Flat-Out Love

The Basics:

Title: Flat-Out Love

Author: Jessica Park

Publisher: Initially self-published in 2011, later picked up by Amazon Children's Publishing (I think, based on the acknowledgments and Amazon listing)

Pages: 343

Overview:

Julie is a college freshman from Ohio who has moved to Boston to attend Whitney. Improbably, she has arranged for off-campus housing via Craigslist, and when that inevitably falls through, a local friend of her mother's invites her home until she can get her bearings. What Julie does not know when she accepts is that the family is dealing with a great deal of dysfunction, and she quickly takes it upon herself to help 13-year-old Celeste, who seems to be developmentally delayed and struggling. She also begins an online friendship with absent son Finn, navigates a complicated friendship with not-absent-but-geeky son Matt, and slowly unravels the secrets and pains of her host family. 

Why I Read It:

I was looking for something light after the unfathomable amount of crying brought on by the mid-section of Welcome to Zero City, Baby, so I was drawn to the Young Adult section on my Kindle. Having used my Amazon Prime loan for the month, I also was not discouraged by the Prime $1.99 price tag on Flat-Out Love. Ultimately, I had a bit of trouble putting it down despite some eye-rolling, and I read it in two days.

Why You Should Read It:

You're a bit of a romantic who enjoys YA fiction and isn't devastated by pretty obvious twist endings. You also are not turned off by extremely contemporary writing (facebook statuses, talk of twitter, Justin Bieber), and you can deal with OC-Season-3 levels of banter from basically every character. 

Those possible deterrents aside, I found quite a bit to be charming about this quick read. Julie rings true as a current college student, and Matt is complex and lovable and nerdy in a good way. While some aspects of the plot are beyond improbable, they work in the context of the hopelessly romantic, squishy feelings this kind of writing can evoke. And THAT being said, this is one that makes you feel squishy a few times without being Nicholas Sparks gooey. Also, there are a couple pretty sexy moments.

My favorite part was the 13-year-old character, Celeste. She is a precocious, intelligent young lady (Think a modern version of Salinger's Esme), but she is also damaged, socially inept, and prone to spending her time with a life-sized cardboard version of her brother Finn. Her developments and setbacks are engaging and sweet, and you can't help but love her and want her to succeed. 

There is probably a lot about this novel that a literature purist (/snob) would scoff at, but at the end of the day, I read it in three sittings in two days, stayed up until 2:30 am to finish it, and immediately ordered (for free, but still) the companion novella told from Matt's point of view. Yup, I'm gonna read the same story again. So all in all, I can't seem to complain. There are also many gushing online reviews for this book calling it things like, "the best book I've ever read," so it seems that others may recommend it in stronger terms. 

Welcome To Zero City, Baby

The Basics:

Title: Welcome to Zero City, Baby

Author: David Racine

Publisher: Dufour Editions, 2012

Length: 512 pages

The Overview:

Sixteen-year-old Teri is dragged from her comfortable life in Baltimore, MD to muggy rural Mississippi when her mother accepts an administrative job at a southern college. There, Teri must adjust to life at her new school and navigate social entanglements while making sense of her parents' odd separation, which has caused them to move into two independent sides of the same duplex home. When Teri meets Nother Martin, the son of a local blues legend, he and his large, sprawling family introduce her to a more content way of life. However, she must face more than her fair share of tragedy and heart break and in the process accept the harsh realities and responsibilities of adulthood. 

Why I Read It:

A friend who is an editor for Dufour Editions recommended it. Also, at 18 I moved from Maryland to New Orleans, so Teri's move as a teenager mimicked mine in many ways. 

Why You Should Read It:

Teri is a strongly-written character with a sharp wit and realistic teenage concerns and flaws. The majority of the book is written in first person in her voice, providing the reader a strong narrative. However, third-person vignettes occur throughout the plot, allowing Racine some degree of omnipotence and giving us a glance into other characters' motivations. The format works brilliantly with the plot. Teri's parents are also both robust, enjoyable characters. Her mother is a hard-line, over-achieving academic with lofty goals for her daughter, while Teri's father is a sympathetic, comforting man with more than a little bit of wisdom, in the vein of Atticus Finch. 

The Martin family is perhaps the most inspired aspect of Welcome to Zero City, Baby. Teri's love interest Nother is the son of legendary local musician Crosscut Martin and a roadside Cajun fortune teller named Madame Marie. His slew of siblings, in-laws, nieces, and nephews paint a warm picture of close-knit family life in the Mississippi Delta. Nother himself is a unique, soft-spoken, independent young man who leaves a lasting impression long after you've put the novel down.

Perhaps most importantly, this novel addresses hard lessons that every person must learn in the process of becoming an adult, and it does so without indulging in heavy-handedness or cliche. I believe that the struggle to escape teenage pains and hardships is largely a struggle against oneself, and Teri also must learn this lesson while dealing with legitimate emotional pain. 

Overall, this book progresses nicely and elicits a wide range of strong emotions. I would recommend it to anyone who is comfortable with long novels that do not always move at break-neck speed. If you are willing to put in some real time getting to know and love the characters, this one will not let you down emotionally or intellectually.