Susan Smith Alvis has raised quite the storm with her first work of YA fiction, Friends Unlikely. The title quickly became an ebook bestseller and rose to the top of electronic retailer Fictionwise’s list of top-rated teen novels. Alvis has launched an ‘online’ book tour and there are already rave reviews on the internet. There’s also a very good chance it will enter the 2008 circle of finalists in the hotly competed EPPIE awards.
Given all the hype, I was a little surprised I opened up Friends Unlikely and quickly discovered it a major criminal to all the golden rules of YA literature. It opens with description – about teenage Abbie, her life, and her four best friends. This goes on for several pages; a defiance of the idea that all ‘publishable’ books drop their readers into pre-developed action on the very first page. Friends Unlikely proceeds to describe the sins of its protagonists from Abbie’s point of view, and we get concerned – even preachy – observations that are instantly hard to swallow.
But before too long, the virtues of Alvis’s style become apparent; we can sympathize with her well-developed characters even as they wear down the world around them, and Alvis tackles grave issues with hopefulness and confidence. In a book that seems to run on clichés of teen angst, the sheer thoughtfulness that has obviously been devoted to Abbie and her friends saves this title from the realm of abstract fable. Abbie, in the lead, is particularly refreshing; dubbed ‘dumb blonde’ and obviously burdening a lot more insight than her friends accredit to her, she is also a former-outcast, which draws a unique appreciation for her network of friends.
Unlikely is described as a group’s struggle to support one-another after their most positive member contracts a deadly disease. But through the title’s 139 pages, this title ropes in a lot more issues than AIDS including racism, homophobia, abuse and drug use. It’s heavy, to say the least, but ultimately manages to remain equally realistic, and hopeful, gaining literary strength even as its character’s situation becomes increasingly shadowed by secrets, confusion, and yes, even death.
Still, it lacks the verve of ‘edgier’ fiction, with lots of potential for beautiful imagery that seems strangely lost on Abbie, and forced dialogue that tries to explain what the limited description does not.
Still, Friends Unlikely picks up more than pace on its progression and the later portion of the book brings up a lot of topical reflection along with all the twists and turns and operatic surprises. It closes with a few nonfiction notes about crystal meth and AIDS, reminding us that this essentially ‘edutainment’ or at least teacher-friendly drama, but Alvis isn’t just knowledgeable about these issues: she taps into just enough realities that this is also an unlikely good ebook. It will question the minds that read it and no doubt draw tears from certain readers.
Criminal or not, Friends Unlikely is likeable.
Final Score: 3/5
Purchase Friends Unlikely by Susan Smith Alvis from Amira Press.
Reviewed for Teen eBooks by Joseph Boutilier, October 27, 2007.
