Random House Publishing, May 30, 2017.
Three Stars
Once, in
Lourdes chronicles the powerful connection between
four teenage friends in the turbulent summer of 1968. They are misfits on the
edge of adulthood, yet still filled with a childlike innocence. The friends
live in Lourdes, Michigan where they hang out in a park nicknamed “The Haight”,
in imitation of the free love revolution happening in San Francisco. They spend
their time there discussing Buddhism and obsessively playing games of bridge.
The story is narrated by Kate, a fiercely loyal friend
who struggles with her weight and with her overbearing stepmother. She is
envious of beautiful Vera, who has a disfigured hand that only serves to make
her striking looks more ethereal – but her real issues (drug use and
inappropriate sexual behaviour) are hidden. The rest of the group is comprised
of the two boys, C.J. and Saint, both of whom are dealing with unusual family
circumstances and many surprising secrets.
After a disastrous, drug-fueled night, Vera asks her
friends to make a pact – they will live the next two weeks to the fullest,
doing all the things they always wanted to do, and then they will hold hands
and jump off the cliff in their beloved park. The novel explores the power of
teenage bonds, even when they don’t seem to make sense to the outside world.
What happens in the next two weeks will determine the futures of all four of
the friends, and whether they will live to experience adulthood.
I expected to like this dysfunctional teen story, but
I just couldn’t connect with the characters, whose naïve confusion and
misplaced loyalty made them seem ridiculous. There were long stretches of plot
that didn’t serve to develop the characters, although there were some nice
short stories embedded in this too-long novel. Vera had the most potential to
be interesting, but her extreme melodrama made it difficult to relate to her.
The heightened emotions of the characters reminded me
of the worst parts of high school, where everything is black and white, and
nothing will ever get better. I could empathize with some parts, but not really
relate to their problems. Nevertheless, I had to keep reading to find out who,
if any, of the friends would survive the pact – although even that was
anti-climactic. While the setting and some of the language was compelling, the
characters were not. This novel is still worth a read, but it just didn’t come
together as nicely as I had hoped.
I received this book from Random House Publishing and
NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment