Inconvenient

Gr 8—10—Russians and alcohol go hand in hand, both in ignorant stereotypes and in 15-year-old Alyssa's experiences. The daughter of Russian immigrants, she is used to seeing her parents find any occasion to imbibe. But when her mother's drinking starts to get out of control, it's not just insensitive comments from thoughtless classmates that are the problem. While Alyssa works to navigate having her first boyfriend, her newly popular best friend, and her cross-country running career, she is simultaneously—and single-handedly—covering up for her mother's growing alcohol abuse while her workaholic father stands by in willful denial until he realizes he must act. Alyssa feels more and more isolated until her new boyfriend, Keith, offers insight that helps "New Alyssa" temper "Old Alyssa's" enabling behaviors. Though the imagery is a bit heavy-handed in parts, the topic of parental alcoholism is an important one to address, and the Russian Jewish teen is an uncommon protagonist in YA literature, both of which create an interesting narrative perspective. The day-to-day nature of Alyssa's story is a refreshing take on the YA problem novel, one that refuses melodrama and favors instead the powerful significance of the smaller moments of life—a smell, a look, a flash of a memory.—Jennifer Miskec, Longwood University, Farmville, VA