Does anyone ever see us for who we really are? Jo Knowles's revelatory
novel of interlocking stories peers behind the scrim as it follows nine
teens and one teacher through a seemingly ordinary day.
Thanks to a bully in gym class, unpopular Nate suffers a broken
finger--the middle one, splinted to flip off the world. It won't be the
last time a middle finger is raised on this day. Dreamer Claire
envisions herself sitting in an artsy café, filling a journal, but fate
has other plans. One cheerleader dates a closeted basketball star;
another questions just how, as a "big girl," she fits in. A group of
boys scam drivers for beer money without remorse--or so it seems. Over
the course of a single day, these voices and others speak loud and clear
about the complex dance that is life in a small town. They resonate in a
gritty and unflinching portrayal of a day like any other, with ordinary
traumas, heartbreak, and revenge. But on any given day, the line where
presentation and perception meet is a tenuous one, so hard to discern.
Unless, of course, one looks a little closer--and reads between the
lines.