Sunday, September 23, 2007

Harley, Like a Person


Bauer, Cat. Harley, Like a Person. New York: Alfred A. Knopf: 2000.

Annotation: Ever think "those people CAN'T be my parents?" Harley certainly does - and with good reason.

Justification for nomination: Harley's freshman year in her suburban high school is a melodramatic time, brimming with classic adolescent firsts: her first dance, her first serious fight with a friend, her first encounter with drugs, her first boyfriend. Accompanying all these milestones, Harley's relationship with her family is growing ever more estranged. The future she imagines for herself bears no resemblance to her home life, and she's none too diplomatic in her attempts to communicate this (what teenager is?) to her parents. As she tries to make sense of who she is, where she's going, and how she's going to get there, the mystery surrounding her parentage (missing birth certificates, close-mouthed parents, whispering relatives, and odd attic discoveries) slowly takes center stage. Harley is an absolutely alive character - lovable yet terribly frustrating, sometimes downright unlikable and snotty. Her growth as she learns to accept the limitations of others (especially her family) is so finely tuned that I cannot help but nominate this, even if other aspects of the book are not so breathtaking. This is in spite of the frustration I felt when the truth of her lineage is brought to light. Not wanting to reveal a plot spoiler here, I'll just say this: it was too happy, or perfect. However, knowing my own bias against happy endings, I can't give my own opinion on the matter very much weight.

Genre: Coming-of-age.

No comments: