One Night

Like some of the other reviewers, I was a bit skeptical about a novel in free verse, but this was one of the most moving, evocative bits of literature I've read. The author does an amazing job of painting fully realized portraits of the characters and their situations using remarkably few brush strokes, so to speak. Each carefully crafted line matters. In fact, I think this story works better in verse than it would in prose. Many of the characters have really dismal personal situations, which could make for some heavy slogging in prose form. Yet, overall the book is one of hope and change. It's really worth a read. My only complaint is the cover, which makes one expect a sappy teen romance, when really it's so much more.

Gabe is bored with the typical girls he's always with and wants something more. When he meets Helen he finally finds a girl who doesn't just see his pretty looks and wants to know the real him. But after one night together he ignores her and refuses to answer her phone calls. Helen is pregnant. Her parents kicked her out and Gabe wont answer the phone. She doesn't know what to do, but she will do anything to keep her baby. One Night is a great story. It's written in poems and it's a pretty quick read. I recommend it to anyone.

This was an amazing book. It was so original, I've never read anything like it. I especially liked how the story was in poem form.

Gabe is a brash teenage guy who steadfastly ignores the pain of his past and seemingly lives only to toy with girls at parties. Helen is a serious, smart girl who wants to be a plastic surgeon and is uncomfortably aware of her previously deformed face. By chance, the two meet at a party that Helen reluctantly went to with a friend. Somehow, Helen and Gabe connect emotionally in an almost magical way and she is pregnant before the night is over. Helen is forced to deal with a life that changes each day in frightening and awe-inspiring ways. Yes, this book is written in free verse. But as someone who usually shuns poetry, I can say that this style resulted in some of the most mind-blowingly moving images I have ever encountered in a novel. "One Night" is a quick read, composed of many one-or two paged poems that are each meant to chronicle a particular event or feeling in the lives of Helen, Gabe, and those connected to the two main characters. The poems vary in length, yet Wild writes them in such a way as to make every single word count. With surprisingly few words, she captures Gabe's desolation, Helen's powerful spirit, the upheaval the pregnancy causes, and the pain of labor. Wild is able to write in a way that will keep teens reading, but also to express controversial issues and wrenching emotions in ways that would make great authors proud. This is one of those books that you "travel" through with a racing heart, wanting to absorb every word of each poem, yet rushing ahead to find the next stunning line from this author's pen. With its simplicity yet depth and its hopeful ending, "One Night" is a book that will leave an impression.

Helens life is forever changed the night she meets beautifull and charming Gabe. Although her face is disfigured, Gabe falls for her, the way he has fallen for so many before. This novel in verse lets you look into the life of Gabe and Helen, and leads you though her pregnany, and then finally to the birth of her son, Raphael. Each and every poem is beautifully phrased, and is remarkaley touching. An excellent follow up to JINX, although in my opinion not quiet as good.