grandmother and her family history, especially the death of her mother, was some of the most powerful stuff in the book. I felt like it gave a real glimpse into her character and wished that it had been explored in more detail. There's not a ton of character development here, partly due to the format of the book. This is a very issue-driven novel and the despite the fact that Molly's actual pregnancy takes up less than half of the book, this issue took over everything else. I often felt that Molly wasn't so much a character as a type of character and as much as I enjoyed the book, I wanted more depth to her character.

This was an enjoyable novel. There were hints of a great and very moving story lying beneath the surface, but sadly they remained only hints and at times the issue and overall message of the book overshadowed everything else. I did appreciate the mature way Molly dealt with her pregnancy -- not by hiding it from herself or other, but by facing it. I wish her choice had been explored in more detail as it's one I don't think I've seen presented in a YA novel before - at least not from this perspective. If you're looking for a teen pregnancy book, I'd recommend adding this one to the list.

Review - Purple Daze

PURPLE DAZE
Sherry Shahan
Perseus Books

Purple Daze, set in the LA of 1965, follows a loosely-knit group of six teenage friends during this time. Written primarily in verse, the book is a combination of their letters, poems, and journal entries interspersed with news headlines and articles from that time period.
As someone who pretty much just thought the cover was awesome-looking, I was thrilled to discover that the story is told in verse. Though I'm a huge fan of novels written in this way, I really think that some stories work better in this format than others and I wasn't sure where this story would fall. Happily, this look at the political and social scene of 1965 works surprisingly well told in verse. I can't explain it any better than to say that, with this book, the style just fits. 

Another thing that works really well here is the split-narrative. Through the eyes of six different teenagers we get a bigger story than we'd get if the book were only from one character's point of view. Unfortunately, there are pitfalls to having so many narrators and with this book one of the pitfalls is that it was hard to tell how the characters were related. Though some were obviously dating and others were best friends, I found myself having to best-guess at the relationships between some other characters (Cheryl and Phil, for instance). Additionally, though I know some people will love this aspect of the book, for me the scattered news excerpts pulled me out of the story.

One of the things this book does best, to its credit, is defining the setting. The time and place of these characters rings out loud and clear, easily pulling even someone who knows very little about this part of history (ie. me) into the story and the narratives. The further into this book I got, the more I cared about the characters and their relationships and individual stories. I found myself cheering for them, hoping for things to turn out a certain way. This is one of those "quiet" books that I fear won't get the attention it should. The writing is honest and at times beautiful, the characters are well-written, and the setting is great. Despite being set in a very turbulent time, the book itself is action-light and character-heavy, which I love and I think through this it manages to paint an incredible picture of the time period.

I especially recommend this book to anyone interested in knowing more about the social and political climate of America in the 1960s, readers who enjoy split narratives, or who want to read a book in verse.
Purple Daze is set to be released March 22, 2011.