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Overview
Del's lived in Los Angeles for seventeen years, bouncing among foster homes. Smart, sharp-tongued, and a master mimic, she's fed up with her world and with being Del. So she's changing her name and leaving both herself and L.A. behind — until her escape lands her in an all-day traffic jam.
Fast-forward eight years. It's opening night for the one-woman show Del has written and is starring in — a show called Breakout about a Los Angeles traffic jam.
As the novel flashes between Del's present and future, we get a backstage pass into this young playwright's psyche, watching her life being transformed into art, heartache into comedy, solitude into connection. And, finally, anger giving way to acceptance.
Finalist for the 2003 National Book Award, Young People's Literature
Synopsis
Del has spent 17 years bouncing among foster homes. Smart, sharp-tongued, a master mimic, she’s fed up with her world and with being Del. Faking her own death, she leaves both herself and L.A. behind — until her escape lands her in an all-day traffic jam. Fast-forward eight years. It’s opening night for the one-woman play she’s written and is starring in — a show called Breakout, about a Los Angeles traffic jam. Wildly funny, she skewers workaholics, road ragers, pickup artists, and car culture in general. Readers will see what her audience can’t — that the show is a portrait of herself, of her hunger for her mother and her terror of rejection, her free-floating identity and yearning for connection. Flashing between Del’s present and future, Breakout gives us a backstage pass into a young playwright’s psyche, letting us watch her life being transformed into an art, heartache into comedy, solitude into community, and anger gradually giving way to acceptance.
Publishers Weekly
"The author explores the way art allows people to re-examine their lives, in this chronicle of a young woman who experiences an emotional breakthrough while stranded among strangers on the San Diego Freeway, and its contribution to her work onstage," PW said. Ages 12-up. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
"The author explores the way art allows people to re-examine their lives, in this chronicle of a young woman who experiences an emotional breakthrough while stranded among strangers on the San Diego Freeway, and its contribution to her work onstage," PW said. Ages 12-up. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.Children's Literature
Del, the main character, is a 17-year of girl who has been moving in and out of foster homes her entire life. Her experiences have made her cynical and wary of adults but she never gives in to self-pity. Instead she decides to leave L.A. and make a new life for herself, but her plans are foiled when she gets caught in traffic. This sounds like a substantial plot in and of itself, however, in this book the reader gets to know Del twice over; first, as a teenage girl caught in traffic on the day she is running away from home and, second, as a woman eight years later on the opening night of her performance inspired from the insights she had while stuck on the road. The book alternates between the two stories so the teenage Del's progression from anger to acceptance of her situation is interspersed with excerpts from her future self's show. Fleischman has found a clever way to meld the voices of the young and mature Del-the former as she experiences a life-altering event and the latter as she re-enacts it years later. This book teaches the importance of perseverance in the face of adversity without coming across as sermonizing. Readers will be touched and amused by Del's spirit and sense of humor. 2003, Cricket Books, Ages 13 to 16.— Rihoko Ueno