Customer Reviews

Fault Line: A Novel

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"I looked her in the eye, dead-on. 'We love each other. It's that simple.'
"This time [Mom] looked as if she were hiding a smile. 'It's never that simple,' she said. 'Being in a relationship is the most complicated thing in the world.' "

According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline website:

"Teens are seriously at risk for dating violence. Research shows that physical or sexual abuse is a part of 1 in 3 high school relationships. In 95% of abusive relationships, men abuse women. However, young women can be violent, and young men can also be victims. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans teens are just as at risk for abuse in their relationships as anyone else. Abusive relationships have good times and bad times. Part of what makes dating violence so confusing and painful is that there is love mixed with the abuse. This can make it hard to tell if you are really being abused."

Health Canada's website notes:

"Jealousy is the most common reason for assaults in dating relationships. When a man continually accuses a woman of flirting or having an affair, and is suspicious of everyone he sees with her, he is possessive and controlling...Adolescent girls, in particular, feel social pressure to stick it out because having a 'bad' boyfriend is better than having no boyfriend at all."

Such facts and statistics certainly point out the need for good YA literature dealing with adolescent dating abuse. There have been a couple of great stories published in recent years, and Janet Tashjian's FAULTLINE, which hits the shelves in time for Back To School Night, joins that list of must-reads.

Becky Martin is a high achieving high school senior from San Francisco who is also an aspiring standup comic. She's got intelligent, supportive parents. Her best girlfriend, Abby, is also a comedic hopeful and a fan of old movies. But while Abby has a steady stream of boyfriends who come and go, Becky has spent high school high and dry:

"Friends and family have always described me as two things: smart and funny. Never pretty, never interesting, just smart and funny. I wasn't complaining--those were necessary qualities for my chosen line of work, but it would be nice to at least register on the attractiveness scale once in a while.
"Unlike Abby, I hadn't had a boyfriend since Peter last year, and even that was stretching the definition of boyfriend way past anything Webster would have recognized. I had better luck holding the attention of a roomful of people in a comedy club than a guy--I couldn't decide if that was good or just plain pathetic. Idea for a routine--in my neighborhood growing up, I was everybody else's invisible friend."

Enter Kip Costello, a fellow aspiring comic with talent, creativity, and looks. He sweeps Becky off her feet with his attention and his thoughtfulness. Things move quickly. Becky has school work, two part-time jobs, college applications, and her comedy career, but they all seem (at least to her parents and Abby) to be taking a back-seat to Kip.

According to Becky, nobody understands how special her relationship with Kip is.

But what Becky doesn't understand is that Kip is as lacking in self-confidence as she is. In a series of brief notes that Kip writes to himself (and that we get to read), Kip constantly worries about the relationship. His micromanagement of Becky's life and the inherent frustration he feels when everything doesn't go perfectly results in his abusing her. But Becky is in too deep to listen to anybody--including herself.

"A relationship is a lot like a hot bath. The more you get used to it, the more you realize it's not so hot..."

FAULTLINE is a great title for this important book because (1) it's set in San Francisco, and (2) there is no bad guy, no one at fault, unless it is that system that compels adolescents "to stick it out because having a 'bad' boyfriend is better than having no boyfriend at all." I'm sure they briefly considered PUNCHLINE, but discarded it as too insensitive a pun for too serious a situation.

But that serious situation does not mean that FAULTLINE is one long downer of a book. The camaraderie between Becky and Abby is genuine. We like these two intelligent and comedic girls and can see why they like each other. Becky's part-time gig as a tour guide to the City's movie landmarks is also fun and really informative. And then there is Delilah, about whom I'll say no more then that she gives the book a San Francisco homeyness that us Northern California crazies will thoroughly appreciate and enjoy.

Many people have wondered how Janet Tashjian would follow up the wildly successful THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LARRY. While FAULTLINE is a very different novel, Tashjian is again able to look closely at a serious problem in our society while telling a story filled with smart humor that teens will devour.

Author Janet Tashjian has penned a thought-provoking novel for young adults in Fault Line. Tackling the troublesome issue of teenage girls involved in abusive relationships with boyfriends, Tashjian's research led to the development of believable characters struggling with the consequences of this form of violence. Becky and Kip are high school seniors that meet, not in school, but in a comedy club in San Francisco, where they take turns with other aspiring comics honing their skills and hoping to be discovered. Becky is portrayed as a great student that capably juggles school, work, and a steady stream of unpaid gigs in pursuit of a career in comedy. Her greatest weakness as a performer, in her estimation, is her inability to trust her own instincts. She eventually learns that this skill is valuable not only on stage, but in all of life.
Kip is a confident young comic with great jokes, but it is his sensitivity and insight that impresses Becky most. Eight months into a very intense relationship that shuts out friends and family, Becky realizes that Kip also has a serious problem. To Tashjian's credit, Kip is not painted as a one-dimensional monster; his good qualities add to the conflict Becky feels when the abuse begins. Becky's parents and Kip's mother are portrayed as reasonable, supportive, and concerned.
Medical professionals believe that at least one out of every five teenage girls are abused by boyfriends, with most thinking that it is their faults, it will get better, or there is no way out. Fault Line is an absorbing, easy read that will help young people identify the signs and unacceptability of abuse in their own circles. The novel will serve its purpose as leisure reading or as the basis of group discussions.

I was surprised by this book....I didn't read the cover first so I was sucked in right along with Becky Martin when she meets Kip at the comedy club.... I thought that he was a sweet guy and that it was so great that she found somebody.... I got so frustrated while reading how Kip disinegrates into an abusive boyfriend....I did like it how Tashijian showed the relationship from both points of view.... good book, might want to read with a stress ball to squeeze when you start to get frustrated though

High school senior Becky and her best friend Abby are aspiring comediennes who work on their material and stand before San Francisco audiences to deliver it a few times a week. At one event, Becky meets Kip. She has not attracted a boy's attention like this before, and soon they are inseparable. But Kip begins to grow possessive and violent. Most of the time, though, he is wonderful and Becky loves him. What should she do?

Janet Tashjian, author of the wonderful THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LARRY, builds suspense in this realistic title. The story of Becky and Kip is set against Becky's fascinating stand-up career. Readers will see that anyone can find himself or herself in this situation. A note from the author at the end cites a study from the Journal of the American Medical Assocation where "one in every five" teenage girls is physically abused by her boyfriend, showing that the subject needs more discussion.

Becky is not simply a wimp who submissively goes along with an abusive boyfriend. It's not black-and-white, and Tashjian does a good job of providing three-dimensional characters who readers will care about. Becky and Kip are in love, and she is more confused than anything else. But she cannot live a normal life while she is with him. When she is asked to go on a tour of comics that will be filmed for MTV, she honestly thinks Kip will be happy and supportive. When things come to a dangerous head, readers will not be surprised.

FAULT LINE is an excellent book that should be both read and discussed.

--- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

Fault Line is about a 17 year old girl who is trying to make it through her senior year in high school, fill out college applications for her future, launch her stand up comedy career & figure out this relationship thing with the new-comer Kip. Kip is sensitive, handsome, passionate, observant of Becky's every detail. Kip is everything a teenaged girl thinks she wants in a boyfriend.

Five months into the relationship, he's editting her comedy skits (getting upset when she doesn't use his punchlines), pushing her closest friends out of their circle (saying they're lame or holding Becky back), and waiting outside her two jobs after her shifts to drive her home. He calls her ten times per day (or more), IMs on the computer when she's working on her homework, texts her throughout the day... and it's endearing at first because she is so excited to talk to him all the time too.

It slowly starts to get even further out of control and she struggles to keep it a secret and to figure out if it's LOVE she has with Kip, or if it's OBSESSION. I've been at the crossroads myself. It's very confusing when you're inside. Many times, the answers aren't clear until you've been removed from the situation for many months, sometimes years. Most girls go back time and time again because they think "he will change" or "it was my fault that time" or "he didn't HIT me, so it's not abuse".

This is a serious topic for teenaged girls and I recommend it being read by teenaged girls. The flow of the story was a bit rushed. I didn't believe Kip would do what he did the first time... I felt like it was pushed in order to move the story along too soon. But, otherwise, it was a decent story.

This book was a great book. I recommend this book to any people that like to read story's about real life situations. This book was about a girl that likes comedy, she wants to become a professional, one day when she went to one of her shows she meets some guy. She thinks that he's going to be the perfect guy for her. But at the end the guy ends up being a real big jerk. If you want to know why, you can read the book. I don't want to mess this book up for you. Over all I rated this book from a 1-5, a 4.

Recently, I read Fault Line, by Janet Tashjian. I first picked it up because the author also wrote The Gospel According to Larry and its sequel, Vote for Larry, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed and read multiple times. Later, I was intrigued by the subject of the story. Rarely do you read novels, especially young adults', that deal with abusive relationships. I have noticed the signs in several, but none actually call it abuse. It's kind of a touchy subject. But this book deals with it straight out. I really appreciated that.
Becky and Kip are very original main characters that drew me into the story. I liked that they were both aspiring comedians. I was able to laugh at this book even though it has a serious topic.
Another thing that I enjoyed about this book was that the story was told from both points of view. It really helped me understand how abusive relationships work and why the girl doesn't just leave. I blamed the girl in the relationship for not leaving before I read this book, but now I see why it's so hard. I also don't perceive the abuser as a heartless jerk any longer. It's more complicated than that. However, that doesn't make what they do right.
I would definitely recommend this book to every girl in eighth grade or above. These are important issues that need to be recognized. Not only should everyone girl read this so that she can recognize these warning signs in her own relationships, but also because this is such a good and interesting book. Read it!

I really like this book in different ways from the way I liked Sarah Dessen's Dreamland. I like the detail better in Dreamland but Faultline was still a very good book.

Becky Martin is a 17-year-old comedienne who believes she has found true love with fellow comedian Kip Costello. As Kip becomes increasingly more possessive and controlling, however, Becky finds herself enmeshed in an abusive relationship she has difficulty giving up. This novel is written with great sensitivity as both sides of the abusive relationship are explored, and all the characters are very believable. Recommended for young men as well as for young women.

Book Response:

The book Fault Line by Janet Tashjain deals with a girl named Becky Martin who is struggling in an abusive relationship while at the same time trying to balance her career as a standup comic. It analyzes the steps of how men can take control so easily. Through this process of controlling and abusive behavior, she comes out as a new person who is stronger, wiser, and majestic.
Starting off, Becky is a very self-conscious girl who relies on the opinions of others to form who she is. For example at the start of her career as a standup comic a simple insult of her performance caused a major breakdown. She thought she was a lost cause and could never have been worthy of any real career in this profession. Also as she gets deeper into her relationship with Kip she feels that she isn't worth anything unless she has a boyfriend. Becky stays in the relationship after repeated physical and emotional abuse because of the peer pressure to have a boyfriend, which comes from her friends. Finally, because of the constant insults from Kip she started to become isolated from her family and friends. After this she only plummeted into a world of insanity and suicidal. She even went as far as keeping dead animals in her bedroom. Of course by the end of the book her skin became thicker. When an insult was made about her performance she took it as constructive criticism instead of a remark dealing with the quality of her character. Also Becky discovers that a woman doesn't need a boyfriend to be accepted by her friends. She even starts giving lectures to other women who were previously in abusive relationship just as she was. Finally because Becky starts to come out of her isolated world of insanity she finally starts interacting with her friends and family once again. This leads to a healthier environment in which she takes more risks in her career as a standup comedian.
Becky Martin not only becomes a stronger individual but also uses her new wisdom to impact the lives of others going through these same circumstances. In a lecture given to women in the same position she says that, "A relationship is a lot like a hot bath. The more you get used to it, the more you realize it's not so hot..." She means that in this instance it can be hard to determine how dangerous the situation is because of how manipulative the man can be and how easily he can get away with treating women violently. Also Becky starts to go after her dreams of college and a career as a comedian. She realizes that in order for things to happen she must do it herself by focusing on her grades and working on her act as a comedian. Finally, Becky becomes more confident with herself and creates a clinic for abused women. Through this she obtains the tools necessary to help others in need.
Because Becky becomes wiser and stronger through the hard times of her relationship with Kip she becomes an icon in the world of jokes and laughter as well as an icon to the people she works with at her battered women's shelter. Her transformation of a simple struggling comedian to a majestic and influential individual shows how extreme her character has changed form the beginning. For example in the beginning of the book she had stage fright and constantly feared rejection from the people she was entertaining. By the end her act onstage was solid and took the rejection as a way to figure out how to improve her performance. She even lands a spot on MTV where she is able to perform some of her material live. Also with the women that she helps through her shelter she is able to give them a voice by making this issue more aware to the public through her fame as a comedian. Finally through her struggles she manages to achieve everything she wanted; acceptance to a good college and a career in the comedian business.
Becky Martin never expected to be so violently transformed from the self-conscious teenager to a famous comedian who advocates the abolition of abusive relationships. She not only changes her resume, but changes a person as well. She does this by becoming stronger, wiser, and more majestic as a person who was once weak, ignorant, and still trying to find her spark in life.