Customer Reviews

Rx

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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.

Though the pacing stumbles at times, weighed down by occasionally clumsy writing (the quotes at the beginning of each chapter were quickly tired), the hook this story had in me more than made up for its flaws. Lynn's style isn't brilliant, but she has amazing skill when it comes to voice and narrative. The pop culture references were fantastic, and Thyme is flat out hilarious, as are her infuriating friends and responsibility-shirking clients.

Many will complain for the lack of a clear "lesson" and the unlikeable side-characters. I, however, was grateful for both. They were elements I could relate to. Life doesn't always have a moral and good characters aren't always good people. (Will, for instance, was, in my opinion, hypocritical and unsympathetic, but I totally enjoyed his character.) It was a refreshing twist to have the dynamics of high school written in a way I'm familiar with, where not everyone gets along properly and not all is ideal. Too many books written for young adults pander to moral guardians looking for a theme and neglect what it is their audience will benefit from: verisimilitude. My friends in high school were hardly shining examples of maturity. This isn't a teen thing. It's a human thing, and we see examples of corrupted ethics and double-standards in Thyme's parents and other adults. In fiction, suburbia is a farce. While everyone's exterior is clean-cut, those things that go on behind closed doors are often less than savory. And it was great fun seeing this play out.

Few readers are interested in "just say no" propaganda. And while I understand that the purpose of writing this was to raise awareness of how prescription drugs have infiltrated our society, I try to avoid cautionary tales because they're simply ineffective--and often patronizing. As someone with an intimate relationship with addiction and drug use (two very different things that are often treated the same), I appreciate literature that takes a realistic approach to the subject without either vilifying or glamorizing it. Sometimes there AREN'T any negative consequences. And although that isn't what anyone likes to hear, it's true that people do get away with the "bad" things they do and can actually turn them to their advantage. Not everyone ends up miserable and ruined. "Just say know" is my mantra and I was happy to have discovered a book that, despite its motives, finally embodied this. Without the author's note (which was sort of a disappointment to me), I wouldn't have known that it had been written on a soapbox.

My only complaints about the story's content are the research errors. It's clear that Tracy Lynn did her fair share of digging before writing this book, but some things were left out while others were tweaked (no pun intended). SSRIs, for example, don't work immediately, and anti-depressants are notorious for being unreliable in their efficacy. The side-effects would have also been difficult for a teen to manage. Thyme mentions suicidal ideation, but there's also weight gain and changes in libido to consider. Also, Ritalin is not chemically addicting. The withdrawal is purely psychological and the physical symptoms (depression, pain, anxiety, etc.) are largely psychosomatic. I would be more concerned about Thyme's use of benzos for sleep. If she'd been taking them consistently, to stop WOULD have produced an intense and severely dangerous withdrawal.

Another thing that would have been nice would be a lengthier ending. So much was left unsaid about the future of her family and friends, and Thyme's final decisions were a little rushed, it seemed. But overall, I had a blast reading this and would recommend it to anyone with a passion for this vein of the contemporary genre.

This is an excellent, fast page read. From one page to the next, one cannot wait to read more and more; finish a chapter; okay two; okay three; okay more! I am NOT even in high school anymore (oh, the misery of it all) but it is completely interesting to see how life has changed, yet at the same time is similar to when I was in high school. While usually it was only the boys on such drugs for ADD, and they definitely were not selling it, whether or not they were taking it--and is it honestly true people/ kids now adays sell anti-depressants? I found that intriguing...

Anyway, a book, about a girl--striving to be the best; not perfect. Just "up there" enough (academically speaking) to be in "the twenty" (the "in crowd") and make it through the horrors of Senior year, with all of its AP courses, tests, exams, studying, applications to be filled out for getting into colleges, worries of getting into the best Ivy League school around, not to mention all of the "extra curric's." Of course a girl would be under pressure to turn to something like a "study drug."

But, perhaps it is more than that. Perhaps after awhile life just seems so routine, so monotonous... so... BORING... a pill traded here or there won't hurt anyone. Technically the girl is NOT a drug DEALER; I mean, really? Come on, she doesn't do it for the money, she does it to keep her own supply steady. Just getting and giving prescriptions to/for those who truly need them, but have hypocritical parents who won't allow "their kid" to see a "shrink"--OH NO.

Boredom... Drugs... Love... Torn between the latter as she aims at her goal of getting into a good school as she defines it;

"Thyme Gilcrest is an honors student."
"Thyme Gilcrest is popular."
"Thyme Gilcrest is on student council."
"Thyme Gilcrest is a drug dealer..."


A must read for the 'bored' and those addicts who have risen up to overcome their addiction (kudos to YOU!!!) and are sick of reading whiny memoirs. This is a quicky for a weekend. A 'bump.' =)

This is a book that I hestitate (just a bit) to put on my bookshelf in my classroom. It is an edgy subject to be sure, but a necessary one to open the eyes of naive teenagers and parents to the growing abuse of prescription drugs. You hear it in the news quite often- kids need go no further than the medicine chest in their home to get high. As a parent, this scares me to death. As a teacher, I feel confident that this book can help educate my students to the dangers of prescription drug use. So, it will go on my shelf. I will gladly explain my rationale to any concerned parent.

Thyme Gilcrest is an honor student and overall pillar of the school community. She is soon to apply to prestigious colleges and feels the immense pressure to make sure her GPA is as high as it can be, that she is in all the right clubs, and doing all the right community service projects that will ensure her entry into a good college. The pressure she, and many students like her, is under causes distraction , which she misdiagnoses as ADD. Her parents refuse to allow her to go on Ritalin, widely known and abused as a "study drug". If she could just get her hands on some Ritalin, all her problems would be solved. And so begins Thyme's story.

What is very interesting about this novel is that it destroys the stereotype of the kinds of kids that use drugs. The users in this novel are the "good kids"- the one's with supportive parents, money, high IQs, popular, athletic. And they think that since they are using "legal" drugs, it's all good! No worries- it can't hurt me if a doctor prescribes these, regardless of who they were prescribed for.

Tracy Lynn has nailed the teen vernacular, and this could cause some adults to complain about the foul language. But again, in defense of Lynn, she has written a novel meant to educate and warn teens about abusing prescription drugs without being preachy and condescending. Lynn expertly shows the rationalizing that goes on to justify the drug use, as well as the parents part in all of this- their own habits that are unwittingly proving to be a negative example for their children.

I loved this book. Teens will love this book. I saw a comment that said it did not have a moral. I can see how the ending might lead you to believe this, but I think it shows just how dangerous RX drug use can be- its not an easy habit to kick. Moral: Don't start it in the first place.

I am a 40 yr old master's in school counseling student. I am very naive about drug use with teens. This book is eye opening about what is occurring with our youth being addicted to prescription meds. Parents, keep your prescription meds out of the reach of your kids. Frightening.

Before reading this book, I expected to be a typical teen novel. Boring, unrealistic, etc. I was mindblown. It's definetly on my top 3 books of all time. I couldn't put it down! I'm definetly recommending it to all my friends.

This book was AMAZING and totally worth reading it. It shows are prescription drugs are all around you and how they could change your life in so many different ways. This book captures you and im sure that you will not be able to stop reading!!

To me this book took a little while to get into but after the second half I enjoyed it. Interesting look at the lives of some teens out there (probably more than parents think).