cover image Dive

Dive

Stacey Donovan. Dutton Books, $15.99 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-525-45154-9

Through a loose-jointed, poetic first-person narration, first-novelist Donovan offers a painfully intimate glimpse of a suburban teen confronting mortality. As the story begins, 15-year-old Virginia Dunn, known as V, has just learned that her dog, Lucky, has been hit by a car. Although Lucky's injuries are critical, they are curable-unlike the mysterious disease that has gripped V's father and, in a matter of weeks, turned him into ``just a pale and skinny version of himself.'' Numbed by tragedy, feeling distant from her distraught mother and from her best friend, V is sought out by Jane, a popular new girl at school, and their friendship escalates into passion. Besides evoking the heartache of watching a loved one die, Donovan explores her young survivor's discovery of the force of life. Characters, particularly V's lovable little sister, are well defined. The author's frank approach to lesbian love and fatal illness packs a hard punch that will leave readers breathless. Ages 12-up. (Aug.)