The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller
My rating: 4/5 cats
i have made a lot of bold statements over the course of my life:
twins are evil
NASA is a drug front/the moon does not exist
france is an island
this book is fun.
and maybe you don’t want to agree with me on a lot of those things, and i totally understand that. but i stand by my statements and i don’t care if i stand alone.
this book is not really like the secret history. it is more like special topics in calamity physics, in the age of the protagonists and the role of the teacher-figure, but i liked this one a lot more than that one, for a variety of reasons.
for reminding me that hypercolor t-shirts once existed
for using the word “vertigo” correctly.
for teaching me how to spell “lede.”
for casually dropping words like “zeugma.”
and for being basically an all-around fun book about the cruelty of youth and the psychological baggage we carry with us over our own teenage mistakes.
is “fun” the wrong word here? it probably is. because it is a very dark book, involving blackmail, bullying, the unsteadiness of the moral high ground, suicide, hallucinations, albinism, roofies, and the high-stress world of the private school.
but to me, it was a page-turning good time. i have different definitions of fun. i would call last night’s episode of game of thrones “fun” and that had a TON of bloodshed. fun!
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i was so relieved that this was told from a variety of perspectives. not that i didn’t enjoy iris’ voice, but i was so grateful when the second chapter was told from the viewpoint of jonah. and as the story progressed, and the narratives began weaving together, i really appreciated this technique, and the delayed gratification it offered. i particularly liked seeing what jonah and iris really thought of each other.
all in all, it is a good mystery story that is peppered with smart and funny characters who frequently say unexpected things. it is occasionally self-consciously written and it lacks the high sheen of sophistication that makes me swoon when i think about the secret history, but again—a lot of fun. but karen-style fun that has a tinge of horror to it. enjoy!
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