17: A Novel in Prose Poems [Hardcover]

Liz Rosenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 2002

The first day of Stephanie’s junior year is a step into the underworld. Led into desire, depression, and alienation by the intoxicating yet strangely distant figure of Denny Pistill, Stephanie must cope with a series of fears and crises. Denny and Stephanie are drawn to each other through writing and reading poetry, and author Liz Rosenberg’s own poetic sense gives truth to Stephanie’s ability to make art out of the darkest things. Stephanie’s passage through an emotional winter, which echoes the myth of Persephone, ultimately brings her into a budding sense of life and hope. Written in short chapters in the style of prose poetry, this is an exquisitely crafted, emotionally honest novel for young adults from a prize-winning author.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This series of prose poems voicing the many woes of 17-year-old Stephanie teeters between art and melodrama. Third-person narrative calls on specific details and imagery ("All day she tastes his lips and breathes in the dark, musty old smell of his wool jacket") to evocatively convey the angst of the heroine, but the author squeezes too many complex issues into this slim volume to delve into any of them deeply. The development of Stephanie's character is overshadowed by the conflicts arising from unstable relationships with her mentally disturbed mother and Denny, her fellow-poet boyfriend. Stephanie plummets into depression as she battles irrational fears that she is pregnant (before they have sex), experiences a strangely intimate moment with her boyfriend's alcoholic father and discovers Denny is gay. Her only positive distraction comes with high-school wrestler Ben, who amuses himself by writing rude comments in students' poetry journals. Teens will no doubt find Stephanie's struggles darkly intriguing, but her self-despair eventually becomes tedious. At one point, she makes an elaborate list of the things that make her cry ("The smell of onions frying. Denny's worried face; his long scrawled letters. Long-distance telephone commercials"), but readers may be left to ponder what, if anything, makes her laugh. Ages 14-up.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-At 17, but looking 14 with her slight, underdeveloped figure, Stephanie is "the girl" with long red hair who writes poetry and takes advanced classes at her Massachusetts high school. On the first day of her junior year, she attracts the eye of Denny Pistil, son of a rich attorney, who soon sweeps her off her feet with his interest in her poetry and his passionate attentions. He makes her wonder if she is "betraying- the world of her mother, the untouched, unscathed world of her self." Her mother works at home as a potter; her struggle with mental illness is an integral part of the family's life. Stephanie fears she may have inherited her mother's craziness in the guise of her own anxieties and her phobias about food. As the romance with Denny progresses, she fears pregnancy and feels a growing ambivalence about lovemaking. Denny begins to grow cold and distant, and Stephanie experiences symptoms of depression and anxiety when their relationship unravels over his nascent sexual attraction to a male friend. She recovers her hopefulness in the early spring as she begins a new friendship with Ben, who loves poetry and has the gift of putting her at ease. Rosenberg's sensitive writing is structured in complete sentences and paragraphs, like prose, with the figurative language and economy of word characteristic of poetry. Breaks are provided not by chapters, but by poem titles, to render a touching third-person narrative, enhanced by resonant images of nature and the changing seasons.
Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Cricket Books (September 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081264915X
• ISBN-13: 978-0812649154
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,164,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Liz Rosenberg is the author of 3 novels, 5 books of poems and more than 20 award winning books for children. She has edited five prize winning poetry anthologies (including THE INVISIBLE LADDER and LIGHT GATHERING POEMS) and her picture book, THE CAROUSEL was featured on PBS' Reading Rainbow. Her newest picture book, TYRANNOSAURUS DAD, illustrated by brilliant newcomer Matthew Myers, is a Children's Book of the Month Club bestseller, has garnered praise from Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus, School Library Journal and elsewhere, and was an Amazon top 10 children's book on dinosaurs, sports and family.

Her first novel for adults, HOME REPAIR was a Target Breakout book and voted top ten for Book Clubs and Most Likely to be Next Oprah Pick on Goodreads.

Liz Rosenberg was born and raised on Long Island. She met her husband, David, when they were 7 and 8 years old respectively, at summer camp. They became friends in high school, each married other people, and ten years after they had reconnected in high school, finally got married. They have been married 3 times to each other because they are both terrible at keeping track of paperwork. They have an actor son, Eli, and an 8 year old daughter, Lily.

Liz Rosenberg's first husband was the late great American novelist John Gardner, author of Grendel, Nickel Mountain, How to Become a Novelist and more than 25 other works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and scholarship. Together they taught at the State University of Binghamton till his untimely death in l982 in a motorcycle accident. She continues as a full professor at Binghamton University's English Department and has guest taught all over the world, from Russia to Austria to Singapore, and at colleges throughout the United States. Ms. Rosenberg spends her time reading and writing. Her hobbies are reading and writing and her passions are-- right, reading and writing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liz Rosenberg is a treasure, November 14, 2002

By 

Goire (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 17: A Novel in Prose Poems (Hardcover)

17*** is rich, funny, sad and compelling. I can't help but read as a piece of mutt fiction-(isn't that what John Gardner called it?). The sexual bits ( hubba hubba) are elegantly and sensually drawn. I was surprised constantly by the story. Liz Rosenberg is a treasure!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this is the best best best book, December 13, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 17: A Novel in Prose Poems (Hardcover)

I'm not that much of a poetry fan and I'm not even sure what prose poetry is, but whatever, this book is beautiful and made me cry and laugh and I absolutely could not put it down till I had finished... then believe it or not I started reading it over again from the beginning. This is one novel you'll keep under your pillow for those sleepless nights.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Did we read the same book?, October 28, 2002

By 

Steven R. Valliere (Exeter, NH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 17: A Novel in Prose Poems (Hardcover)

I'm wondering if I read the same book Publishers Weekly reviewed. I found this book to be completely satisfying. It's a wonderful read from beginning to end. Publishers Weekly misses the point on this one; it's not supposed to be completely balanced in regard to the emotional turmoil. In my experience this is a remarkable on target expression of the confusion a real adolescent girl lives through. If you are familiar with the statistical correlation between adolescence and depressions you will have a more clear appreciation of what Liz Rosenberg is doing here and its importance. If you are already familiar with the quality of this authors writing you will not be disappointed. Simple as this: don't miss out on this book.