Chartbreaker

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Vertsatile Cross charts a girl's course in the heady world of rock 'n' roll. Ages 12-up . (Apr.)

School Library Journal

Gr 9-12 Unable to cope with her depressed mother and her mother's nagging boy friend, 16-year old Janis May Finch steals 100 from her mother and runs away from home. She soon joins Kelp, a four-member rock band struggling to carve a niche for itself in a very competitive field. Its intense, charismatic leader, Christie, reognizes Janis' singing ability and emotional energy as a galvanizer that could propel Kelp to the top of the charts, and he sets out to refashion her image. From Janis, a big, long-haired and unpretty hulk of a girl, he creates ``Finch'' with a hard punk image; a squared-off, short-cropped haircut; and aggressive, karate-like movements. Christie knows that the root of her energy is an attraction to him, so to keep a distance from her, he farms her out to live with his reclusive mother. At first, the group doesn't jell. But when Finch acts out on stage her pent-up love-hate feelings toward Christie, the group's rating take off. From that point on, Christie tries to manipulate her to keep on an emotional edge so that the band's momentum won't break. But he oversteps his bounds in this dangerous game when he sends the press to cover the funeral of Finch's mother (she had died of cancer before Finch could make amends to her). Finch plans a dramatic scheme of revenge, which sets the stage for a surprising and emotional climax. Into this thoroughly consistent and uncompromising first-person narrative, Cross packs a great deal: bitter satire of rock entrepreneurship; a sympathetic understanding of New Wave Music and of the significance of rock video; and memorable, sharply-etched characters whose names encapsule their personalities. She also breaks up the well-paced narrative with eye-catching devices that help tell the story (rock concert reviews; a love-lorn column; an interview; and an obituary of Finch's mother). An engrossing pathbreaker, bringing the rhythms and rhymes of rock music in the '80s to the young adult novel. Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego