A scene where Norris is confronted by his mother for getting drunk and belligerent with a white cop is diluted by his refusal or inability to grasp the severity of the situation and the resultant minor consequences. The scenes showcasing his emotional growth are too brief and, despite foreshadowing, the climax falls flat because he still gets incredible personal access to people he’s hurt. Norris’ ego, fueled by his insecurities, often gets in the way of meaningful character development. He’s greeted in his new life by an assortment of acquaintances, Liam, who is white and struggling with depression Maddie, a self-sacrificing white cheerleader with a heart of gold and Aarti, his Indian-American love interest who offers connection. His professor mom’s new tenure-track job transplants Norris mid–school year, and his biting wit and sarcasm are exposed through his cataloging of his new world in a field guide–style burn book.
Norris Kaplan, the protagonist of Philippe’s debut novel, is a hypersweaty, uber-snarky black, Haitian, French-Canadian pushing to survive life in his new school. Something of a love note to print journalism, the story is nevertheless snappy and contemporary, furthered by Sam’s wry, self-deprecating narration and convincingly colloquial dialogue.Ĭleverly titled, realistically written, and on the whole engaging and sympathetic, this story rings true.Ī teenage, not-so-lonely loner endures the wilds of high school in Austin, Texas. Together with her boyfriend, fellow intern AJ, Sam is on the case. An even bigger break comes when she decides to do a bit of sleuthing to help a fellow reporter trying to expose the local mayor, whom he suspects of corruption. As she puts it, “my own metamorphosis from ugly duckling to swan stalled out in the Cornish-game-hen stage.” Sam turns out to have a significant talent for writing, and she gets a break when a Holocaust survivor chooses her to record his story, which then makes the front page. In spite of the efforts of her friend, party-girl Shelby, to get Sam to take a break from her strictly work-focused routine, Sam remains chained to her desk, a dedicated newspaper writer but a miserable failure in the social sphere. Sixteen-year-old Sam D’Angelo has a dull summer internship writing the obituary column for the Herald Tribune, the local newspaper where she lives in northern New Jersey. An aspiring journalist finds romance and adventure in the newsroom.
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