The 9:09 Project by Mark H. Parsons - OPTIONAL

The 9:09 Project by Mark H. Parsons, 368 pages. Delacorte Press, 2022. $19 

Language: R (88 swears, 55 “f” words), Mature Content: PG-13 (off-page sex, sex references/locker room talk, casual underage drinking and drug use, nude photos on a phone mentioned, but not described); Violence: G

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

Jamison Deeveer is a 17yo living in Vista Grande, California who has synesthesia and a love of photography, both of which he shared with his mother, who passed away two years ago from metastatic breast cancer. Jamison has been lost ever since without her around to translate the world for him. He has a loving family: a father who spends evenings in their garage, restoring old furniture and motorcycles to like new condition and hiding his intense grief from his kids; and Ollie, his freshman sister who focuses on being fashionable and well-liked at school to avoid her own feelings. Each evening at 9:09, Jamison takes a photo of random people on the street at the corner of Fig and Morena because it is what he could see from his mother’s hospital room when she died and his world stopped, while everyone else kept moving on with their lives. As Jamison navigates high school and his grief, he discovers a new friend, Assi, who helps him, along with his art, rediscover himself and come to terms with life without his mom. 

This beautifully written novel is a powerful exploration of grief and how art and helping others can guide people through the process. The characters are well-written and the author gives the reader a lot to think about. The sense of pain and grief the characters feel is tangible, likely because the author was coincidentally losing his mother to cancer as he completed the novel. There are a lot of swear words in the book, half of which could be cut out and not hurt the story. The first chapter is unnecessarily vulgar as a lunch table of boys crudely rate the girls who walk past and a troubling female character with low-self-esteem who tries to use sex to get attention from men, but the messages of the story are positive and the plot and characters hold the reader’s interest. This book is suitable for a mature high school student or adult, but is worth a read. 

Reviewed by: Stacee H, Future Librarian