cover image Now I Know It’s Not My Fault

Now I Know It’s Not My Fault

Laurie B. Levine. CreateSpace, $14.99 paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-5355-1158-2

Set in the 1980s, Geller’s first novel is a frequently uncomfortable coming-of-age story about Alexandra Geller, whose loss of her mother and chilly relationship with her father leave her longing for the love and approval of a parental figure. She finds it, at age 14, from her self-assured and unconventional science teacher, Paula. The young teacher flirts openly with male students, sings in a band, and makes plain that teaching is only a small part of her life. After Paula takes Alexandra under her wing, their relationship becomes increasingly intense. Levine realistically details the ways in which Paula’s motherly tendencies can rapidly transform into acts of coercion, manipulation, and humiliation. Side characters—notably Alexandra’s terse and emotionally unavailable father—don’t have the nuance that Levine brings to Alexandra, and the story’s 1980s setting, mainly conveyed through references to “big” hair and pop stars, can be ill defined. Yet Levine sympathetically conveys Alexandra’s confusion concerning her relationship with Paula and her ambivalence when it comes to taking the necessary steps to end it. Ages 14–up. (BookLife)