New Jersey teen Jam is sent to a Vermont boarding school for kids dealing with emotional problems after a mysterious end to her first relationship. Once there, she's assigned to a special English class that requires her and the other four handpicked students to write about themselves in a leather bound journal which transports them into an alternate reality that brings each of them closer to their reasons for being there.
The long version:
Having never read any Wolitzer before this, but knowing her as an adult writer of (possibly) melodrama, this felt like that but with teens and an added fantasy element that came across as stiff and awkwardly inserted into the narrative, from someone who didn't seem to have much experience (or possibly really even affinity for) fantasy-infused drama.
She really didn't seem to have much of an ear for teens either, in terms of their voices or impulses. Her boy characters are of the fantasy ilk written by adult women, they don't sound like authentic teenage boys. The set up of this school never feels plausible (all these kids have emotional problems of some kind but there's a big lack of adult supervision and a total lack of medical oversight, no one there goes to see a therapist despite being sent there for their problems. What exactly were these fictional parents paying for?) It all just felt slight, not well thought out, like the author didn't really enjoy writing it.
She does a decent job of keeping you hanging on for the big reveal, which is the only real page turning element. It's all technically and structurally ok, but its also never enough. Never enough depth of characters, depth of drama, depth of fantasy.
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