She notices the way the sunlight looks in her tea, appreciates the taste of kiwi and hears someone moving dishes in the kitchen.ĭownham's prose is poetic, and her images are vivid. Tessa is sarcastic, rude and bitter-all that we expect a teenager to be-yet as the novel progresses, her anger at her failing health evolves into an appreciation of the smaller joys life presents. There is no surprise happy ending here, but the journey of the novel itself is emotionally surprising. Tessa, a 16-year-old battling cancer, makes a list of the things she wants to experience before her life ends: Sex, drugs and love are all on the agenda. Downham has constructed a teen novel that is neither overly sweet nor patronizing-instead, Before I Die offers a candid and piercing view of the way a teenager's mind works. It is rewarding as a reader to encounter a unique story, and Jenny Downham's Before I Die is one such find.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |