Frank, E.R. Life is funny.Penguin, Puffin. 264p. c2000. 0-14-230083-7. $7.95 SA* To quote KLIATT's March 2000 review of the hardcover edition: Eleven teenagers who attend a high school in Brooklyn, NY each relate the story of their sometimes-intertwined lives over a period of seven years. They are of different races and backgrounds, often with little in common except that their tales feel grittily, piercingly real, told in voices so authentic that one would think Frank, a Brooklyn clinical social worker, had a tape recorder tape recorder, device for recording information on strips of plastic tape (usually polyester) that are coated with fine particles of a magnetic substance, usually an oxide of iron, cobalt, or chromium. The coating is normally held on the tape with a special binder. running. There is Sonia, an obedient Pakistani girl, who blames herself when a friend commits suicide; Drew, whose wealthy, white upper-middle-class background doesn't protect him from the pain and rage he feels when his father beats his mother ... Gingerbread gingerbread In architecture and design, elaborately detailed embellishment, either lavish or superfluous. Though the term is occasionally applied to such highly detailed and decorative styles as the Rococo, it usually refers to the hand-carved and -sawn wood ornamentation of , who finds true love (and sex) despite his funny looks and ADD; Ebony ebony, common name for members of the Ebenaceae, a family of trees and shrubs widely distributed in warmer climates and in the tropics. The principal genus, Diospyros, includes both ebony and persimmon trees. , who cuts herself to help forget other kinds of pain; and more. There are parents and teachers who are kind and understanding, and those who are abusive in all kinds of ways. Life is tough for most of these kids, but as Gingerbread happily notes, "Life is funny," and there is love and beauty and hope here, too. The dialogue is always believable, and often raw, and Frank succeeds in creating distinct voices for each narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. . With its slang, profanity Irreverence towards sacred things; particularly, an irreverent or blasphemous use of the name of God. Vulgar, irreverent, or coarse language. The use of certain profane or obscene language on the radio or television is a federal offense, but in other situations, profanity , and explicit talk about sex, this may shock some and make others nod in recognition; it feels real, in a way that few YA novels do, in its depiction of the lives of inner-city teenagers, as they joke, flirt, smoke weed, lash out lash out Verb 1. to make a sudden verbal or physical attack 2. Informal to spend extravagantly Verb 1. at the world, and do their best to get by. The importance of family comes through clearly, for good or for bad, and the support that people can provide for each other is a theme, too. An arresting, accomplished first novel. Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT |
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