Ophelia

Gr 9 Up—Ophelia, the self-named teenage protagonist of this illustrated novel, is full of anger and loneliness. Her unhappiness stems from her body image issues, a lack of friends, an absent father, a mother's ex-boyfriend, and her mother herself—a recovering drug addict whose negligence once landed Ophelia in foster care for a year. Ophelia releases her resentment through her art, in the form of graffiti sprayed about town. This satisfies her somewhat, but not as much as when she discovers an abandoned warehouse that soon doubles as her workspace. Initially upset to learn that a classmate—a very overweight, perpetually bullied boy who calls himself Ulysses—has also decided to squat in the warehouse to tinker on an old caboose left there, the two outcasts eventually come to an understanding that evolves into respect and then romance. Readers will want to empathize with Ophelia, but her character is weighed down with so many clichéd and underdeveloped issues that her plight often feels unrealistic. The stilted text fails to offer more than glimpses of Ophelia (via the book's illustrations and her descriptions of her own artwork): a girl who dresses in layers of baggy, oversize clothes to hide from the world. The novel's strengths lie in its unique format as letters Ophelia's written to a visiting author who briefly befriends her—letters Ophelia has no intention of ever sending—interspersed with visually engaging illustrations and collages. However, her transformation by the end of the novel into someone who is hopeful will feel unsatisfying to most.