HEMINGWAY

In this hard-hitting YA novel, a tragedy at a Michigan high school rattles students in unexpected ways.

On the first day of her senior year of high school, Rosalind “Rozzy” Howard stands aloneon Hemingway High’s empty football field and dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.Many in the community are shocked, including fellow senior Luke Forrester, who’s deaf and decidedly antisocial. After staying home for a week after the tragedy, Luke returns to school with a notepad and a newfound desire to communicate with others via scribbled messages. He befriends teachers and students, including, most notably, Jason Turner, a perpetually angry drug abuser who was in love with “Rozzy.” As the school year progresses, Luke inspires others to do surprising, honorable things; meanwhile, vaguely worded letters that Rozzy left behind precipitate surreal moments. For example, one letter directs Luke and Jason to a small town, where they learn details surrounding a nearly century-old catastrophe that subsequently plagues Jason’s dreams. The teens struggle to make sense of all this, but they find that life can take unpredictable turns. Cleveland’s story is refreshingly simple and deliberately paced, especially considering its epic scope. The alternating first-person narrative voices are relatively few, as well. They include Jason, who delivers the bulk of the profanity; newly pregnant student Abby Browne; and a rather charming, initially unnamed narrator whose storytelling focuses more on others than on himself. They all face familiar but engaging difficulties, as Abby deals with the apathetic father of her unborn child, and Jason, along with his drug-dealing dad, gets mixed up with a frightening crowd. Meanwhile, chapters devoted to Luke’s fantasy story—involving a village that, via a lottery, periodically sacrifices children to a dragon—are effectively interspersed throughout the main story. How or if these two plotlines will connect isn’t immediately clear, and it’s one of several mysteries, like Luke’s “project” for which he receives assistance from Hemingway’s welding teacher.

An epic tale that ably blends crime, fantasy, and melodrama with memorable, dreamlike turns.