Cranse, Pratima All
the Major Constellations 316 pages. Viking Penguin Random House
2015. $17.99. Language: R (100+ swears, 60 “f”); Mature Content: R;
Violence: R.
Andrew’s two best friends couldn’t be more different –
Marcia is seriously smart and shy, and Sara is gorgeous, flirtatious, and
hardworking - but the three of them have been inseparable all through high
school. A week before their graduation
in 1995, Sara is severely injured in a car accident, prompting Marcia to attend
to her full-time in the hospital, and causing Andrew to withdraw in
uncertainty. Andrew’s long-time romantic
obsession, Laura, invites him to join her fundamentalist church youth group
after she hears of the accident, and though Andrew doesn’t believe in God, he
decides to go so he can get close to her.
Is the comfort he is feeling a sign from above?
I wish this book had done better justice to the religious
questioning and exploration that is common to many teens. This book is all over the place, lacking
balance between Andrew’s moments of inquiry about religious belief and his
mockery of it. He gets a distant view of
Laura’s harmonious family life (a stark contrast to his own), but does he
interpret this as false in the end because of how their church “counsels” one
of their homosexual members? Nothing is
treated adequately, not the critical situation of his friend, not Andrew’s
haphazard soul-searching, not the supporting characters and personalities, and
definitely not the meaningless sexual encounter (for which there are zero
consequences). Rated R for foul language
and behavior, sexual activity, drug and alcohol use, with few satisfying
resolutions to all that is thrown at us, this book does not present a
meaningful whole for the reader.
HS – NOT RECOMMENDED.
Reviewed by JA, High School Librarian
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