The Tragedy Paper

Gr 9 Up—When Duncan returns to the Irving School, an elite boarding school in New York, he is as preoccupied with the thought of writing his Tragedy Paper, a sort of senior thesis on the nature and magnitude of tragedy, literary and otherwise, as he is with finding his assigned single room and the "treasure" left for him by the prior year's occupant. Once he discovers his name on a small room on the end of the hall, he encounters a stack of CDs left by last year's oddest and yes, perhaps even most tragic, senior: Tim Macbeth, an albino transfer student. Thus begins a compelling narrative tapestry of Duncan's senior year woven with Tim's, come to life from one's taped voice to the other's headphones, giving all the details about last year's traditional senior game that ended in tragedy. Tim explains about meeting a beautiful girl named Vanessa after their flight from Chicago was canceled due to snow and how delighted he was to spend an innocent night in a hotel room after a romp in the snow. He confesses how startled he was to find they were to be classmates at Irving, where his freakishness would preclude a public relationship. Strong plotting and characterization make Tim and Vanessa come to life for readers as much as for Duncan, whose understanding of tragedy becomes almost overwhelmingly acute.—Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA