Title: Pregnant Pause
Author: Han Nolan
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 20, 2011
Genres: YA, Contemporary
Reviewed by: Ellen Fritz
Ellen’s rating: 3/5
SUMMARY
A thought-provoking and courageous new novel by
National Book Award winner Han Nolan. Nobody gets away with telling Eleanor
Crowe what to do. But as a pregnant sixteenyear-old, her options are limited:
move to Kenya with her missionary parents or marry the baby’s father and work
at his family’s summer camp for overweight kids. Despite her initial reluctance
to help out, Elly is surprised that she actually enjoys working with the
campers. But a tragedy on the very day her baby is born starts a series of events
that overwhelms Elly with unexpected emotions and difficult choices. Somehow,
she must turn her usual obstinance in a direction that can ensure a future for
herself—and for the new life she has created.
REVIEW
Pregnant Pause is a realistic,
touching, and sometimes very sad tale of Eleanor's teen pregnancy and the
response of her friends and family to it. However, when the baby is born, a
surprise awaits everybody, but for nobody more than Eleanor herself.
Whether the author intended it or not, Eleanor is a
thoroughly flawed character. The kind of flawed character who usually irritates
me. Although the reader is made to believe that she is a difficult, rebellious
girl, in this story Eleanor comes across as a naive, whiny, needy girl who
can't do anything without the assistance of either her parents, in-laws, or
beer guzzling, dope taking husband. When those individuals seem to fail her,
she starts looking for the next romantic interest who would marry her so that
she can keep the baby.
Maybe one can't entirely blame Eleanor for her
insecurity. Her missionary parents, who see her pregnancy as punishment for her
waywardness, would rather go to Kenya to care for AIDS babies and orphans than
take care of their own daughter. Her in-laws are simply rude, and Lam, her
husband and father of the baby, is never sober, and he cheats on her.
Despite everybody's belief that she won't be able to
care for a baby, Eleanor is convinced that her successful work as counselor at
her in-laws' weight-loss camp, will prove that she is good with kids. In the
end, after suffering betrayal and rejection on several levels, Eleanor realizes
that the most unlikely people can be her friends.
A tale of deep betrayal, a young girl's insecurities,
and a mother's unconditional love, Pregnant
Pause is a stirring, sensitively written novel suitable for empathetic
readers.
ABOUT the AUTHOR
Han
Nolan is widely acclaimed for her evocative language, her gritty subject
matter, and her ability to plumb the psyche of her characters. Her books
include Dancing
on the Edge, which won the National Book Award, Send Me Down
a Miracle, a finalist for the National Book Award, Born Blue, A Summer
of Kings, and several other acclaimed novels. She and her
husband live on the East Coast.
Follow us with:
No comments:
Post a Comment