Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert

Monday July 20, 2009

Ballads of Suburbia
by Stephanie Kuehnert
Available July 21, 2009

Kara hasn't been back to Oak Park since the end of junior year, when a heroin overdose nearly killed her and sirens heralded her exit. Four years later, she returns to face the music. Her life changed forever back in high school: her family disintegrated, she ran around with a whole new crowd of friends, she partied a little too hard, and she fell in love with gorgeous bad-boy Adrian, who left her to die that day in Scoville Park....Amid the music, the booze, the drugs, and the drama, her friends filled a notebook with heartbreakingly honest confessions of the moments that defined and shattered their young lives. Now, finally, Kara is ready to write her own.

A painfully realistic, no-holds bar depiction of teenage life in 21st century suburbia. Parents who work full-time, who are divorced and caught up in their own struggles...unwitting accomplices in the downfall of their own children. This point of the book just stood out to me so much. It felt like a slowly spreading plague of destruction.

Kara is your typical high school student with the regular ups and downs of being an adolescent until her father decides to move out. His departure initiates a spiral of bad decisions that ultimately leads to Kara overdosing on heroin. Although she has used other drugs before, Kara is introduced to heroin by Adrian, the "bad boy" she falls for. As she describes it:

"I couldn't have scripted a better entrance for my first love, as ripe with impending disaster as the beginning of Mickey and Mallory's romance in Natural Born Killers."

I really didn't want to put this book down. I found myself hanging on every word, stressing out about what would happen next. The vulnerability of these characters is palpable and the consequences of their actions is heartbreaking. Thankfully, not everything is gloom and doom. Expertly woven through out the story is a small yet consistent flicker of hope. Kara's relationship with her mom and brother show that some bonds are not easily broken.

Adolescents will certainly relate to this tale of broken families, drug addiction and lure of premature independence. A cautionary tale that is subtle and honest...teens love and need their peers, but nothing replaces the strength and support of families.

I loved this book...read it now! Best for 9th grade and up.

4.5 points