Life As I Knew It

Sixteen-year-old Angelina Rossini lives a fairly normal life in her small Vermont town until the day that her father dies, and then everything in her life changes.

Grade 7-10–Sixteen-year-old Angelina Rossini's small world in Blodgett, VT, has fairly typical trappings: classes, friends, choral concerts, and a slightly embarrassing parent; but all that's normal quakes when her 69-year-old father suffers a stroke. One moment, he is preparing for his morning shower; the next, strapped into an ambulance. Thus is Angelina's life separated into a before of cheerful enthusiasms from her robust Italian father and an after of inarticulate, wheelchair-bound barks and mutterings. After weeks in the hospital, her father begins his new sort of existence in the family garage, refitted with a handicapped-accessible bed and bath. Time is short, though, for the teen and her mother to give and get what love they can from a man once so full of life. While written in a conversational tone that is well suited to the audience, the novel's appeal will be strongest for those who identify with the protagonist's situation. The author succeeds in creating a handful of strong homosexual characters–Angelina's best friend; her mother's good friend who lends a hand; and even school nemesis Celeste, who turns out to have a crush on Angelina. When Angelina's dad, otherwise unable to talk, sings along at the Andrew Lloyd Weber school show, both the audience and readers are touched; but the novel is ultimately more therapeutic than engaging.–Suzanne Gordon, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee, GA
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