10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Bold, Fictional Account of Teenage Drug Abuse, February 1, 2006
This review is from: Rx (Paperback)
Thyme Gilchrest is a model student who participates in numerous school activities and is definitely college-bound. She has an excellent reputation --- but that is about to change. This upper-middle class teen walks a very fine line, or straddles a pretty wobbly one, depending upon your point of view. Thyme is not your average drug dealer.
The story begins as Thyme is finishing up her junior year. She's obsessed with improving her GPA, getting great scores on her SATs, and being accepted by the "right" college. She has a nice wardrobe, a generous allowance, and all her parents expect of her is that she gets excellent grades and keeps out of trouble.
Thyme is convinced that Ritalin, a prescription medication used to treat attention deficit disorder, would really help her study more efficiently. At school Ritalin is called a "study aid." Unable to convince her parents that she needs to visit a doctor, who she assumes will prescribe Ritalin for her, Thyme steals a bottle of medication from her friend Will. While the contraband Ritalin does help Thyme concentrate on details and memorize facts easily, it doesn't help her understand concepts.
She spends a lot of time online learning about various prescription medications, their uses and side effects. She considers herself a bit of an expert and attempts amateurishly to diagnose other students who seek her out. With her meticulously detailed database, organizing which students she thinks need what drugs and the drugs they may already have access to, Thyme quickly becomes the "go to" person for drugs. Soon she is trading, stealing, buying, and selling drugs at school. She doesn't intend to use anything other than Ritalin, her study aid, but soon she's experimenting with other prescription and illegal drugs.
Thyme gives Dave some Ritalin to try, and he gives her a marijuana joint that she plans to trade for something else. Genevieve notices their transaction and asks Thyme for Xanax; Genevieve has access to codeine and ADD meds. Before long Thyme is deeply involved in drug dealing. She gets invited to parties hosted by the cool kids who used to ignore her. Now they accept her but only because they want what she has to offer --- access to all kinds of drugs.
Thyme finds that Ritalin is not without side effects --- for example, a rather frightening accelerated heart rate. And when she runs out of Ritalin and decides to quit cold turkey she experiences nausea, weakness and depression. She vows never to run out of Ritalin again. The story continues on to its surprising conclusion.
Sometimes the reader almost forgets that this is a work of fiction. The dialogue is very authentic. The descriptions of the stresses of being a teenager, with all the confusion and angst that sometimes accompany the teen years, is entirely believable.
Author Tracy Lynn had only one reason to write a book about illegal use of prescription drugs --- to let the teen reader vicariously and safely understand drug abuse. Armed with detailed, accurate information about drug abuse, Lynn hopes her readers will not, for even a moment, follow Thyme's example.
--- Reviewed by Carole Turner
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
from missprint.wordpress.com, May 2, 2007
This review is from: Rx (Paperback)
I make no claims that this book shows the "real" life of teens or sensationalizes the less-than-dramatic reality. I simply don't know. What I can say is that "Rx" by Tracy Lynn is very timely. Last December, for example, there were numerous news stories detailing the pressures teens face to be perfect and pretty and fun while making it all look easy. This book offers one explanation of how some teens do that.
Thyme Gilcrest goes to a competitive high school in a rich suburban neighborhood. It's senior year and she is jockeying for position among the top 20 of her class--a coveted spot that Thyme can barely cling to despite hours of work each night. This all changes when Thyme gets a hold of some Ritalin to treat her self-diagnosed ADHD. Suddenly she can focus and life is good. Then her friends find out about the drug and start asking her to get other "cure alls" for them.
Lynn writes this story in matter-of-fact, concise prose. Narrated by Thyme, the story never offers judgment on the druggies, dealers and misfits that populate its pages. Instead, Lynn is simply setting down the facts as she knows them (read the afterward to see why the story is important to her) to offer up a cautionary tale about the hazards of prescription drug abuse and dealing.
The prose here is arresting. After the first pages I was hooked. Thyme's commentary is sardonic and caustic--an appealing combination. At the same time, her story is painful to read as Thyme describes her let-downs and her own shortcomings. Despite that, the middle begins to drag as Thyme transitions of user to dealer. However, Lynn will throw in a trick now and then to surprise you.
Stylistically, this novel isn't overly exceptional. It's what I would term a "gimmick" novel--trying to cash in on the popularity (for lack of a better word) of the issue of prescription drug abuse in high schools.
The novel also deals with the world of privileged teens: kids whose parents have enough money that they are never home and leave their children with a bit too much free reign in their absence. The term "latch key children" might also come to mind. In a world where family dinners don't happen as often as they used to, perhaps it's not surprising to see more and more novels focusing on "latch key teens."
Part of me wants to do more research on the subject to see if prescription drugs are really that available to random teenagers but, as with most things, I think it depends on the teen and the location. For my part, I had a nagging sense that the novel was overstating the problem or perhaps focusing on a more suburban phenomenon (although Meg Cabot's new novel "Jinx" which is set in New York City briefly touches upon this issue as well). Perhaps I'm the only one who didn't know how to go about getting illegal substances as a teen (and still doesn't) and had no desire to.
At any rate, "Rx" is an interesting look at the burdens of overachievers even if the novel might leave you with more of a nagging feeling than a completely satisfied one.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Rx., May 12, 2007
This review is from: Rx (Paperback)
Thyme has so much going on. I don't think we learn enough about her. We know what she does and goes through, but after reading it, it felt like a lot of details were missing.
I loved the choice in chapter titles and quotes of lyrics. Overall, I've give it a 3.7 because I did like it. There just was some stuff that I felt wasn't there.
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