Love, Sara

Publishers Weekly

Through a series of e-mail exchanges, diary entries and fiction penned by an intelligent narrator, Lundgren (We Sing the City) shapes a fast-paced and emotionally layered novel about a troubled high school junior living with a foster family. Gradually, readers learn that Sara Reichert was sexually abused by her father and other men, then was shuffled from home to home. Now, having lived with the stable Carol and her two children for nearly four years, Sara is finally feeling somewhat grounded and has her first real friends. Even so, she's haunted by her past, and unable to discuss her feelings except in the stories she writes for her Honors English class. Meanwhile, her best friend, Dulcie, and Dulcie's boyfriend are in a dramatic Romeo and Juliet-like relationship. When Sara first decides to join their suicide pact, then rejects it, she doesn't know who to turn to for help. The narrative starts slowly, but Lundgren smoothly incorporates the various storytelling devices and keeps the narrative going apace. Sara addresses her journal entries to Toulouse-Lautrec (because "You were an outsider too") and her stories add texture and complexity as the plots and metaphors subtly reveal events from her past. Lundgren captures powerful emotions in brief exchanges and the turn of a phrase. Ages 12-up. (Oct.). Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

The "raw power" of Sara's writing reveals the magnitude of both her talent and her problems. Removed from her abusive father's home, she is trying to fit in with a new foster family and make her first friends. This gripping novel employs a variety of narrative devices to disclose Sara's story—e-mail correspondence, her personal journal addressed to the deceased artist Toulouse-Lautrec, newspaper clippings, selected literary quotations, poems, and her creative writing assignments. This mixed bag of expressions is risky, but highly successful. The e-mail enables the reader to experience Sara's everyday world of teen slang and typical high school life, while her journal, writing homework and her teacher's critiques expose a different story with a potentially deadly ending. The sheer creativity, especially of Sara's assignments written in the styles of famous authors, will gratify intelligent teen readers as well as provide them with a fast-paced, engaging story. This novel delivers a double achievement—it addresses teen-suicide, abuse, unwanted pregnancy, and foster families without becoming mired in grief, and it provides a cleverly styled page-turner that recognizes the intellect of teenage readers. 2001, Henry Holt, $16.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer:Betty Hicks

KLIATT

Sara, a high-school junior, uses "enigma" as her screen name in her e-mail messages to her best friend Dulcie. She is indeed a mysterious character at first to the reader, gradually revealing a sad and difficult history including sexual abuse by her father, a suicide attempt, and a series of foster homes. But now Sara can't believe her luck—her current foster mother, Carol, is terrific, it's her second year at the same school, and she treasures her friendship with Dulcie. That relationship is threatened, however, when Dulcie falls for Jon, a handsome senior and football-team quarterback from a wealthy family. Sara worries about this relationship: the girls in Jon's crowd say snide things about Dulcie, while his mother calls her "a money-grubbing little Korean girl" and doesn't want him to see her. When Dulcie finds out she is pregnant, Jon is thrown out of his house, and the two make a suicide pact. Sara finds out and decides to join them, after experiencing conflicts with her younger foster sister and getting yelled at by Carol. Then Dulcie and Jon are killed in a car wreck. Sara is numb with grief, but comforted by Carol, who ends up adopting her. Told in e-mails between Sara and Dulcie, as well as newspaper articles and Sara's journal entries and creative writing assignments for English (done in the style of authors ranging from Shirley Jackson to Ernest Hemingway) this rather melodramatic story will appeal to those who relish tragedies. (White Oleander's depiction of a foster child's journey came to mind.) I liked the creative writing passages, though YAs may not be familiar with all the authors whose styles Sara emulates. This is an ambitious novel that will appeal to YAswho can appreciate the unconventional narrative style. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2001, Henry Holt, 200p., $16.95. Ages 13 to 18. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick; September 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 5)

VOYA

Sara is a high school junior fostered to Carol, a widow with two children. Sexually abused by her father, Sara struggles for equilibrium but is distrustful and difficult. Carol's is her fourth foster family. Half of Sara knows that she is home free with Carol;the other half fears that Carol will return her to institutional care. Sara's best friend is Dulcie, an ethnic Korean adopted at age two by class-conscious, moderate-income Caucasians. A modern-day Juliet, Dulcie loves Jon, her seventeen-year-old Romeo from a wealthy, bigoted family. Sara fears she will lose Dulcie to Jon, but when Dulcie, Jon, and his buddies welcome Sara's company, she identifies with the star-crossed lovers. When Carol and Sara have a falling out, Sara overreacts. Seeing Dulcie pregnant and the lovers facing parental censure, Sara joins them in a suicide pact that culminates in tragedy but also offers hope. The story unfolds through e-mail exchanges, journal entries, Sara's Honors English papers, her teacher's critique of her writing, newspaper articles, phone conversations, poems, quotes, and suicide notes. Reminiscent of channel surfing, the edgy subject matter, slang, and slide-show of styles will intrigue teen readers. Despite Lundgren's impressive command of language, the plethora of literary forms impedes character identification. Readers cannot stay with Sara in one point of view long enough to feel and suffer with her. For a more emotionally revelatory account of familial and father-daughter dysfunction, hand readers John Marsden's award-winning So Much to Tell You (Joy Street/Little Brown, 1989/VOYA February 1990) before suggesting this book. VOYA CODES:4Q 4P J S (Better than most, marred only byoccasional lapses;Broad general YA appeal;Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9;Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2001, Henry Holt, 199p, $16.95. Ages 12 to 18. Reviewer:Mary E. Heslin—VOYA, December 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 5)

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-Through journal entries and e-mails, readers are introduced to Sara, whose voice is alternately light and weighty, as she tells of her slow growth into her new foster home. Sexually abused by her father, Sara was taken from her family and has learned not to trust anyone except her best friend, Dulcie. She has been moved in and out of various homes until landing with Carol and her two children. Sara and Dulcie's frequent e-mails are full of typical teen angst about love and school, clothes and complaints. The normalcy reflected here is balanced by journal entries addressed to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in which Sara reveals her internal struggles. English assignments included in the journal along with teacher comments elucidate that pain and hurt from her past that form the basis of her mistrust and alienation. Even as readers see her beginning to heal, events conspire to push her into believing that there is no hope for her. As the book races to the end, they will be on edge wondering if the strengths she has gained will be enough when pregnant Dulcie and her boyfriend, who has been disowned by his wealthy family, are killed in an accident. Sara is an unreliable narrator at times, and readers will need to pay close attention to subtle hints about what is going on. While lacking emotional depth and complexity, the fast-paced narrative and teen voice provide plenty of appeal, even for reluctant readers.-Carol A. Edwards, Sonoma County Library, Santa Rosa, CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Fifteen-year-old Sara has already experienced extreme trauma in her life. A victim of incest, she has moved through several foster families, all of whom sent her back to "Elmwood," a state home for teens. Now Sara lives with Carol, a single woman with two younger children who appears to truly want her as a daughter. Even better, Sara has found her first friend, Dulcie. Sara finally begins to do well in school, especially in her creative writing class, and enjoys her nightly e-mail conversations with Dulcie. She disapproves when Dulcie falls in love with Jon, a handsome boy from a wealthy family. Once Sara realizes that Jon really loves Dulcie, she becomes entangled in their disastrous affair. She crashes Carol's car and approaches suicide, until Carol intervenes. Lundgren writes with a convincing adolescent voice and finds themes that attract teenage girls, themes like romance, school, friendship, parental tension, and death. Told in e-mails, journal entries, and Sara's creative writing assignments, this debut makes an impact with its realism and insight into adolescent hopes and dreams. It offers hope after tragedy in its portrait of a cynical girl moving toward a responsible and happier adulthood. Lundgren has indeed made a promising start. (Fiction. YA)