Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Lena Roy has written a terrific book for young adults on the subject of addiction.
After the death of his mother, Luke's father, Frank, starts drinking again after a long period of sobriety and is quickly reduced to a soggy, hopeless wreck. Overwhelmed by the demands of caring for an active alcoholic, and coping with his own grief, 17-year-old Luke flees New York for the Moab Desert, where he and his parents once traveled. He finds a job at the Moonflower youth hostel and lives among the quirky inhabitants.
Ava, a student and sometime waitress, has recently joined Alcoholics Anonymous and although she's trying to deal with her addiction, she's having a hard time. Through AA, she meets Frank, Luke's father. She's alienated from her parents, who have themselves moved to the Moab Desert -- and that's where the miraculous connections begin to weave together.
The story is told in Luke's and Ava's alternating points of view. It's well handled. The novel will inspire any young person dealing with addiction, autonomy and self-awareness. The issues are complicated -- God, synchronicity, life and death, our responsibility to others, forgiveness...Lena Roy shies away from nothing. Her clear-eyed portrait of what AA looks like to a newcomer is refreshing, and although she illustrates, quite beautifully, why "the program" works, she never talks down to her reader, nor does she preach. The characters are well rounded, the story intriguing, the possibilities inspiring.
Highly recommended.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Edges
