Pepperland

I was at the library, and desperate for something to read. I saw "Pepperland" and my thoughts immediently began thinking about the Beatle's movie that i've watched so many times. I picked it up, saw "Beatles" and "Lennon" and "Guitar", three of my favorite words ever and had the entire book read by the end of the afternoon. I'm 15 years old, and have always hated having books written about teens rebelling against their parents, yada yada. I hate rebel-without-a-cause type of stuff, and wondered why there were never books where teens had a good relationship with their parents. I like this book because Star and Skye respect each other instead of participating in the cliche' "parent vs. teen" stuff. Star is so much like me in the way she thinks and the way she feels about music and playing the guitar. This book looks into things in a much deeper way than other books written for teens my age, and I like that. A sequel would be a very welcome thing.

Pamela Jean Cochran (a.k.a. Star) is sixteen when her mother dies from breast cancer. Struggling to find a way to cope, she turns to her music hoping that if she can write a song to honor her mother then she can finally let go of her anger and pain. While going through her mother's belongings, Star discovers a fan letter to John Lennon and a vintage Gibson guitar--now in need of repair. These two items are the catalyst to Star's healing process. Set in the fall of 1980, Delaney's novel is a wonderful exploration of grief, anger, loss, and confusion. Star and Dooley, her best friend, are remarkably well-developed characters. And Delaney's use of language is impressive. One striking passage occurs when Dooley shows Star his new drawing: "Before me is a portrait of a young woman. She is strikingly beautiful, her face nearly white and her cheekbones shaded in an ice pale blue. Her eyes are large and pretty, but dark and a little wounded-looking. She's not really smiling. Behind her is a background of burgundy and violet. Within this background, and over the girl's face, are crossing lines, like the squares on a sheet of graph paper. It's as if little parts of her have been painted on hundreds of tiles, and the tiles have assembled themselves to make this image. Except in the upper left-hand corner, the pattern breaks down. The tiles are scattered, the lines no longer forming perfect angles. The pieces seem to be falling, cascading into place. The girl is in the process of becoming a complete picture...And then I understand. I see it. The girl with the wounded eyes, the girl who doesn't quite smile, the girl made of a thousand pieces that are falling, at last, into their proper places...She's me" (105-106).

We love mr. Delaney's Misfits series, but Pepperland is much much more, deeper and so believable. The characters are likable and the music theme ties everything together. The book ended exactly as it should have, nothing was out of place or over the top. I really look forward to a sequel. This book is great.

I've always enjoyed Mark Delaney's books, and this one in particular. He's chosen a very difficult subject to tackle and has pulled it off with a naturalness and true emotion. Star is very real--he's impressively filled her with the sadness and the anger that her situation would bring while still making her extremely likeable. There are funny moments and exciting moments and his vivid, poetic language, but what stands out the most, for me, is the beautiful way Star's underlying strength and her love for music (shared with her mother) help her to work through the grief and the anger over her mother's death. This book moved me to tears a number of times. I loved the running thread of John Lennon--and the clever way the chapters were named after Beatles tunes. I loved the way Lennon's appearance, though strong, is only figurative, just as the letter Star's mother wrote to him is never actually presented to us to read--reminding us that everything, even Star's beloved music, is only secondary to the love of a girl for her mom.