Tashjian, Janet. Faultline, a novel.

TASHJIAN, Janet. Faultline, a novel. Henry Holt. 248p. c2003. 0-8050-8063-5. $6.95. S

To quote from the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, September 2003: Becky, age 17, wants to be a stand-up comic, and she practices her routines faithfully, performing wherever she can. At one of her gigs in her hometown of San Francisco she meets a handsome aspiring comic named Kip. Becky has always felt "invisible" around boys, especially in contrast to her best friend Abby, so when Kip comes calling she basks in his attention. At first she is sure they are soul mates; they are with each other constantly, though Abby and Becky's mother both disapprove of the relationship's intensity. Indeed, Kip soon turns from being loving to being controlling, and he even hurts Becky physically, when he is fearful of losing her. He is distraught each time, and swears it will never happen again; but it does, and in the end Becky needs to be rescued from his violent attack by Abby and a protective drag queen who is a family friend. Therapy for both Becky and Kip and a restraining order are the result: and Becky, whose life has been shaken as if an earthquake had occurred, heads off to college, sadder and wiser.

This all-too-realistic look at abuse attempts to give both Becky's and Kip's perspectives; Becky narrates, but entries from Kip's journals are interspersed in the text, along with Becky's "Notes to Self." One-liners from comedy routines (e.g., "If a cannibal ate a clown, would it taste funny?") lighten the mood somewhat before it turns darkly disturbing in the second half of the book. As Tashjian (author of The Gospel According to Larry and other YA novels) points out in an afterword, she wanted to show both sides, and she succeeds in conveying what makes Kip initially attractive to Becky as well as his genuine anguish over his actions. (The addition of some abuse hotline numbers might have been helpful, however.) This novel about dating violence and how a relationship can go wrong will be an important eye-opener for some readers. Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT

S--Recommended for senior high school students.