Our Song

Gr 8 Up—On the night of a terrible fight with her seemingly perfect boyfriend, Derek, Olive stole his car. She ended up having an accident and was seriously injured; her heart even stopped beating for three minutes. Once she has recovered enough to return to school, she finds everything (except for her best friend, Annie) has changed: her now ex-boyfriend has a new girlfriend and students are gossiping about her. Plus, her parents and the school administration think her accident was a failed suicide attempt. Olive has no real memories of that night, but she is haunted by a song that she has never heard before that is constantly on her mind. When her mother insists that she attend a suicide support group, Olive begins to go to a group for those who have had near-death experiences instead. There she meets bad-boy Nick; he whisks her out of her depression and the stagnant world of her Vista Valley suburb. Olive is perfect as flawed character; she is often mean to her best friend and her adoring younger brother, and she can't let go of the past. The plot is almost clichéd-girl and boy break up, girl finds new boyfriend, old boyfriend wants girl back, girl must choose between them-but the unforgettable and eerie quality of the song and the secrets (both those purposefully kept and those that memory can't retrieve) raise it beyond the normal teen romance.—Janet Hilbun, Texas Women's University, Denton, TX