Sex & Violence

Gr 10 Up—Seventeen-year-old, perpetual "new guy" Evan relocates all too frequently with his unsettled widower father, hence never making any real friends. However, he has no problem scoping out easy girls in whatever town they happen to land. At a boarding school in North Carolina while his father is working overseas, Evan's sexual encounters with the wrong girl, schoolmate Collette, lead to his ruthless battering outside the group showers by two stereotypical big bruisers who also viciously rape Collette. Although Evan's badly scarred body heals, his wounded spirit struggles with post-traumatic stress. Spurred into trying to be a good parent, his father moves them to the family's lake house in rural Minnesota and enlists a helpful therapist. There Evan, at first uncomfortably, connects with a whole new cast of teens who offer friendship, partying, sexual, and even romantic potential; gets a job and a car; and slowly begins to resolve his feelings about the assault against him and Collette by writing therapy-prescribed unmailed letters to her. At the same time, Evan's persistent negative behavior means trouble again, though this time he might finally learn a genuine lesson. Evan is not likable initially, especially in the callous ways he sizes up and uses females, but after his horrifying ordeal he transforms into someone with and for whom readers will eventually sympathize, want to shake into sensibility, and feel hope. Crass, crude, yet accurate language amid a balance of harsh moments and sensitive transitions pepper this disconcerting but extremely well-crafted and thought-provoking story for mature teens.—Diane P. Tuccillo, Poudre River Public Library District, CO