Purple Daze

Shahan's (Death Mountain) novel in verse is packed with the experiences and emotions of six suburban Los Angeles high school students during the tumultuous year of 1965, set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War draft, political assassinations, racism, the advent of LSD and Napalm, and rock 'n' roll. More than anything it's a story of innocence lost: Nancy unhappily works in a diner after her boyfriend Phil is drafted; Cheryl is attacked by her "sex pervert" neighbor, and her relationship with Don is on the rocks; and Ziggy runs wild with sex and drugs after her boyfriend, Mickey, joins the Navy ("Think I'll drop out and enlist./ It'd be a blast to blow stuff up"). Telling her story largely through the characters' journal entries, notes, and letters, Shahan also offers interludes about period events, speeches, and culture, further contextualizing the setting and helping illuminate each teen's circumstances and their shared feelings of abandonment, resentment, and betrayal. Shahan's writing pulls no punches as she offers a poignant mosaic that functions on personal and universal levels. Ages 14%E2%80%93up. (Mar.)