I just finished reading Sweethearts by Sara Zarr. I didn’t expect to like it. I read YA, but often reluctantly–so much angst! The characters can be so addled with emotion that I sometimes can’t find them credible…although I can’t say that I was any different at that age. It’s a dilemma: I wonder if portraying the adolscent mind–as it truly is–makes for hardship in the credible, tidy world of fiction. I struggled a bit through Jay Asher’s 13 Reasons Why because the girl who commits suicide–and makes cassettes of her path to that ending–seems so self-aware. She’s documenting her downward spiral. If she had the resilience to do that, wouldn’t she have the resoures to avoid suicide?
But I drank down Sweethearts with only a flutter or two of “Hmm, is that likely?” and enjoyed the writing, characters, and pace of the story. It’s an extremely emotional book and convey the texture of emotion well. What stood out for me was how Zarr covered everything from the trauma of a close call with sexual abuse to teenage make-outs in a way that drew me in without grossing me out.
Here’s the write-up:
When Jenna Vaughn’s childhood sweetheart unexpectedly comes back into her life during her senior year of high school, she is forced to confront her troubled past. This is a story about the power of memory, the bond of friendship, and the quiet resilience of our childhood hearts.
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