This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record [Paperback]

Susannah Felts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2008

When the school year at tony Nashville Arts and Science ends, Vaughn Vance ditches her upper class friends for a summer of solitude. Content to be alone and work on her photography, Vaughn’s seclusion is disrupted when she meets her new neighbor, Sophie Birch. The two form a tentative friendship, hanging out at Dragon Park with the rest of Nashville’s teens. There, the relationship deepens: Sophie becomes the subject of Vaughn’s artistic experiments and Vaughn becomes the subject of Sophie’s social experimentation as she pushes Vaughn to loosen up and let down her guard. After a fight with her mother, Sophie moves in with Vaughn and her academic parents who embrace Sophie’s wild side — until the girls push each other a step too far. In her debut novel, Susannah Felts perfectly captures the feel of growing up Southern-style, the universal push-pull of adolescent limit testing, and, above all, the intoxicating power that comes with burgeoning creativity.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—While taking pictures in Nashville's Dragon Park, 16-year-old Vaughn Vance meets Sophie Birch, small, lithe, and bad-girl pretty. Sophie hangs with Vaughn to escape her depressing home life with a single mom who is housework challenged. This odd couple become fast friends and Sophie becomes Vaughn's muse. After her mom moves away, she accepts an invitation to move in with Vaughn and her caring parents. The teens remain friends until Vaughn makes the mistake of kissing Sophie's ex-boyfriend, the breakup too new for Vaughn's indiscretion to be seen as anything short of serious disloyalty. The rest of the book is essentially Vaughn consumed with whether Sophie will ever be her friend again, an obsession that flirts with homosexuality at one point. References to pop culture are current but are at times forced attempts to relate to the teen audience, with such adjectives as "gimungus" and "pube-curl" and a drink made from fruit punch and vodka called "Sex on the Rag." The novel loses whatever momentum it had as the characters start school and Vaughn uses photography and the peace of the darkroom to forget about Sophie. The author goes into depth about the process of bringing photos from the shutter to the exhibit, but it is not enough to keep readers' interest.—Stephanie Glass Shteirman, High School in the Community, New Haven, CT
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About the Author

Susannah Felts is a writer, editor and teacher with roots in Nashville, Tennessee. Her writing has appeared in many magazines and newspapers, including McSweeney's, Another Chicago Magazine, Quarterly West, Pindeldyboz, The Sun, the Chicago Reader and others.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Featherproof Books (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097719924X
• ISBN-13: 978-0977199242
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,432,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I hope you know that this should go down on your reading list, April 5, 2009

By 

Jeffrey Yamaguchi - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record (Paperback)

You better write a darn good YA novel if you are going to invoke -- right in your title -- a key line from one of the greatest teen anthems of all time. Susannah Felts has done just that. This is a great story that vividly captures that turning point in life when you are nowhere near being "grown-up" enough to handle or even fully understand all the big stuff going on around you, but there it is, in your face and under your skin, and you've just got to deal with it all in the best way you can. It's a real treat experience this period through the eyes of the main character Vaughn, to see how she handles a difficult but deeply significant friendship, or how she embraces and explores the art of photography. Vaughn is a smart, self-aware young girl who isn't yet comfortable in her own skin, but you know she will be at some point, sooner than most, but not any time soon. This is a real treasure of a novel. I hope you know that this should go down on your reading list, like, now. The good feeling you get will stay with you. Highly recommended.

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Completely Thrilling, But a Good Read, June 10, 2008

By 

The Book Muncher (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record (Paperback)

From the first moment they meet at the Dragon Park, Vaughn and Sophie have a rocky friendship. It seems hard to believe they're friends at all, considering Vaughn is quiet and thoughtful while Sophie is wild and outspoken. However, they do form a bond, although a volatile one. As Vaughn begins to take pictures of Sophie for her photography project, she feels like she's getting to know Sophie even better. But a drunken mistake wounds their friendship, and Vaughn finds herself missing Sophie's presence greatly. She can't bring herself to find a new subject for her photography.

I enjoyed the extensive characterization of both Vaughn and Sophie, through Vaughn's perspective. At first sight, they seem to be complete opposites, but they are both just girls in need of a good friend. They fulfill this role for each other, and I liked that they were able to work out their conflict.

One of my favorite parts of this novel was the incorporation of the art of photography. It was very insightful and never got confusing, even for strangers to the fine points of photography. It was also very interesting to read about the controversy over picking subjects and the interpretation of different photographs. For me, the addition of photography was what made this story so unique and enjoyable.

This Will Go down on Your Permanent Record is a lovely coming-of-age story. It is a little slow at times, but definitely a worthwhile read that I recommend.

[...]

4.0 out of 5 stars If you do not read this book, it WILL go on your permanent record!, February 26, 2008

By 

Future Author ""Em"" - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record (Paperback)

I was lucky enough to have been able to meet the author (Susannah Felts) at a writing conference at a local college. It was amazing to hear her read from her novel. The book has a lot of qualities that a teenager would enjoy reading, but also adults like to read to reminisce about there own teen-age experiences. I have not finished reading the book yet, but I can tell you it is amazing. I will post another review after I am done. Read this or have a black mark on YOUR permanent record!

Em V.