Marlena

Great loneliness, profound isolation, a cataclysmic, overpowering sense of being misunderstood. When does that kind of deep feeling just stop? Where does it go? At fifteen, the world ended over and over and over again. To be so young is a kind of self-violence. No foresight, an inflated sense of wisdom, and yet you're still responsible for your mistakes. It's a little frightening to remember just how much, and how precisely, I felt.

About how a short intoxicating friendship has shaped one person's life for years to come. There was some beautiful writing in this, but I just couldn't really connect with the characters and the story.

Marlena is the story of an adult woman looking back at her teenage friendship with a neighbor girl two years older than her. Although the friendship lasted less than a year, it was formational for her in ways that she doesn't fully understand. As the story moves between the woman's present life and her memories of Marlena, she acknowledges the grip of the past and begins to see the possibility of a future.

It's not as therapeutic as it sounds. The teenagers have broken families, they are reckless with themselves and others, and they cause permanent harm. The question at the end is whether the girl who's left will be able to move forward.

The danger I felt with this book is that it could so easily lapse into cautionary-tale-about-wild-girls-becoming-adult-druggies, OR wild-teenager-finds-redemption. However, many details kept it from lapsing into cliche and allowed it to be its own story. I appreciated the main character's mother, especially, who is a bit distracted by her own troubles, but is an admirable person.

I read this for the Morning News Summer Reading Challenge. I wouldn't have picked this book for myself, but I'm glad I read it.