Australian coming of age story, with quirky record store, haunting murder mystery, odd characters and retro rebellions. A solid story, one I'd recommend for fans of Eleanor and Park.

Advanced reader copy provided by edelweiss. ( )

Sky’s life is far from normal; to start with her name is actually Skylark, her brothers’ Seagull. Her mother has run off to Japan to become an alternate music artist, her father has become an absent alcoholic with the single goal in life of finding the record 'Wishing Well' by the Millionaires and her socially awkward brother believes himself to be a detective. And then there is Nancy.

Girl Defective is a vulnerable, naive, lonely girl, learning, making mistakes and growing up. Absorbed in a mystery, experiencing her first love, betrayed by her best friend, taken for granted by her family, she will learn to accept others for who they are and herself for her own strangeness. A charming misadventure that is quirky and chaotic, full of life discoveries, friendships, defects and acceptance. ( )

Girl Defective is indescribably good. All I can say for right now is: this book is magic...beautiful, musical, sweet and funny magic. ( )

The Martin children are named after birds: fifteen year old Skylark (Sky) and eleven year old Seagull (Gully). Their mother left them when Sky was 10 to become a performance artist…in Japan. She has little contact with her former family. Their father never moved past the 1970s, owning a record shop that won’t stock anything past 1980, won’t stock CDs and won’t sell on the internet. He spends most days on the verge of drunkenness.

Unfortunately these circumstances leave Sky with primary responsibility for Gully who is autistic. He wears a pig snout most of the time which, as you can imagine, doesn’t endear him to his schoolmates. He fancies himself a detective and when a brick is thrown through the store window, he makes it his business to track down the perpetrator. She also helps out at the record store, which doesn’t get much traffic.

Sky’s only friend is a world-wise nineteen year old, Nancy. It must be true that opposites attract because Nancy is everything that Sky isn’t.

When Mr. Martin hires Luke Casey to work at the store for the Christmas season, Sky is miffed. When it turns out that Luke’s younger sister drowned after drinking and posters of her keep cropping up all over town, Sky is intrigued. The fact that Luke is cute doesn’t hurt.

Girl Defective by Simmone Howell is a story about growing up, both teens and adults. Sky must learn what the world is all about (on her own and through Nancy) and her father has to move into the new century and take on his fatherly responsibilities. Howell’s characters are good, although at times I’d like to hammer Mr. Martin for foisting Gully on Sky all the time, and her writing is descriptive, at some points exceptional (“Night fell soft as a shrug. Even the palm trees looked tired, like showgirls standing around waiting for their pay.”). Any story rooted in music is a plus, especially 70s and 80s music. Of course, since this takes place in Australia, I don’t know some of the musical references, but that’s OK.

All in all, Girl Defective is a fun book. ( )

Review to come! ( )