From Publishers Weekly Through a loose-jointed， poetic first-person narration， first-novelist Donovan offers a painfully intimate glimpse of a suburban teen confronting mortality. As the story begins， 15-year-old Virginia Dunn， known as V， has just learned that her dog， Lucky， has been hit by a car. Although Lucky's injuries are critical， they are curable-unlike the mysterious disease that has gripped V's father and， in a matter of weeks， turned him into "just a pale and skinny version of himself." Numbed by tragedy， feeling distant from her distraught mother and from her best friend， V is sought out by Jane， a popular new girl at school， and their friendship escalates into passion. Besides evoking the heartache of watching a loved one die， Donovan explores her young survivor's discovery of the force of life. Characters， particularly V's lovable little sister， are well defined. The author's frank approach to lesbian love and fatal illness packs a hard punch that will leave readers breathless. Ages 12-up. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information， Inc. From School Library Journal Grade 9 Up?For Virginia， 15， everything seems to be going wrong at once. When her dog is seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver， a perfect stranger is more concerned and helpful than her seemingly sadistic and certainly hard-drinking mother. Her older brother is always irritating and usually stoned. Her beloved father is stricken with a rare and deadly disease， and her best friend has become strangely distant. But when Jane， a beautiful， self-confident poetry lover enters her life， V's heart， against all logic， begins to quicken. Donovan's first-person narration resounds with an almost stream-of-consciousness truthfulness， yet it is full of clarity and a strange beauty. Her depiction of a codependent teen， so isolated， so responsible， and so stressed with caring is remarkable. V's grief upon viewing her eight-year-old sister's learning "not to notice" blackened eyes and other signs of family dysfunction is palpable. The downward spiral of her father's illness is deftly portrayed and graphically described， and the beginning of V's affair with Jane is tastefully though explicitly handled. Even though this is a masterfully descriptive psychological novel， Donovan offers no prescription beyond diving through life's difficulties as best as one can. This is a novel that is sure to provoke much thought and debate.?Cindy Darling Codell， Clark Middle School， Winchester， KYCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews