Starred review from April 25, 2011
Following in the tradition of John Knowles's A Separate Peace, this eloquent first novel set in 1982 at an all-male boarding school explores circumstances surrounding the accidental death of a student. Seventeen-year-old Thomas's obituary states that he died "as the result of a swimming accident," but his classmate Alex knows that's not the whole story. He attempts to explain what really happened to Thomas in the pages of his secret journal, yet the more he writes the more complicated the truth becomes. Hubbard leads readers down a twisting path to extract bits of truth from journal entries layered with emotion and warped by deception. A day of reckoning forces Alex to choose between his encouraging English teacher, with whom he is desperately infatuated, and the school's golden boy, Glen. Hubbard has a superb handle on her boarding school setting, as Alex, a gifted writer who's influenced by Melville and the poetry they study, turns his eye on the inextricably entwined forces of honor, loyalty, masculinity, and sexuality that dominate the Birch School, as well as his guilt and search for identity. A powerful, ambitious debut. Ages 14âup.
May 15, 2011
It may take a village to raise a child, but a boys' boarding school is a poor substitute, with its 24/7 peer culture and absentee parents "who pay shitloads of money to send their sons away."
And when 17-year-old Thomas Edward Broughton, Jr. dies after diving off a rock in a spot on the river off limits to students, his friend Alex Stromm is left trying to make sense of the tragedy. He writes in the journal his father had given him two years before, an ambitious attempt at "the Not-So Great American Novel," where he hopes that "through careful arrangements of words, order could be made from chaos." His journal contains observations, rough drafts of letters, poems and homework essays. Readers may well wonder at Alex's capacity to write this level of introspective prose, but the journal is a good vehicle for slowly revealing the layers of guilt, truth and deception in this tightly knit community. Hubbard's fine debut skillfully portrays boarding-school life and a young man's will to use words to keep himself afloat in that world.
Readers will eagerly anticipate her next work, and in the meantime they may try such similar, classic fare as A Separate Peace and The Catcher in the Rye. (Fiction. 14 & up)(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
Starred review from June 1, 2011
Gr 9 Up-In October 1982, Alex, who is starting his junior year at an all-boys' boarding school, is plagued with guilt following the drowning of a friend that he and another student, Glenn, witnessed subsequent to the boys' drinking and jumping into a rocky river. The two fear expulsion and lie about what really happened, but they are not sure of what the new, young English teacher knows as she was at the scene after the drowning. Alex copes by spending his days in the library reading Moby-Dick and writing in a journal. He likes the extra attention he gets from Miss Dovecott because of his gift for writing and because he is in love with her; however, Glenn thinks that she senses their guilt and that she is trying to prove that they are lying about the situation. The boys make a plan to jeopardize Miss Dovecott's reputation, and Alex must choose between his own fate and hers. The story builds to a climax that will have readers on edge. It could be read alongside many of the classics that deal with friendship and loyalty, as well as deceit. The structure of the book, with its section headings and quotes, will help to focus the narration for readers as it goes back and forth in time, and the haunting tone of the story line will intrigue them. Those who are looking for something to ponder will enjoy this compelling read.-Karen Alexander, Lake Fenton High School, Linden, MI
Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from July 1, 2011
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* At the beginning of his junior year of high school, Alex loses a good friend to an accidentaland drunkendeath, and by the end of that first semester, he has lost his moral innocence as well. After Alex's friend dies, he retreats emotionally while also allowing his new, young, and pretty English teacher to coax out his poetic abilities. Meanwhile, Glenn, another student and former friend, tortures Alex with doubts about Alex's own motives related to both the dead boy and the English teacher, encouraging Alex to question his very self. Although Alex knows that his admiration for the teacher is fanciful and not connected to the fact that she may have witnessed certain events related to the death, he recognizes that he is socially outclassed by the powerful Glenn. Can Alex muster the will to counter Glenn's manipulations to oust the teacher? Both plotting and characters are thoroughly crafted in this stellar first novel. The poetry that Hubbard produces from Alex's pen is brilliant, and the prose throughout is elegant in its simplicity. Although the novel takes place in the early 1980s, it could indeed unfold at almost any time, and its boarding-school setting is specific yet accessible to readers in any school setting. Reminiscent of John Knowles' classic coming-of-age story, A Separate Peace (1959), this novel introduces Hubbard as a bright light to watch on the YA literary scene.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
July 1, 2011
Alex tells of his classmate's drowning and the guilt he carries. Weighing on him are secrets that he and friend Glenn are hiding. The characters' relationships become increasingly complex as their identities--Alex's as a "Good, Solid Kid," for instance--get murkier. The buttoned-up boarding school setting makes the perfect backdrop to this tense dictation of secrets, lies, manipulation, and the ambiguity of honor.
(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from July 1, 2011
Alex Stromm's journal tells the story of his boarding school classmate's drowning and the heavy guilt he carries from his involvement. Weighing on him are secrets that he and friend Glenn are hiding from everyone, including the new English teacher who was there at the river and knows more than she's letting on. Glenn is convinced of Miss Dovecott's intention to expose their lies about what really happened and is sure she has ulterior motives for the special attention she's paying Alex. But Alex is madly in love with her and doesn't believe or trust Glenn anymore. Hubbard's characters are confounding and intriguing; their relationships become increasingly complex as their identities -- Alex's as a "Good, Solid Kid," for instance -- get murkier. Numbered lines of description (e.g., "27. His lungs fill with water") tell the events of the fateful day in straightforward chronological order, sprinkled in suspenseful chunks throughout the book. The poignant first-person narration is a deftly woven mixture of confessional entries, class assignments, poems, and letters; Alex speaks directly to the reader of his hidden journal ("If you are reading this, you have happened upon it by accident") as if he is giving the unknown party a special glimpse into his guilty conscience. The traditional, buttoned-up boarding school setting makes the perfect backdrop to this tense dictation of secrets, lies, manipulation, and the ambiguity of honor. katrina hedeen
(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)