Customer Reviews

Headlong

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Summary: Lily Noble has always gone to private school. In her sophomore year, a misfit named Hazel shows up and makes Lily rethink the way she's been doing things her whole life.

Review: The back-and-forth nature of this book took a little time for me to get used to. The chapters alternate between snippets from the beginning of the school year and the end of the year. A few times, I got confused about whether it was a "later" chapter or a "before" chapter, but I chalk that up to my own work-induced lack of sleep during the week I was reading this one.

I liked that this book doesn't hit you over the head with what Lily's feeling. You have to work out on your own what's going on with her.

I also liked how Lily--who's always just gone with the flow--finally changes course and questions the ways of her affluent world.

Not a standout for me, but still an enjoyable read.

Lily Noble has been attending the Vaughn School since pre-K as a day student. She has been discontent with her life there. To try to appease her, Lily's parents decide to let Lily be a boarder at school sophomore year. Thinking the change will help Lily's restlessness, Lily moves into the dorm. She is stuck with a roommate that has severe allergies and is overwhelmed with the pressures of life at Vaughn.

Lily notices the new girl, Hazel Tobias, in her Lit class. Hazel speaks out to the teacher in an argumentative tone, something Lily would never think to do. One evening while Lily is hanging out with her friends, Hazel approaches her, looking for a cigarette. When Lily encounters Hazel alone late at night in the dorm common room, the two start a hesitant conversation.

From that one conversation, the two form a friendship that the rest of Lily's friends can't comprehend.

Lily has gone through the motions of life at Vaughn. Even before Hazel's arrival, Lily was dissatisfied with her current situation. Her mom went to Vaughn and her dad never said much about her schooling. But once she gets to know Hazel, as much as Hazel will let her in, Lily starts to define herself. She questions her relationship with her boyfriend. She confronts her so-called friends. She changes her accessories.

Hazel doesn't want to be there, but on the surface, she seems to embrace the world that is Vaughn. But when Lily goes home with Hazel on Christmas break, she gains more insight into who Hazel really is.

The book unfolds during the course of the girls' sophomore year. Jumping back and forth from the end of the term to the current month, the reader gets a glimpse of the struggles going on in Lily's head. The reader has to wonder if the changes Lily goes through happened because of Hazel or simply coincided with her arrival.

Reviewed by: Jaglvr

Not your typical boarding school tale of hook-ups and hijinx, Headlong is the story of Lily Noble, a lifer at Vaughn - a school known for its "Vaughn Virgin" social elite. Lily has always fit in with the girls at school - the pretty ones with perfect grades and wealthy families. But then Hazel comes to Vaughn on scholarship, bringing her alternative family, her hot cherry licorice, and punk-rock style. Soon Lily is drifting away from her old friends, and as she spends more time with Hazel, she comes to realize she's never truly known herself.

This coming of age story will surprise you, with characters as malleable and honest as real teenagers, and poetic writing perfectly in touch with the experience of finding one's identity. Headlong will stay with you long after you've put the book down, and it is an absolutely worthwhile experience.

Kathe Koja, Headlong (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008)

I figure that most people who have read my reviews over the past two decades (almost; her first novel came out in 1991) knows that I revere Kathe Koja's books. I have read them all, and with a single exception, I have found them all to be at least above average. Some of them are, in my estimation, among the finest novels written in the English language. Headlong is the first of her novels in some sixteen years with which I have struggled, and ever since I finished it, I've been trying to put my finger on why. While it's not in the same league as Skin or Straydog, it is in no way a bad novel. And yet it comes across to me as just above average, rather than brilliant. It also took me longer to read than any of Koja's other books. But I can't look at some aspect of the book and say "this is why"; it's not badly-paced, its characters are just as well-drawn and memorable as any of Koja's others, the plot is pretty standard given what Koja's been doing since she turned her attention to the YA market (in fact, she's trod this same general ground in a number of her YA novels, and it's remarkably close to Buddha Boy). So here it is months later, and I'm trying to figure out why I didn't enjoy this one as much as I have most of Koja's others. And I still haven't figured it out.

Lily Noble is old money. Old, old money. She's a junior at Vaughn, one of those schools so exclusive that they probably have a decade-long waiting list to get into preschool. And she's spinning her wheels there, going through the motions, trying to figure out what she wants out of life, suffering the kind of existential angst that hits most people sometime around that age. What she needs is something to shake her up a little. Enter Hazel Tobias, a transfer student who sidles the line between goth and punk, and who, to be mild, doesn't fit into the Vaughn mold. In other words, she's exactly what Lily needs, and the two of them become fast friends. This is the story of that friendship, and the way that, as Lily learns more about Hazel's life, she learns more about her own, as well.

As you may have guessed from my synopsis, this is an essentially plotless novel. If your definition of a good novel includes a requirement for a strong plot, this won't work for you. I, on the other hand, don't really have one solid definition for a good novel. I've read fantastic novels in almost every arena, so I'm not prejudiced against books where it's all character all the time. (Yes, I actually did consider that for a while, but when it comes right down to it, almost every Koja novel I consider just-this-side-of-immortal is exactly like this--long on character, short on plot.) Character-driven novels do have to have very strong characters who show development over the course of the novel, and I prefer novels where all the characters develop, or have very specific reasons for not doing so (for example, dying). I do understand that some authors use static characters as foils, and I understand why, but that tends to make them two-dimensional. Koja is very good at developing minor characters, though to be fair, given the events here that's pretty easy; Hazel's arrival at Vaughn changes everyone here, though some change more than others. The pace is slow, though not glacial, as is to be expected from this type of book, and Koja's typical three-act structure is in play here, if a bit masked by the structure of the book (long chapters covering the space of each month in the school year, punctuated by short observations in the voice of one minor character or another). I also considered the idea that the structure was getting to me, and that's an idea that has some teeth to it; for a hundred twenty-eight page novel, these chapters do seem somewhat long. Still, I can't imagine that would have been the whole reason for my reaction.

So here I am at what is basically the end of this, and I still haven't figured out what it is that caused me to find this more Buddha Boy than Straydog. Hopefully I managed to at least convey the reasons why you should read the book, disregarding my vague dissatisfaction entirely. After all, it's Kathe Koja. If you're not reading Kathe Koja, if you've never read Kathe Koja, you should. I'd suggest starting with a different book, but once you're hooked, come back to this one. *** ½

Aww, this book was very ...nice/different/special/touching/sweet. I have never read a book in this kind of writing style, I loved it! I miss it :(
This is a wonderful story about friendship that will stay in your mind for a long time, long after you've read it.
I loved the way the author, Koja, wrote this book. She did it in such a creative way, that it made the whole book even better, I have never read another book written in this way which makes this book stand out.
This book is incredibly realistic and pretty easy to relate to. I enjoyed it so much I can't stop thinking about how amazing I think it is. I HIGHLY recommend this one.
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