Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Hold Still


Nina LaCour's book of this title examines friendship and its loss. Caitlin finds her best friend's journal a few months after Ingrid has committed suicide. She reads it slowly over the course of the novel as she tries to make new friends, flunks her favorite class- photography, and builds a tree house. Caitlin's depression is palpable, but LaCour's take on her spiral (upward) through the book's progression is engrossing. 

LaCour's latest book, The Disenchantments, is just as engaging as it follows Colby and Bev as they hop in a VW bus for a final tour of Bev's band. It is the summer after graduation. Eschewing college, their plan is (or was) to depart for a backpacking trip across Europe after the tour. However, Colby soon finds out Bev has had other plans all along. 

LaCour aptly captures the awkward silences, tense navigations, and extravagant snack orders of any epic road trip. A sprinkle of tattoo artists, record store clerks, and graffiti artists add color to the realistic back and forth of four friends who will soon be going their separate ways.

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