Seventeen

October 1, 2005
Gr 10 Up -Sophia, who hates her life and thinks about suicide, is in New York City for the summer, taking uninteresting college classes and bemoaning the lack of a boyfriend. Her world revolves around the trials and tribulations of her statuesque roommate, Claudia, who is a model; high school buddies Shauna and her nerdy brother, JP; and dorm mates Nicole, Kim, and Libby. Claudia's boyfriend cheats on her with Shauna; naive Nichole is raped at a frat party; and JP, who once divulged his love for Sophia, develops an ill-fated crush on Claudia. Sophia meets rich, flirtatious Adam and, on their first date at an exclusive club, she is offered drugs she believes are aspirin and blacks out, waking up in his parents' apartment on the eve of her physics final. He arranges to have his father's friend fix the grade, but Sophia's conscience prevails. In an epiphany, she realizes she loves JP and races to his apartment, only to find that he has suffocated himself with a plastic bag. The tragedy seems contrived, an inevitable finish to a series of dire events and a device that allows Sophia to realize her self-absorption. There is no satisfying follow-up on the other characters and the plot is fairly shallow; but the dialogue is engaging and reluctant readers will be absorbed in the details of dorm life and the party scene." -Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.