Wish You Were Here

A high school senior tries to cope with the shifting patterns of his life while struggling to come to terms with his parents' divorce, his best friend's sudden departure, his mother's remarriage, and his father's nearly-fatal accident.

Grade 8 Up-Years after his parents' divorce, Jackson Watt is still shaky on his feet, still trying to mediate between them. In almost every respect this is a typical Young Adult Problem Novel: first-person narrative, rough language, conversational tone, a charming and sensitive hero, humor, and plenty of problems (divorce, suicide, sex, parental pressure, school boredom). The characters are extremely well drawn and very vivid: Dad, the immature womanizer who nevertheless deeply loves his son; Mom, who finally comes to terms with being a square; two little stepsisters; Dad's lycra'd aerobics instructor girlfriend; the concerned English teacher. The only character who doesn't quite ring true is Brady, Jackson's best friend who runs away in the second chapter. Brady is charismatic and troubled, and his disappearance crystallizes Jackson's anguish over the divorce and his life in general. Brady returns at the end of the book in a tragic and hilarious scene at Graceland that helps Jackson clarify his confusion and make some decisions. Overall, this book is a success and is several notches above the usual YAPN. However, it also shares the flaws of the genre. There is a heavy load of internalizing and explaining of feelings; readers will almost certainly become thoroughly tired of Jackson's internal monologue by the middle of the book. In addition, there is a tendency to pack in so many problems that plot weaknesses result. In the first half of the book, Jackson is preternaturally mature-then he crumbles into drunk driving, manipulative sex, withdrawal-then near the end of the book, his mother suddenly takes charge and starts to act like an adult for the first time, relieving him of a great burden. Even with these flaws, this is a solid and well-written story.
Kathy Fritts, Jesuit High School, Portland, OR
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This ambitious debut touches on safer sex, death, self-worth, relationships, love and the meaning of it all. Jackson (Jax) has more than adolescent angst to contend with during his senior year: his best friend, Brady, runs away and leaves him feeling abandoned and betrayed; his mother remarries; his father, a freewheeling stagehand for rock groups, is almost killed in a fall; he meets Amanda, the girl of his dreams, during a vacation but falters in maintaining the romance. For much of the book, Shoup handles Jax's growing awareness of himself and others with grace and ease, even when many plot devices ring false. Amanda is unbelievably saintly, for example, and the marriage of Jax's father and Brady's mother seems a gratuitous touch while the suicide of Jax's ex-girlfriend on graduation day borders on soap opera. The ending, however, seems to belong to (or constitute) another novel: Jax is reunited with Brady (who has been following the Grateful Dead from concert to concert) and the two make a pilgrimage to Graceland, where they attend an candlelight memorial to Elvis. All of these experiences may have occurred in someone's life, but crowded into one book they seem disjointed and unreal. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 9-12. Seventeen-year-old Jackson Watt is a self-described "good kid," so he tells his parents he understands about their divorce, is happy about his mother's remarriage, and accepts his father's love-the-one-you're-with approach to women. Only with his best friend, Brady, does Jackson let down his guard; but one day Brady, fighting his own demons, just takes off with no word to Jackson or anyone else. During the year that follows, Jackson has to learn to face his anger and recognize his own needs and frailties (including the inability to break off a sexual relationship with a troubled girl). Jackson is a complex, thoughtful, completely believable character. Teens, especially boys, will identify with his struggle to get in touch with his feelings while preserving an aura of being in control. Girls will see him as hiding the sensitive soul they hope is in every boy; however, the author also expresses the reality that on the road to self-discovery, even a sensitive hero may not leave theÿ20women in his life unscathed. That is precisely what makes this beautifully written novel so powerful; Shoup has created a cast of well-developed, well-meaning characters who truly care about one another but who are also trying to achieve personal happiness. Unfortunately, that can't always be done without hurting orÿ20disappointing someone--but that doesn't mean they love less. A touching, thought-provoking, and very candid coming-of-age tale. Jeanne Triner