Historical fiction and coming of age story set in the early 1980’s in New York. The protagonist, J.J., leaves San Francisco and heads to New York to establish her independence. She acquires two jobs and a roommate to make ends meet, working as a mannequin face painter and server in a bakery. Her past family life is awful, and we learn her backstory gradually over the course of this short novel – her damaged father, judgmental grandmother, and absent mother. She falls in “love” through osmosis and obsesses over X-It, an attractive young man working as a bicycle messenger, who becomes her platonic roommate. Both are aspiring artists. A group of her friends follow her to New York, take over her apartment, and complicate her life. One of these “friends” is a drug dealer who eventually entices her into the drug scene.

This is quite outside my normal fare, but I really liked this quirky book. First the positives, and they were many. I thought the author did a great job of depicting the New York punk-club scene of the 1980s, evoking the era through music, dress, cultural references, and lack of technology. J.J. is a wonderful character. She is insecure, sensitive, and easy to like, though I wanted to warn her several times to make different decisions. She seemed very real in terms of making mistakes and learning from them through life experience, though she is still very young. Though they have not treated her well, she still yearns for approval from her family. Over time, she gradually comes to appreciate her value as a person. The book is short and easily digested. I enjoyed the author’s writing style. I found it expressive and eloquent. I appreciated the artistic elements in this book, and even obtained a few tips on use of the use of line and color in drawings and paintings. I found the book as a whole very creative.

On the downside, the plot contained several huge holes. A significant crime takes place at one point, and the police investigation that would have inevitably followed is totally ignored. Also, it is a book that places a woman’s worth as subject to having “the right man” in her life. The reasons for her friends following her to New York are never given, and they are critical to the storyline. One of the leaders of the group of friends moves away and disappears from the plot, leaving me to wonder if she was only there as a device. There was a lot of uncovered ground in terms of her behavior, and it would have been nice if it had been explored further.

Gut-wrenching but hopeful, this book is a unique blend of punk stylings, artistry, and self-discovery. Content warnings include drug addiction, language, sex, and violence. Recommended to those interested in character-driven novels, the punk scene of the 1980’s, or coming of age stories.
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