cover image Getting the Girl

Getting the Girl

Markus Zusak. Arthur A. Levine Books, $16.95 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-439-38949-5

Octavia is narrator Cameron's first real girlfriend, but she is also the latest casualty of his womanizing older brother, Ruben (from Fighting Ruben Wolff), in Marcus Zusak's sequel, Getting the Girl. ""Rube"" is a compassionate friend to his younger brother until Cam's burgeoning into a sensitive companion to Octavia becomes something Ruben both admires and resents. Zusak's tale of first love turns into a complex and authentic rendering of one boy's earthy desires and pain, set against the landscape of Sydney, Australia.