Asher's Fault

September 1, 2013
Guilt can prove more potent than adolescent hormones when, during your first kiss, the little brother you're supposed to be watching drowns. Fourteen-year-old Asher Price lives in small-town Florida with all the average American trimmings: divorced parents, one brother and a broken screen door. Asher's father left the family and is absent save for his mother's frequently voiced disdain. A reserved young man, Asher finds escape from his fractured family with a vintage Minolta. Then comes handsome, charismatic Garrett, who triggers stirrings Asher wants to explore. When Garrett and Asher sneak off to share a kiss at the public pool, Asher's brother drowns. A consequent combination of guilt and religious reflex suppresses any urges Asher has to pursue his attraction to Garrett--or any guy--ever again. Neither as optimistic as David Levithan's Boy Meets Boy (2003) nor as revelatory as emily m. danforth's The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2012), this novel finds itself in a realistically awkward place between. It's a study of how sad and treacherous it can be for an LGBTQ teen--or any teen--to achieve self-acceptance. The rhythm of the text often falls into short phrasing, making it read the way photographers might digest their surroundings: in rapid-fire observations of the tiniest details. A book of subtlety that won't necessarily change the world but could make a world of difference to LGBTQ teens grappling with identity. (Fiction. 14 & up)

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