Zeises, Lara M. Bringing up the bones.

Random House. Delacorte. 213p. c2002. 0-385-73001-2. $12.95. S*

This is an unusually powerful coming-of-age story, an Honor Book in the Delacorte Press Prize competition for a First Young Adult Novel. It reminds me somewhat of Making the Run by Heather Henson, another gifted young writer. Both novels are brutally authentic, I think, which might not please parents and teachers who keep hoping that adolescents today don't smoke, drink, or engage in casual sex. Both are about young women at 18, searching to determine their own identities as they approach the time when they must leave home and childhood behind. Zeises' Bridget is living on her own, recovering from the death of her best friend Benji, at odds with her mother, trying to understand her feelings for a new boyfriend Jasper and for her old friend Ellie. She is grieving. She is in therapy. She is frequently overwhelmed by her emotions and doesn't understand them.

The setting is Delaware, of all places, the college town where the University of Delaware is located; Jasper is a student there. Bridget is postponing college, knowing that it is important that she is strong enough to get beyond Benji's death before she is able to move on to live her own life. The horrible complication about Benji and Bridget's relationship is that Benji was a reluctant lover even as Bridget felt he was everything to her: her soul mate. Benji was hungry to get as far away from home as possible, and some weeks before his death in California he had written to break up with her. She had lost him twice: once when he broke up with her, once when he died. So, is she ready to fall in love with Jasper? Does she know what love is? Yes, the physical attraction is great, and Jasper adores her and is understanding, but is this enough to build on?

Zeises is able to create a complicated world around Bridget's thoughts and actions. Bridget is neurotic, yes, but understandably so, and she is a very sympathetic person. Other characters are also well defined and believable. This is a wonderful addition to YA literature and we hope for more novels from Zeises. Claire Rosser, KLIATT