Review: The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour



With high school graduation out of the way, the only thing standing between Colby and Bev's European adventures is their week-long tour with Bev's grrl band, the Disenchantments.  Then, just hours into their drive to the first show, Bev drops a bomb: she's not going.  She's starting college in the fall.  Crestfallen and betrayed, Colby doesn't understand what happened.  They'd been planning this trip since 8th grade.  They're best friends. And because of the trip, he didn't even bother applying for college, and now has no idea what to do.  But the show must go on!  The tour dates are booked. Colby's uncle's van is their transportation.  And it's not like he has anything else to do.  And so the adventure begins...

What I LOVED:

• Richly drawn characters that you "know" and love...and hate...and love
• Sexual tension between a guy and a girl who are "just best friends"
• ROAD TRIP! In the Pacific Northwest!
• the music: Sleator-Kinney, The Supremes, Heart, The Runaways
• WANDERLUST!
• riot grrls
• the quirkiness secondary characters (and sisters) Alexa (her notebook! the magic 8 ball!) and Meg (the question game! her wisdom!)
• the weird, wonderful and memorable people they meet along the way

And there's pretty much nothing that I didn't love, so I guess that's it.  A fast, fun, and satisfying read, The Disenchantments manages to be heartwarming and nostalgic without being frivolous.  Beneath the "will they or won't they?" cover story and "band on tour" fun lies a deeper story about the meaning of friendship and truths about ourselves that we struggle to face.

Highly recommended for: high schoolers heading out into the world (even if it'll be a few years), riot grrls, wannabe riot grrls, those who wish to wander and anyone in a reading rut.

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Review in a Few: As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth

In the middle of nowhere Montana, en route to summer camp via a train, Ry learns that “a statistically improbable number of things have gone wrong,” and camp has been cancelled.  When Ry steps off the train in an attempt to get cell phone service and contact home, the train leaves without him.  So begins his adventure where a statistically improbable number of things to go wrong for him as he tries to get back home.

At 352 pages, Ry's journey home has more twists and turns over a few day's time than statistically probable.  Some points of the story drag, leaving the reader to wonder if Ry will ever get home.  The inclusion of occasional illustrations of Ry's journey are both a welcome addition, but also so sporadic that it feels incomplete.  Brief chapters telling the "related stories" of the simultaneous happenings in his grandfather's, parents' and dogs' lives keep the story moving and the peril building and add a little something to the overall narrative.  The dogs' story, told through illustrations and dog thoughts are especially enjoyable.  An overall satisfying story and something to recommend to older middle schoolers and high schoolers in the mood for a road (water, airplane, train, foot) trip.

As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth
by Lynne Rae Perkins
Published by Harper Teen
Copy borrowed from my middle school library.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.