LIT REVIEW: The Gap Year

An intriguing setup makes for an enjoyable and at times funny read. But unfortunately neither Aubrey nor her mother has the depth to make this a particularly memorable novel.

options

LIT REVIEW: The Gap Year

POSTED: Friday, September 16, 2011, 10:00 AM

Gap Year (Knopf, July 5) balances a coming-of-age story with a coming-to-terms tale. Sarah Bird’s novel follows a teenage girl and her mother; while Aubrey struggles to leave the nest, her mother, Cam, struggles to let her go. Chapters alternate between the women’s first-person perspectives, giving readers a glimpse into two minds as they clash over Aubrey’s future. Cam is certain her daughter’s adult life should begin with college. Aubrey, on the other hand, has very little interest in the idea — and perhaps it’s rebellion that drives her to open a food-cart business with her boyfriend instead.

In a clever move, Bird sets Aubrey’s chapters months before her mother’s. We immediately see Cam’s frustrations, but only gradually learn why Aubrey has drifted away from her. Aubrey’s shift away from childhood interests, away from college, and towards a boy and a business thus become a sort of mystery that unfolds throughout the novel. All the while, in Cam’s chapters, we’re seeing the fallout from Aubrey’s life changes as they take their toll on her mother.

An intriguing setup makes for an enjoyable and at times funny read. But unfortunately neither Aubrey nor her mother has the depth to make this a particularly memorable novel. The plot is nothing we haven’t seen before: Parent suffocates child with attention, child begins to blossom; child decides she can’t stand parent. Cam deals with her stresses predictably. She spends most of the novel treading water in a sea of worry. Aubrey’s plot offers us more of a storyline, but Aubrey remains the familiar sullen teenager whose mom will just never understand her. The only one who really gets her is her new football-star boyfriend. Although he could have any girl he wants, he becomes obsessed with Aubrey for reasons that are never made clear. The two develop their own private world, population: two. Sounds a lot like Twilight, a book Bird mocks throughout.

An array of stock characters surround Cam and Aubrey. There’s Cam’s friend Dori, whose witty, tough exterior belies inner insecurity. There’s Tyler Moldenhauer, the football star with a dark past — he’s so much deeper than we thought a jock could be! And there’s Martin, Cam’s ex who left her to join a Scientology-esque cult. Despite having left his family for 16 years, he eventually swoops in and takes steps to save the day. It’s disturbing, in a book that at first seemed fairly liberal, to see a male character in the role of deus ex machina. While Cam worries, Martin takes action, and never misses a beat.

The novel treads lightly throughout; Bird’s prose is consistently sunny and sometimes amusing despite her characters’ difficult positions. That will likely make Gap Year a welcome read for many who’ve encountered parallel situations. It’s refreshing that Bird seeks to understand two opposing mindsets. But to set her novel apart from the rest, she could have dug a little deeper.

Posted by Matt Cantor @ 10:00 AM Permalink | Post a comment

Comments (0)

Q&A with SHARI SOLANIS: "The goal isn't pornography"
What we're trying to do this weekend
SEXY TIME Q&A: I've never had an orgasm during sex with a man — and I'm 30!
NOW SEE THIS: Transit cop arrests marijuana activist for alleged disorderly conduct.
CONCERT REVIEW: Primus (3D & quadraphonic sound) @ The Tower 10/17
Q&A with Tony Goldwyn: "Life is gray, and relationships are, too"
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: The Archbishop meets the Geator, the Mayor goes suit shopping, Le Bec Fin fin.
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Indian fare rules, Dunder Mifflin lives on, Tom Jones is a god
Q&A with Goon’s Seann William Scott
SWIMMING HOLES: Some of our favorite places to get wet

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

May
April
March

February
January

Past Archives: