Young Adult Literature without Apology

Amy's assessment of contemporary young adult literature, organized by author and title, censored by noone.

Realistic | Romance | Science Fiction | Historical Fiction | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery

Nelson, Blake (2006). Paranoid Park. NY: Viking Juvenile. ISBN: 0670061182.

When the 16-year-old unnamed narrator of this new novel by Blake Nelson (of the inimitable Girl) decides to visit a sketchy local skate park, he gets involved with a small group of homeless punks and becomes the unwitting accomplice in the death of a security guard. Told in letters to an unidentified (until the end) friend, this book details his grief, remorse and fear of getting caught. As he struggles to keep this secret under wraps, he is also working to navigate a new semi-relationship with a cheerleader who seems more into the experience of having a boyfriend--any boyfriend--than in really connecting with him, and in coming to terms with his parents' divorce. Given the premise(s), it would seem like this could really disintigrate into a Problem Novel; however, the fact that none of the issues are ever really resolved makes this book a bit more believable and real. This is a tense novel from beginning to ambiguous end that doesn't really get off the ground in the same way that Nelson's Girl did. As with most of Nelson's work, however, the strength of this book really lies in the author's uncanny ability to realistically depict teenage subcultures from the point of view of the subcultural dabbler. Unlike other YA novels that purport to give readers a glimpse of the cool, edgy kids but end up reading like poser manuals (and, yes, I am talking about Ellen Wittlinger's Hard Love), Paranoid Park describes the uncertain territory of adolescence spent between the circles of the Normals and the Outcasts.