Sweethearts

Jennifer (or Fattifer, as her classmates call her) is a nine year old struggling to fit in at an all-Mormon school in Salt Lake City. She has just one friend, Cameron, whose abusive father does a number on his self-esteem before he shows up for class only to be picked on by the mean kids. When Cameron disappears the day after Jennifer's ninth birthday, the mean kids tell her that he died, and she has lost her only friend and ally. At seventeen, Jennifer is now Jenna. She's worked hard to lose weight and stay healthy. Her mother remarried a man she considers her father, and both of her parents have good jobs. Jenna attends a special high school for gifted students and has a ton of friends and even a hot boyfriend. She has shed the ugly show more duckling skin that was Jennifer, and doesn't want to remember her past as a poor, fat, friendless kid. Then Cameron shows up, apparently not dead, and her past washes over Jenna in a way she never could have imagined. This is more than a teen romance - it rises above what we want to hear, the pretty girls and boys and their happily ever afters. Sweethearts gets at the truth of teen social behavior, the struggle that is growing up, and the parts of ourselves that we can never leave behind. show less

I had a different review that I posted but I haven't been able to stop thinking about this book so I'm going to write a bit of a different one.
Zarr gets it. The way the little things fuck you up, the way being ostracized messes with your head when you're older and better and learn to fit in, the way you know- you KNOW- it's harder for you than everyone else and that makes you so vigilant, so determined not to be found out. Jenna has an ED, and it's encouraged by loads of little comments- even her mom's compliments- and it's so real. Cameron is inexplicable to most of the characters, and, yeah. That's how people are. He's moody, among other things, but he's real. Jenna's friends- even though we don't hear their inner monologues- are show more pretty fleshed out too, but without following tropes too closely. Jenna's heart throb boyfriend is just a guy. He does some asshole things that teenage boys do. Jenna's mom absolutely doesn't get it- she knows more than she lets on, but she doesn't know what Jenna's childhood did to her state of mind. She thinks she did what was best- and maybe she did!- but that still messes Jenna up, and she doesn't get that. I could go on. I think some of the reviews are unfair because they expect things from the characters that the characters' humanity won't let them fit into. The ending is frustrating, filled with longing, but also growth and the inevitable passage of time. I've been there. It's unsatisfying. It's real.
I liked the book. But I really like the characters show less

This is the second Sara Zarr book I've read (listened to on audio), and I really, really like her writing. Jennifer Harris/Jenna Vaughn is a completely believable, compelling, and sympathetic character. As a pretty, popular high school student (Jenna), she is ashamed of her fat, lonely younger self (Jennifer), and afraid that if her new friends find out what she was really like, they won't like her any more.

But this is far more than a shallow story about a girl who's afraid her friends won't like her if they really know her; the story hinges on a traumatic event in Jennifer's past, an event that took place at her friend Cameron Quick's house on her ninth birthday. Cameron was her only friend, and shortly after the birthday incident, he show more disappeared; other kids at school told Jennifer he died, and she believed them. So it's a shock when, on her seventeenth birthday, he returns.

Cameron's return prompts desperate questions and swirling emotions on Jenna's part, jealousy in Jenna's boyfriend Ethan, curiosity from her friends Katie and Steph, and guilt in Jenna's mom. Readers will be eager to find out the answers to Jenna's questions - where has Cameron been? If he knew where she was, why wasn't he in touch earlier? The truth about what happened when they were nine is revealed in pieces interspersed with the present narrative. Overall, Sweethearts is a truly satisfying story.

Quotes:

...I'd spent all of junior high and high school observing those around me to see what "normal" looked like. I'd tried to learn it from the outside in... (disc 5 / p. 176)

...the longing that lurked just beneath all my looking began, finally, to poke through the surface. (disc 5 / p. 210) show less

This is a sad book. Not sad in the sense of Big Tragic Event That Happens, but in the sense of the overall way things went: how the characters' lives played out and why. This is also not to say I didn’t like it; Sara Zarr is one of my favorite YA writers, and here she ropes you in from the very first page.

Jennifer Harris and Cameron Quick were childhood friends who bonded because they were both Rejects with big problems that made them prey to bullies. Jennifer, daughter of a single mom who worked two jobs and was never home, stuffed her hurts and fears and anxiety back down inside her with food. Schoolmates called her “Fattifer.” To make things worse, she had a lisp. Cameron had an abusive father, and often had to skip school, show more presumably because of bruises or breaks. He too had a speech impediment.

No matter what they endured, however, they always had each other. Cameron made Jennifer feel “special, protected, and watched over, loved.” When still just little kids, Cameron gave Jennifer a ring and told her he loved her. Then on Jennifer’s ninth birthday, he disappeared. Kids in school said Cameron was dead, and Jennifer’s mother didn’t tell her otherwise.

Without Cameron, Jennifer knew something had to change, because she was all alone now. She learned to cope better, and practiced her speech until the lisp was gone. In the summer before seventh grade, her mom got married to a nice man, Alan, and they all moved to a different school district. Jennifer grabbed at the chance for a new identity. She changed her name to Jenna, so no one could call her “Fattifer” anymore. She lost weight and exercised and made friends. In high school, she even got a boyfriend, Ethan.

Then on her seventeenth birthday, Cameron came back.

What happens next is so touching and affecting. Both Jenna and Cameron were so damaged, and both have so much to overcome. And there is so much unfinished business between them.

Evaluation: I loved this book, as I have loved all Zarr’s books. Her characterization is excellent, and her plots are creative without resorting to the bizarre. Clearly she understands teens and the thorny issues that they face. This bittersweet tale is perfect for Valentine’s Day show less

Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.

Oh, that cover is so deceiving. Look at those pretty pinks and blues, against that calm grey background, as though saying "there's nothing bad between these covers, here, have a delicious pink frosted cookie, it'll be good for you."

And then you get about a third of the way in and you're punched in the face with ALL THE FEELINGS.

The story's not even about Jennifer being a popular girl faced with her unpopular past. It's about the incredibly deep bonds that are formed when you meet your soulmate -- and it doesn't have to be romantic. When you meet your best friend, that one person who knows you most, and still knows you even though you haven't seen them in nearly a decade and you've changed. show more Jennifer and Cameron are soulmates, and the ripples his return creates in Jennifer new, better life are huge and so interesting to read about.

This was my first Sara Zarr book, but it definitely won't be my last. It's a really great novel about friendship, knowing those you love and knowing yourself, above all. show less

This was a wonderfully sweet and sad book. I loved the relationship between Cameron and Jennifer, best friends in elementary school until Cameron mysteriously moved away. They were each others only friends. Jennifer is led to believe, by her peers and a bit by her mother, that Cameron is dead and goes about reinventing herself into Jenna Vaughn in high school; a thin, popular girl with friends and a boyfriend. The complete opposite to her former self. When Cameron comes back, she must deal with the past and present colliding.

Zarr writes with such eloquence and emotion it would have been difficult for me not to feel a connection to her characters and the stories she builds around them. A shorter book by the numbers, it carried with it as much bang for the buck as a story of much greater length. What I appreciated about her writing is that it made me see and feel without being too flowery in it’s prose. On top of that she’s created a great plot in which she’s infused the story of Jenna and Cameron’s relationship with a mystery from their past. She kept me wondering and searching; giving us little bits and pieces here and there until the very bitter end where all was ultimately revealed. Admittedly, I did have some idea of what certain circumstances show more related to the mystery might have been but there were an equally number of surprises that when revealed I really enjoyed. What this equaled to in the end was that I was able to take the journey with these characters as opposed to knowing it all before they did and that made for an excellent read.

Jenna and Cameron are two youngsters bound to each other by their outcast status. Clinging to each other through life’s horrible circumstances (most specifically Cameron’s family issues) they are quickly and mysteriously separated when he vanishes. At this point Zarr delves into deeper exploration of each of the characters on an individual level as well as in the ways they eventually interact with each other.

Jenna’s mother soon remarries and the family is relocated where no one is familiar with her past thus she becomes a girl reborn. No longer the social pariah she was in younger years her new found popularity provides her the much longed for, and missing, comforts of friendship and acceptance. Despite having built new relationships, she still longs for the deeper connection she had with her best friend Cameron.

Cameron, on the other hand, is a child of bad parenting. Having returned to where Jenna lives after having been missing for so long we learn of the many changes in his persona as well. He’s distant and self-sufficient, secretive and hardworking. He’s alone in the world, but for his rekindling friendship with the one person in his life he could ever trust. Jenna.

A dynamic story of friendship, love and family Zarr paints a very strong picture of dysfunction on several different levels. She digs deep into motivation and morality to create long lasting relationships. I was rooting for Cameron and Jenna to come out the other end successful and together. You’ll have to read it to find out if they did though! show less