Screwed

April 1, 2013
A pregnant teenager struggles with her choices. Grace is an honor student, daughter of the founder of a group called Save Yourself for Marriage. Nick is a square-jawed jock whom no one expects to "go slumming" with a geek like Grace. A few minutes in the back seat of his car and a failed condom change everything. Whisked away in the night by her horrified mother, Grace finds herself being examined by a doctor planning to perform an abortion. When she refuses, her hypocritical parents throw her out. Grace is rescued by the neighborhood yenta, a childless Holocaust survivor. Mrs. Teitelbaum offers Grace love, a home, post-baby college funds--and an understanding great-nephew, Charlie. Like a traipse through idealized, 1950s-style teen life, this cautionary tale uses every cliche of white suburban dating rituals and gender roles. It juxtaposes them with gritty dialogue, from "babydaddy" to Grace as "a place to park his junk," that comes across as an awkward authorial attempt to simultaneously shock and be hip. Shifting points of view and characters rarely in the moment as they indulge in introspection make for a preachy, adult view of teen life that undermines any possible authenticity. With few real consequences to anyone's actions, it's hard to tell who the intended audience is for this formulaic, ultimately unsatisfying novel. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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November 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-The night Grace Warren, a shy, unpopular, straight-A 17-year-old, decides to lose her virginity to Nick, the most popular guy in school, she can't know that her life is about to change. Soon enough she discovers that she's pregnant, and Nick wants nothing to do with her. When she admits to her ultra-religious parents what's happened, they kick her out of the house. Luckily, her kind, elderly neighbor, Helen, takes her in. Yes, Grace must make some hard decisions and has to deal with the scorn of her family and friends, but, in fairy-godmother fashion, Helen provides for her, never judges her, and is always ready to pave the way for her. Even though Nick rejects her, Grace has a prince charming in the person of Charlie, who is content to wait patiently for her to figure her life out. The writing is confusing at times; the narrative voice can change abruptly between paragraphs, interrupting the flow of the plot, what little there is of it. The tone of book is sanctimonious and off-putting, and the characters are dull, uninteresting, and one-dimensional. Though this novel tackles a hot-button issue, it falls short of delivering a believable tale about the very real challenges that face a majority of teen mothers.-Elizabeth Jakubowski, formerly at Watervliet Public Library, NY

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