GIRLHEARTS
Norma Fox Mazer
HarperCollins
Young Adult
ISBN: 0688133509
224 pages

Like any kid her age, 13-year-old Sarabeth isn't sure what to think of her young, hard working, sometimes eccentric mother, but she is all Sarabeth has; her mother lost any sort of family support when she became pregnant with Sarabeth at 16. However, mother and daughter manage to form a semi-stable relationship and make a home for themselves in a modest trailer park. When a heart attack takes her young mother's life, Sarabeth is shocked. Left alone without a real family or a home, she moves in with Cynthia and Billy, two of her mother's friends. While trying to cope with the staggering loss of a loved one, Sarabeth finds herself dealing with vague feelings that she is intruding on Cynthia and Billy's life as well as confusion in dealing with her mother's estranged family and former boyfriend.

Most compelling in GIRLHEARTS is the conflict Sarabeth faces when dealing with the reactions of the people around her. The relationships Sarabeth has with her school friends are strained as she becomes cynical and hard. Also, the tenuous friendship between her and her mother's old boyfriend, Leo, changes rapidly over the course of the book. These developing conflicts were intriguing, and I eagerly waited to see how they would work out.

However, this was the best part of the book. Other characters seemed flat and lacked depth. Often, Cynthia and Billy's actions seemed pointless --- only occurring because the story needed to be moved along. Sarabeth was realistic only some of the time, and her emotions were often illogical and decidedly hard to believe. Of course, I don't expect to understand completely, never having lost such a close family member myself. Still, the story would have been greatly improved if there were more of a connection between Sarabeth and the reader. This might have been forgivable if the story had been stronger and the outcome more gripping, but because the story was not particularly extraordinary in those areas, it had no room for the uncomfortable flaws in Sarabeth's character.

Still, GIRLHEARTS is worth a read. It is flawed, but it is a fascinating process to watch Sarabeth change and grow as her situation evolves.

    --- Reviewed by Mary Crew


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