I have been lucky enough to read a LOT of great books this year and up until now I had a clear I-shine-above-the-rest favourite: On the Jellicoe Road. Though I am actually going to be daring enough to say to all you Marchetta-obsessed bookaholics that for me Please Ignore Vera Dietz could compete with the sad and beautiful emotional turmoil I felt for On the Jellicoe Road.
There are two young adult topics that always make me think "oh, not again", and they are:
1) teen pregnancy, and
2) coping with the death of a loved one
These subjects are so overdone that the mere thought of tackling yet another piece of this melodramatic drivel makes my head ache... but Please Ignore Vera Dietz is probably the best book I have ever read that involves death and the aftermath of it, all the sorrow and guilt and "what ifs" told in such a beautiful way. In fact, I honestly cannot think of a novel that handles it better.
Everyone knows that a good author "shows" rather than "tells", right? But the very best of authors - and they are a select and wonderful few - well, they know how to make you "feel" rather than simply "see". They are the kind of writers who manipulate your emotions and make you love, hate or just want to have sex with a character. I felt everything that Vera felt, it was very emotionally draining but ultimately more rewarding at the end - I love those books that truly affect me, they stay with me far longer than the rest.
Charlie, as well as Vera, was a remarkable character. He reminded me of a debate I had recently about Wuthering Heights and, in particular, Heathcliff. I've always said that the best actors are those who can make you feel sorry for an evil and twisted character, that can make you understand even if redemption is impossible... I feel it's the same with authors. Emily Brontë created a character who was a violent monster, yet the way she explores the unloved childhood he endured always makes me feel nothing but sympathy for a man who is cruel because he's been shown nothing else.
I love complex characters. There are few, if any, people in this world who can be called something so simple as "good" or "bad".
This is why I loved Charlie and all his stupid fuckedupness. Charlie makes so many mistakes and he frequently gets it all wrong; in the hands of a weaker author, you could easily hate him... but you don't. Yes, this is a novel about death and yes, this is a novel about friendship and love and the fine line between right and wrong... but Please Ignore Vera Dietz is first and foremost an exploration of two complex individuals who are two of the most well-drawn characters I have come across in the young adult genre. Huge thanks to Tatiana, without whom I would never have read this book.
