Innocence

Jane Mendelsohn's writing has a haunting, lyrical quality to it that makes you want to wrap yourself up in the words and never stop reading. Beckett's story of an evil stepmother, suicidal peers, a father she can't trust anymore and a boy she loves is vague at times, almost dream-like, but that's part of the effect. "Innocence" is a coming-of-age, conspiracy-riddled, horror masterpiece. Highly recommended.

Little Willow recommended this book to me..Oh, and in simple words, it is FABULOUS. Mendelson uses analogies to omnipotent Final Girl of horror fame, and Alice in Wonderland to convey a dark and deep feeling, so that the reader really is with Beckett. The words employed by Jane bring vivid pictures, making you want to devour it within seconds. A delicious coming of age with a unique twist, this no ordinary tale.

I bought this book because I needed something to read, and the back intrigued me. I could not put this book down. I normally do not read anything along the lines of this genre, but I wanted to know what would occur next. Beckett reminds me of any new kid in a high school. I polished this book off in one day and passed it along to my friends. I thought that they would enjoy it. Each of them finished it within one day and had the same feelings as I did. My mother doesn't share my sentiments, but maybe this book is just intended for people who have recently been in high school and other generations won't follow it. But it is an excellent book and I urge anyone to read it.

I hardly ever agree with The New Yorker, but they were right about this novel: it's mesmerizingly bad. To paraphrase what Kirkus or PW said about Boston Teren's equally crummy novel God Is A Bullet: when it's not awfully bloody, it's bloody awful. The prose is minimalist (one sentence paragraphs, no quotation marks, anemic characterizations), but there are lots of awful similes (the sky went black as a limousine, the city turned like channels) and examples of overwriting (...a red and orange and purple massacre, spilling its guts...), not to mention characters with names like Beckett, Myrrh, and Sunday. Apparently, it took Jane M. years to write this trash and, despite how mesmerizingly bad it turned out, you can really feel her straining for the book's precise, ultra-lean prose and its mindboggling, can-you-top-this?, visionary metaphors (unfortunately, they come off like bad special effects). As the dust jacket suggests, Innocence is indeed a page turner, but only because you'll want to see how bad it can get (and it gets very, very bad). The tea party at the end is like that bad old joke about the vampire who goes to a bar and orders a cup of hot water....Since movies play such a big role in this novel, I'd like mention that I think Jane M. rips off Jean Rollin and Dario Argento (notably, Suspiria) far more than either Michael Lehman or Brian DePalma (though Dr. Kent is an awful lot like the Michael Caine character in Dressed to Kill...). Anyway, I'm giving it five stars because Innocence: A Novel is so bad it's good. Don't miss it; it's probably the worst of the year.