Customer Reviews

The loners

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

 

 

Nancy Garden, author of Annie on My Mind (probably the most famous queer teen novel of all time) has certain qualities to most of her books: well-meaning but clueless families, charming if unrealistic dialogue, and happy endings full of love. Imagine my surprise when I finally found her second novel/YA debut, The Loners, a stark and grim story which, while just as gorgeous, bears almost no resemblance to her later work.

The Loners is the story of a depressed teenager named Paul. Paul struggles to find meaning in life with no close friends, a dysfunctional immediate family, and a beloved grandfather who seems to be becoming ill. He finds solace in a romance with a troubled girl named Jenny who tries to escape her problems through drugs.

For such a brief book, The Loners covers a lot of ground. In addition to one's first love, mental health, and one's first encounter with death, conformity is a big topic: Is Paul's obnoxious big brother as much of a conformist as he seems to be? Could Paul conform if he wanted to? Does being different make Paul a better person?

The Loners has a dark, moody tone that captures unhappy adolescence perfectly, and Paul's relationship with Jenny is unnerving rather than fairy tale-esque. The drug-related content sometimes borders on preachy, but Garden avoids two common pitfalls in this arena: painting drugs as the sole source of a person's problems and arguing that drug use is always detrimental. (Jenny has issues outside of using, and Paul occasionally uses with no serious effects.)

I felt the ending tied up a bit too neatly for a book that aims for slice-of-life realism rather than a tidy plot, but The Loners is still one of the best books I've read this year. The storytelling reminds me of I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip. and The Catcher in the Rye, but I admire The Loners more than either of them. Small and mature, this is a lost classic YA fans should not miss.