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erinprovolone 's review for:
The Face on the Milk Carton
by Caroline B. Cooney
I started a book club for students and faculty while we're under the remote learning regime at work. I'm not much of a genre person, so when everyone else wanted to read mystery, and I had to consider things that would work for teens while hopefully appealing to adults in addition to being quick, easy reads (because that's all most people can handle right now), my very first thought was this, from my own teenage years. I gave the club a couple of other options. Perhaps my telling them that this book's premise is "ludicrous" was a selling point.
I've been having a lot of trouble focusing on reading. I read this in one afternoon! I expected it to have aged badly, but what makes this assuredly ludicrous story work is what makes it so easy to read. The writing isn't overwrought (unlike too much of today's YA); instead, there's a rather elegant sparseness. Once, Cooney describes the weather as "sweater weather," and that's all, because that's all you need to know what she means. She extends this to her cast of characters, all of whom become real people with only a few words, and she remembers that her teenagers are indeed teenagers without trying too hard to make them hip. I forgot about that cliffhanger ending, which is just as well, because this remains a ridiculous and fantastic comfort read, and I intend to jump to the sequel pretty much immediately.
I've been having a lot of trouble focusing on reading. I read this in one afternoon! I expected it to have aged badly, but what makes this assuredly ludicrous story work is what makes it so easy to read. The writing isn't overwrought (unlike too much of today's YA); instead, there's a rather elegant sparseness. Once, Cooney describes the weather as "sweater weather," and that's all, because that's all you need to know what she means. She extends this to her cast of characters, all of whom become real people with only a few words, and she remembers that her teenagers are indeed teenagers without trying too hard to make them hip. I forgot about that cliffhanger ending, which is just as well, because this remains a ridiculous and fantastic comfort read, and I intend to jump to the sequel pretty much immediately.