Vera knows the only thing worse than losing your best friend, is losing him twice. Charlie is gone, dead, never coming back ... her best friend since they were old enough to walk ... but the worst part is that she had lost him months earlier.
Charlie and Vera grew up neighbors. They spent time in the forest near their houses, they flew paper airplanes off the Pagoda, they built a tree house and practically lived in it. Vera spent most of her life secretly in love with Charlie Kahn. There were even a few times she thought it might go somewhere, but she knew it could never really happen.
The other thing that Charlie and Vera do together? Everything they can to avoid turning into their parents. Charlie's dad beats his mom, treats her like dirt, and expects Charlie to do the same, at the expense of teaching him responsibility and decency. Vera's parents got married when her mom got pregnant at 17 years old. Vera's mom used to be a stripper before she took off when Vera was 12, and her dad used to be an alcoholic. They spend so much time trying not to be their parents, sometimes they forget to be themselves. Charlie stands in the spotlight; Vera spends all her time trying to be invisible.
When Charlie starts to drift away from Vera, it's like he's on a crash course to turning into his father after all. He starts hanging out with the detention heads, starts drinking and smoking pot, starts spending time with Jenny Flick - a pathological liar who takes pleasure in ruining other people's lives. It all comes to a head the day that Jenny Flick tells Charlie a lie that breaks their friendship into pieces. How could he believe her? After everything they have been through together, how could Charlie believe Jenny over her?
As much as it hurts, she knows that their friendship is over. Vera is staying out of it. She wants nothing to do with Charlie's new deadhead friends. She's ignoring it. She's staying on her own path, the one that gets her out of this town, and onto becoming a vet. Until that day ... when Charlie doesn't wake up. Now he's following her, 1000 Charlies from the afterlife who want her to tell the truth, clear his name, and let him go. But she can't, she doesn't know how to let Charlie go, she doesn't know how to live without him. That's when the drinking starts.
Can Vera find a way to save Charlie's memory? Can she find a way to save herself? Told in honest, heartfelt prose that pulls no punches, this is a story that shouldn't be missed. Coming of age meets coming to terms with our own mortality in this Prinz Honor award book. Several difference voices weave together a story of love, friendship, and broken families - as sad as it is at times, this book leaves you with a warm feeling in your stomach. Recommended for high school aged teens.
"I felt a mix of wanting to kill him and wanting to kiss him at the same time. When I thought of what true love must be like, I figured it must be like this, and not the stupid eighth grade infatuation most girls my age felt. True love includes an equal part of good and bad, but true love sticks around and doesn't run off to Vegas with a podiatrist," (King, 2010).*Library Link*
If you liked this, check out:
King, A.S. (2010). Please Ignore Vera Dietz. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
No comments:
Post a Comment