Lucy and Owen first meet when their NYC building elevator stops in the middle of a city-wide blackout (a la the 2003 NYC blackout). After spending the next day together, their friendship develops via correspondence as they both navigate their personal journeys on the road: he travels with his father across county in search of a home as they recover from his mother's death and she moves with her parents first to Scotland, then London. All the while their friendship blossoms in its various ways.
The long version:
Jennifer E. Smith might be my new favorite "girl book" author. Which I don't think is a disparaging label in the slightest. This is my second Smith read (she only has three young adult books). She has a lovely ability to draw two-person, character-heavy stories with nuance, pathos and intelligence. The boys in her novels, like Owen, may be on the right side of YA boy fantasy, but not too much that it might drag the story into a place I'd find saccharine. Like "The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight" she does an excellent job of establishing place, and in this story she has so many places she's chosen to illustrate.
It's no surprise that two of her three novels are already in theatrical development. Let's just hope the character based plots survive with the subtlety and fleshed-out tone she's manage to put into her books.
Is it Dessenesque? Sure. But she's her own voice and what an entertaining and engaging one it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment