100 YA Novels: Love and Other Perishable Items
Book 10
When I read the nominees of this year's Morris awards, there was one nominee that I was dead set against reading, Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo. Blame the blurb:
Amelia meets Chris when he trains her for her brand-new job at the local supermarket. Smart and witty, they are perfect for each other. She is smitten, but he, on the rebound from his first, lost love, is preoccupied with the pursuit of booze and sex - and his college degree on the side. More importantly, she is 15, and he is 22. It just can’t happen, can it?
Yeah, I have serious issues with statutory rape. The "Can it?" really irked me. Ultimately, I decided to read it after seeing the School Library Journal review, which made the story sound different. And honestly? The story doesn't read like a romance at all.
Basically, Amelia has one of those awful, all-consuming, hopeless crushes on her coworker, Chris. When you read Amelia's take on Chris, you can see why. He's intelligent, charming, and funny. Everyone likes him. Poor Amelia knows her crush is hopeless, but as their friendship grows closer, she starts to feel a prickle of hope that she could be the kind of girl he likes.
The book is told in alternating parts, the narrative from Amelia's perspective and journal entries from Chris's. Through his journal entries we see that Chris is not quite what Amelia thinks he is. He's intelligent, but he's also self-involved and whiny. He pines over girls who are vapid and/or cruel. He does seem to have genuine affection for Amelia, who he has a definite intellectual connection with (it helps that she's very bright and attends a good school). They have really good conversations about literature and feminism. But Chris also has a realistic viewpoint about their unlikely friendship and how their age differences positions them in very different worlds.
Amelia's voice is wonderfully done. It was scary how well I could relate to her and her situation. This story had a few heartbreaking moments. There were times when I just wanted to wrap Amelia in a big hug. But there were a lot of lighthearted moments as well and the story, in general, was clever and witty. It definitely deserves the nod for the Morris award.
FYI, Love and Other Perishable Items was first published in Australia under the title Good Oil.
When I read the nominees of this year's Morris awards, there was one nominee that I was dead set against reading, Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo. Blame the blurb:
Amelia meets Chris when he trains her for her brand-new job at the local supermarket. Smart and witty, they are perfect for each other. She is smitten, but he, on the rebound from his first, lost love, is preoccupied with the pursuit of booze and sex - and his college degree on the side. More importantly, she is 15, and he is 22. It just can’t happen, can it?
Yeah, I have serious issues with statutory rape. The "Can it?" really irked me. Ultimately, I decided to read it after seeing the School Library Journal review, which made the story sound different. And honestly? The story doesn't read like a romance at all.
Basically, Amelia has one of those awful, all-consuming, hopeless crushes on her coworker, Chris. When you read Amelia's take on Chris, you can see why. He's intelligent, charming, and funny. Everyone likes him. Poor Amelia knows her crush is hopeless, but as their friendship grows closer, she starts to feel a prickle of hope that she could be the kind of girl he likes.
The book is told in alternating parts, the narrative from Amelia's perspective and journal entries from Chris's. Through his journal entries we see that Chris is not quite what Amelia thinks he is. He's intelligent, but he's also self-involved and whiny. He pines over girls who are vapid and/or cruel. He does seem to have genuine affection for Amelia, who he has a definite intellectual connection with (it helps that she's very bright and attends a good school). They have really good conversations about literature and feminism. But Chris also has a realistic viewpoint about their unlikely friendship and how their age differences positions them in very different worlds.
Amelia's voice is wonderfully done. It was scary how well I could relate to her and her situation. This story had a few heartbreaking moments. There were times when I just wanted to wrap Amelia in a big hug. But there were a lot of lighthearted moments as well and the story, in general, was clever and witty. It definitely deserves the nod for the Morris award.
FYI, Love and Other Perishable Items was first published in Australia under the title Good Oil.