In Deadville, the latest YA novel by Ron Koertge, we meet Ryan. He’s been avoiding life, primarily by smoking pot and isolating himself with his iPod, since his younger sister died of cancer two years ago. But when Charlotte Silano — a gorgeous, popular senior way out of his league — has a riding accident and falls into a coma, Ryan finds himself drawn to her hospital room almost every day, long after her friends stop coming around. And while he visits Charlotte, Ryan slowly starts to emerge from his own isolation – he reconnects with his parents, stops smoking pot, works out a gym, and even eases into a relationship with Betty, another classmate drawn to visit Charlotte.
Deadville is both a “place” – a cancer patient in the room next to Charlotte has dreams that he visits the place where people are waiting to crossover into the light or return to life – and a metaphor for the void people fall into when the grief and pain in their lives is too much for them to handle. Ryan’s pain is numbed at the beginning of the book by the drugs he’s taken refuge in; but as he spends more and more time with Charlotte, his feelings and memories of his sister surface and he finds he’s strong enough to face them and start putting his life back together. Koertge doesn’t short-change Ryan’s feelings or his reasons for making the choices he made, and his exploration the impact of grief on the entire family is thoughtful and realistic. Filled with humor and insight, Deadville reflects on the unpredictable workings of grief and the healing power of self-reinvention.
- Posted by Cori