The Tragedy Paper

November 19, 2012
The legend of a curse “that every year a senior would leave for some unforeseen reason” provides an eerie backdrop to this story set at Irving, a prestigious, tradition-laden boarding school. Foreshadowing and dramatic tension build through alternating, parallel narratives of two seniors in consecutive years, as details of a tragedy involving both boys gradually unfold. Duncan, occupying a room previously inhabited by recent graduate Tim, inherits Tim’s CD recordings describing “the words, the music, my downfall, as well as your perceived or actual role in it.” Tim’s first-person voice is a compelling combination of compassion and analysis, revealing his lifelong challenge of albinism, the unexpected romantic triangle he enters into, and choices that set in motion unfortunate events. Narrative transitions to Duncan’s third-person viewpoint are occasionally jarring; like Duncan, readers will likely find Tim’s senior year trials more interesting. As the relationship between the two characters becomes clearer, however, Duncan’s tale conveys greater dramatic resonance. A playful element infuses the story as tragic themes described in English class play out in the characters’ dramas, adding texture to this strong debut. Ages 12–up. Agent: Uwe Stender, TriadaUS Literary Agency.

December 1, 2012
Boarding school students learn the consequences of poor decision-making. Last year at the Irving School--motto: "Enter Here to Be and Find a Friend"--something terrible happened. Readers will have to push through nearly 300 pages, narrated alternately by Tim Macbeth, a recently graduated senior who transferred to Irving for his final semester, and Duncan Meade, the current senior who inherited Tim's dorm room and with it, a stack of CDs containing Tim's reminiscences of that fateful school term, to find out what it was. Tim, a deeply self-conscious albino, spends an idyllic 18 hours stranded in Chicago with lovely fellow senior Vanessa en route to Irving and is totally smitten. Tim's hopes are dashed by Vanessa's commitment to her popularity and her current boyfriend, the loathsome and jealous yet handsome Patrick. Predictably, however, Tim goes along with Vanessa's furtive occasional advances, all the while whipsawing between his conviction that she cares for him and his crippling self-loathing. Duncan, meanwhile, is alternately transfixed and horrified by Tim's story, as he feels partly responsible for the terrible outcome of Tim, Vanessa and Patrick's love triangle and eventually hopes to mine it for his Tragedy Paper, Irving's multidisciplinary approach to a senior thesis. With his overreliance on obvious foreshadowing, debut author LaBan creates a mystery without thrills and parallel romances that lack any frisson. Readers will wonder, what was the point? Completely, sadly skippable. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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February 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-When Duncan returns to the Irving School, an elite boarding school in New York, he is as preoccupied with the thought of writing his Tragedy Paper, a sort of senior thesis on the nature and magnitude of tragedy, literary and otherwise, as he is with finding his assigned single room and the "treasure" left for him by the prior year's occupant. Once he discovers his name on a small room on the end of the hall, he encounters a stack of CDs left by last year's oddest and yes, perhaps even most tragic, senior: Tim Macbeth, an albino transfer student. Thus begins a compelling narrative tapestry of Duncan's senior year woven with Tim's, come to life from one's taped voice to the other's headphones, giving all the details about last year's traditional senior game that ended in tragedy. Tim explains about meeting a beautiful girl named Vanessa after their flight from Chicago was canceled due to snow and how delighted he was to spend an innocent night in a hotel room after a romp in the snow. He confesses how startled he was to find they were to be classmates at Irving, where his freakishness would preclude a public relationship. Strong plotting and characterization make Tim and Vanessa come to life for readers as much as for Duncan, whose understanding of tragedy becomes almost overwhelmingly acute.-Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA

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Starred review from November 15, 2012
Grades 7-12 *Starred Review* It's an Irving School tradition: each graduating senior chooses the incoming senior who will inherit his dorm room and leaves a treasure for the new occupant. Duncan hardly expects his treasure to be life changing. After all, it's just a stack of CDs narrated by Tim, the strange albino student who came to Irving for the first time last year. Yet as Duncan becomes more obsessed with each successive CD, he also becomes more determined to make the most of his senior year opportunities with fellow student Daisy and as the organizer of this year's senior game. Debut novelist LaBan takes us into private-school culture as well as the heads of two charming yet very different teenage boys and their parallel love stories. Eventually, LaBan's ever-building suspense reaches a harrowing climax. The private school aura heightens the book's fascination. Nonexistent parents; well-intentioned, likable faculty on the periphery; elaborate dorm rooms with overstuffed closets; and even the romantic, snow-covered campus all contribute to a setting that adds heft and intrigue. Finally, LaBan weaves a single underlying thread through both boys' narrativesthe tragedy paper. A senior-year requirement possessing its own myths and legends and assigned by the very exacting, personable Mr. Simon, the paper must answer for both the Irving graduate and the reader the ultimate question: how do you define tragedy?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)