Book Review: The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos

Harbinger: somebody or something that announces something: somebody or something that foreshadows or anticipates a future event

Meet Harbinger Jones (aka Harry), a new hero of mine. Harry has a LOT to work out: bullies, lightening,
pain, a punk rock band, disfigurement, girls, the future. In Scar Boys, a story in the guise of a
college admission letter, we hear about his short but trauma-filled life and how he deals. Well, at
first he does not deal...

Even though he has a LOT of therapy, Harry can’t get past his appearance.
Even after he befriends Johnny and the pair successfully starts a punk rock band, he is still hung up on his
appearance and how it limits his life. Of course, Harry needs to discover that the real limiter is himself.
Another horrifying tragedy looms. Will Harry open his eyes?

The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos is a great story about friendship, the power of music, and finding your way.

Don't think or judge. Just Listen.

Annabel Greene begins her Junior year of high school ostracized by her peers and hated by her friends. She is haunted by the unthinkable events of a party that took place at the beginning of the summer, which she has kept secret from friends and family. This is one secret among many that she keeps from the world. She also suffers silently from the pressure from her mother and her fear for her oldest sister's health. In a time when she needs a friend more than ever, she meets Owen Armstrong, a music-obsessed classmate with anger management issues who is as ignored by the rest of the school as she is. In a "right place, right time" situation, he instantly goes from someone she watches from a distance to her only friend, saving her from lunch hours spent in isolation and teaching her the value of speaking up and making herself heard.

Just Listen is a story which induces both laughter and tears, and is highly recommended for anyone who has ever feared voicing their own feelings. Sarah Dessen is also the author of other popular young adult books such as The Truth About Forever, This Lullaby, and Lock & Key.

-Micheala

There's always another side to the story

SPOILER ALERT

A book written in first person can be tricky—if I don’t trust what the narrator says happens then the story never really sucks me in.  Despite all the rave reviews, that’s how I felt about Gayle Forman’s If I Stay .  The narrator is Mia, a 17-year-old very talented cellist, whose life is ripped apart after a horrific accident. Her family's car is struck, and her mother, father, and only sibling, her younger brother, are killed. She finds herself standing outside of her body trying desperately to comprehend what happened. She is in a coma, suspended between life and death. As her body lies mangled in the hospital and her extended family and friends rally to her side, she reviews her life and comes to realize that it's up to her to choose whether to stay or leave.

In Where She Went, Forman decides to do what I often wish authors would do—she tells the rest of the story (overlapping with the first) and this time, we have Mia’s boyfriend Adam as narrator.  His story picks up three years later and Adam’s life has both hit the big time and fallen completely to ruins. After the car accident that nearly killed Mia and the choices she made upon recovery (life=yes, Adam=no), he has poured all his heartbreak into songwriting, gotten the fame he always wanted, and become a pill-popping, angst-ridden shadow of his former self. The emotion in his story seems so much more genuine, rawer and angry, yet he still can look at himself and laugh. Ironically enough, from his perspective I learned to like and understand Mia more as well. He is in New York, waiting for his band’s first big tour or Europe, when he sees an advertisement for Mia's recital and decides to go, just so he can see her one more time.  I think I’ve given you enough spoilers for one post, so you will just have to read what Adam and Mia go through in the next twenty four hours yourself!