Perfect World - Softcover

James, Brian

3.69

305 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0439673658 ISBN 13: 9780439673655

Publisher: Push, 2005

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From acclaimed PUSH author Brian James, a powerful, beautiful novel about growing up fast in a haunted suburban world.

Lacie's best friend Jenna wants to grow up fast. She wants to be cool and be known and be with a boy all the way. Even though Lacie isn't so sure, she follows Jenna anyway. She tries to block out her sadness. Her questions. Her fears. At first it isn't that bad. She even meets a boy whose problems are compatible with hers. But then Jenna's friendship turns fierce . . . and the perfect world comes tumbling down.

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From School Library Journal:

Grade 9 Up - All Lacie Johnson wants to do is escape from the pain that engulfs her: the pain of her father's grizzly suicide, the pain of pretending to be what she's not, the pain of having to constantly please her shallow best friend, Jenna. When Jenna drags Lacie along on an afternoon romp with two boys, Lacie expects the worst, but she is pleasantly surprised by Benji, who seems real when everyone else is fake and has secrets as dark and upsetting as her own. Slowly, they reveal themselves to one another and fall in love, giving Lacie the strength to abandon Jenna and find a true friend in another girl. As Lacie and Benji grow closer, their relationship becomes more physical. When Benji announces that he must move to Portland to escape his abusive mother, Lacie is devastated, but just when she thinks she might end it all, she's finally able to put his needs above her own. She realizes that any world in which she is loved for who she really is can be perfect. Although the book is ultimately uplifting, Lacie's pain is raw and unrelenting. James clearly understands how debilitating depression can be for adolescents. - Ronni Krasnow, New York Public Library
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From Booklist:

Gr. 7-10. To distance herself from the perfectly planned subdivision in the perfectly wonderful town where she lives, ninth-grader Lacie Johnson runs, which also gives her time to think about where she fits in, especially since her father's suicide. It's easier to stay apart, but Lacie's sometimes-friend Jenna respects no boundaries and persuades Lacie to go on a double date with her, Avery, and Benji. Rather than stay and watch Jenna and Avery make out, Lacie and Benji walk home. Gradually they get to know one another, and Benji helps Lacie reconnect with feelings she has closed away--until his family circumstances intervene. James' first-person narrative, interjected with dialogue unframed by quotation marks, brings a very real sense of being inside Lacie's head, and Lacie's fears and anxieties about opening herself to intimacy and love will resonate with young women who, like Lacie, aren't sure how far to go. Cindy Welch
Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved

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