Notes on a Near-Life Experience

February 5, 2007
Mia, 15, is the second of three children whose parents suddenly decide to divorce. In her upper–middle class California neighborhood, she senses she'll be stigmatized by this, but is "tired of avoiding feeling sad by feeling numb" (the "near-life experience" of the title). She processes her fears and questions in episodic vignettes detailing the changes her parents' split has wrought on herself and her siblings. Newcomer Birdsall is a smooth writer and punctuates her heroine's self-absorbed navel-gazing with gimlet-eyed observations and wry humor. "It's hard to take the government seriously," Mia notes, "when the Terminator runs your state." The build-up to the prom, which ends disastrously, is, however, all there is in terms of plot. The author introduces interesting threads about growing up in Yorba Linda, the birthplace of Richard Nixon, and a romance with Mia's brother's best friend but does not fully develop them. The heroine's epiphany—that in order to work through her problems she's going to have to admit to her patient psychotherapist that she has some—may not be climactic, but there's succor here for kids in similar straits. Even teens whose parents' marriage is intact will likely enjoy Mia's world-weary view. Ages 12-up.

March 1, 2007
Gr 6 Up-Fifteen-year-old Mia Day's life changes drastically when her parents separate. Suddenly Mom is working more and isn't home to cook dinner. Mia's dad has taken up with a sexy Peruvian woman. Her brother, Allen, is acting out. All is not bad in her life, however. Her brother's friend Julian, whom Mia has had a crush on since forever, begins to notice her. She's finally old enough to learn how to drive. Her dad takes her on father-daughter "dates." Finally, Mia's shrink enables her to break through the logjam of repressed emotions she's had about the divorce and to begin to grieve her loss. Divorce and first love are old themes, but the author's spare style, her likable characters, and the witty voice she's given her protagonist set this novel apart. Its short chapters should make it popular with reluctant readers."Catherine Ensley, Latah County Free Library District, Moscow, ID"

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