BADD (review)
2011; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 64; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2011.a408922
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Themes in Literature Analysis
ResumoReviewed by: BADD Deborah Stevenson Tharp, Tim. BADD. Knopf, 2011. [320p.] Library ed. ISBN 978-0-375-96444-2 $19.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-375-86444-5 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-375-89579-1 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 8-12. Sixteen-year-old Ceejay is proudly the "baddest girl in Knowles," following in the footsteps of her adored older brother, Bobby. She's frustrated and puzzled when Bobby returns from Iraq with little interest in his former audacious ways or in returning to the family bosom; instead, Bobby prefers to get stoned and hang out with "Captain Crazy," a disturbed anti-war protestor who constructs strange sculptures and flying machines out on his property. Ceejay is perfectly believable as her older brother's Mini-Me, seeing all his faults as magnetic character traits and replicating them herself to the detriment of her relationships. Her determination that the best thing to be is scary and pugnacious is vividly portrayed, but Tharp (author of The Spectacular Now, BCCB 2/09) also manages some successful hinting at the defensiveness that can underlie such an approach, and the gradual broadening of Ceejay's point of view develops plausibly. The rest of the book is less successful: though it's refreshing to see a non-heroic contemporary soldier (Bobby was given a general discharge for selling hash), Bobby's Iraq service otherwise hits the standard notes, and his family's cluelessness about the effects of war and about the difficulties of reentry into society strains credulity. Additionally, Bobby's plot has more contrived event than genuine trajectory, and the book treats medical intervention with confusing ambivalence, suggesting it's key for Bobby while making it the villain with the Captain. If readers can look past Bobby to Ceejay, however, they'll appreciate the thoughtful story of a teen's gradual realization that the world is less simple than it appears. Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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