JINX

In the style of so many new narratives in verse, Wild uses individual poems to tell the poignant, intense story of a girl unlucky in love. She allows each character their individual voices but focuses the tale on Jen, as the girl reels from the teenage suicide of her first boyfriend. Jen, who insists on being called “Jinx” after two boyfriends die, begins the story in full resistance against her mother. She falls in love with a wild, creative boy whom no one realizes is in a severe depression. When he hangs himself, Jen spirals downward into drinking, finally meeting a boy who falls victim to a freak accident. Blaming another boy for the tragedy, Jen terrorizes him and his family until she feels remorse for her attacks and then falls in love with him. Finally happy, Jen begins to appreciate not only her own mother, but her estranged father and stepmother, whom she had hated. Wild concentrates not just on Jen’s story, however. By interweaving the thoughts of every character in the story, she creates a fully developed community of Jen’s friends and family. Young readers will see how all of these people contribute to her growth. Jinx emerges as a subtly wrought, deeply affecting story dealing with friendship and familial and romantic love. The device of the poetry will attract many young readers; the skill with which it is told will keep them hooked. (Fiction. YA)