Dear Nobody

Grade 7-10-- Told as a flashback, in some of the loveliest, most lyrical prose to be found in YA fiction, Helen and Chris narrate the consequences of one night's unprotected passion that changes the course of their lives forever. With teen parenthood superimposing itself upon college plans, both give voice to disbelief, confusion, and fear. Chris wants them to marry; Helen's mother wants the young woman to have an abortion. When an attempt to miscarry fails, Helen accedes to her mother's pressure. But alone at the abortion clinic, she can't go through with it, and returns home to have and keep her baby. Although Helen loves Chris, she writes, ``I'm not ready for forever. I'm not ready for him, and he's not ready for me.'' Her painful choice is to break up even though she loves him. His bitter reality is exclusion from her pregnancy and life and, by extension, the life of his unborn child. Doherty adroitly explores the intricacies of love and all its twisting complications through the lives of fully fleshed-out, believable teen and adult characters in this compelling novel. While the changing voices (Chris's perspective alternates with letters that Helen writes to ``Dear Nobody,'' her unborn child) are occasionally confusing, the book's raw emotion propels readers toward Chris's reunion with Helen at the hospital and to his first view of his daughter, who shocks him with her vulnerability and importance. His final realization is the book's heart and message--`` `I'm not ready for you, or for her. I'm not yet ready for myself.' '' --Alice Casey Smith, Chappaqua Library, NY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.