Parenthetical

I was rather torn between wanting to love this book (evocative title, colleague recommendation, a flap that begins “In re: James Sveck — eighteen-year-old New Yorker, charming, precocious, confused, doesn’t quite fit in (doesn’t really want to)”) and expecting to hate it (how very much the reviews, and the book itself, want it to be [...]

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Gingerbread bills itself as “edgy,” with cover quotes from Teen People, Elle Girl, and Twist magazines rather than other authors, and a cover featuring a punky girl with platform boots. But it’s basically your average finding-yourself novel: Cyd hates living with her mom and stepdad, so she acts like a brat until they send her [...]

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