Twelve Long Months

KLIATT - Myrna Marler

Molly Swain, senior in high school, budding physicist, virginal and average looking, is in love with Mark Dahl, her lab partner, who is one of the most popular boys in town. Strangely, however, he doesn't date. And when Mark is with Molly, he's monosyllabic. He doesn't display any personality to speak of, so she must love him for his looks. She lets him cheat off her lab notes and tests, giving him his best grade ever, and this is the basis of their friendship. Molly is excited to discover that Mark, too, is heading for New York City as soon as the last graduation party is over. She's been accepted at prestigious Columbia University, but he's not going to school: he's got a job painting houses for his uncle. Molly is undeterred in her pursuit of Mark, even after she meets two new best friends and improves her looks and sophistication. She calls him and lets him hang out overnight in her dorm room when he needs to get away. Ultimately, he reveals that he is gay. In New York, he feels liberated and dates the men of his dreams. Molly meets a new boyfriend, a dorky physicist type, who ends up rooming with Mark. To her surprise and no one else's, her chaste boyfriend falls in love with Mark himself. The book's title refers to a year of growth, change, and self-realization in Molly's life, as she learns to overcome disappointment and make friends even when the friends aren't all that they first appear to be. The novel has a darkly comic tone, but Molly is too clueless to be believable. Reviewer: Myrna Marler

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up

Molly is soon to be high school valedictorian in her small town of Le Sueur, MN. She is a genius at science, hopelessly unpopular, and desperately in love with her angsty and mysterious lab partner, Mark Dahl. At first, it appears that he only pays attention to her when he needs to copy her chemistry test answers, but when she announces that she'll be attending Columbia in the fall, Mark starts to take an active interest in her, knowing that he will be living in nearby New Jersey. Life in New York City is a completely different world for Molly. She has two loyal and loving dorm mates who make it their mission to help her come out of her shell. So when Mark asks the new-and-improved Molly if he can crash in her room one night, she thinks that they will finally have their romantic moment. Then she learns that Mark is gay. Although she is crushed at first, the teens are able to build a strong friendship. This breezy novel chronicles the 12 months from graduation to the end of Molly's first year in college. Lovable characters and fun scenarios keep the story moving, and more serious issues regarding the difficulties of coming out elevate this novel from being pure chick lit. Readers are left with the message that the love of a true friend can be just as meaningful as the love of a boyfriend.-Michelle Roberts, Merrick Library, NY

Kirkus Reviews

Molly Swain and Mark Dahl are about to graduate from La Sueur High in Minnesota. She has loved the cute, standoffish farm boy for years, and finally their lab partnership has afforded them the chance to become friends. Molly's off to Columbia on scholarship after graduation, and when Mark announces he's going to his uncle's in New Jersey to live, Molly knows they were meant to be together. While out with new friends in New York City, however, Molly discovers Mark is gay. Their friendship actually grows instead of ending, and when Molly's boyfriend Simon needs a roommate, she offers Mark. Simon is not what he appears to be, though, and Mark and Molly's friendship as well as Molly's newfound self-confidence are tested. Malloy's second outing for young adults might be based on some eyebrow-raising coincidences, but the strength here is the realism of Molly's voice. Too-young cover models mean this might take some selling to the right older teens. (Fiction. YA)