Love Times Infinity

YA fiction 

     "Basically, the hospital held me hostage so I wouldn't play with matches or sharp objects.  We affectionately call group R.P.E.--Raised as a Product of Evil--pronounced reap, like the Grim.  You know, since most of us were pretty close to being on the other side before we even took our first breath, if you catch my drift."

     Because of an incident, Michie, protagonist of Lane Clarke's Love Times Infinity, was hospitalized the previous summer.  Now she's out and attending school but a member of therapy group for children of sexual abuse victims.  She lives with her grandmother and hasn't heard from her mother since she was seven...

     ...not that she really blames her mother.  She's alive because she came into the world as the result of her mother being raped at the age of fifteen and opting not to abort.  She feels survivor's guilt when she realizes that the only way for her mother to not have given up the opportunities she was entitled to was for her not to exist.  She has no idea who she really is.

     This is not a good time for any kind of self doubt.  It's Michie's junior year.  She has a lot going for her in terms of academics.  Since fourth grade she's been bussed out of her neighborhood to a gifted and talented program in an affluent suburb.  But between guilt and anxiety she can't attempt the essays colleges also require.  Although she has the brains to be a first generation student she isn't really sure that she deserves the opportunity.

     Complicating matters she's caught the attention of Derek, the handsome and quite popular senior who was recruited for his basketball abilities.  From the first time they meet he's pursued her.  While she too feels attraction, anxiety and guilt keep standing in the way.

     All this makes it a terrible time for her mother to out of the blue request a reunion.

     Love Times Infinity is a truly masterfully written book that deals perceptively and sensitively with challenging topics.  But some of its themes make it a not yet choice for readers not ready to tackle them, especially those at the younger end of the middle to high school YA continuum.

On a purrrsonal note, this evening is the audition for the UMaine Pride Week drag show.  I'm not worried about the audition per say.  Drag comes as easily to me as breathing.  And I have quite a reputation on campus.  What worries me is the high probability of rain and maybe crappy visibility when I take the last bus home and have to walk the sidewalk less mile down Route 2.  (Jules)

You know she'll nail the audition. (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to the people who are doing the work of setting the drag show up.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

     

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