by A.S. King
Knopf, 2010. 336 pgs.
Young Adult Fiction
Hardcover: $16.99
Annotation: When Charlie dies, Vera Dietz is the only one who knows the mystery behind his death, but will she find the courage to share the truth?
Summary: Vera Dietz and Charlie Kahn have been best friends since they were four years old. They hike in the woods, climb the Master Oak and even build a tree house together. But each have their secrets to keep. Vera never tells anyone that Mr. Kahn abuses his wife and Charlie never tells anyone that Vera's mom is an ex-stripper, until they reach high school that is. Then Charlie begins hanging out with the detentionheads, falls into the evil clutches of Jenny Flick and everything changes. He starts to believe the lies Jenny tells him and soon Vera and Charlie's friendship is a thing of the past, solidified when he hits Vera--exhibiting the traits he never wanted to inherit from his father and ensuring that Vera will never talk to him again. But Vera does talk to him one last time--the night the pet store burns down and the night that Charlie dies. "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" is the history behind the mystery of Charlie's death, his acquaintance with a creepy pervert and his slow slide into loserdom and lostville. But it's Vera's story too and she must work out her own demons as she finishes up her senior year and works full time as a pizza delivery techinician, all the while trying to come to terms with Charlies' betrayal, his death and her mother's leaving when she was twelve years old.
Evaluation: King tells a horrible story in a remarkably compelling manner. She rotates chapers from alternative points of view: Vera, Charlie (now dead), the Pagoda (a town landmark) and Vera's dad. It all works amazingly well and each chapter provides another piece of the puzzle that King slowly helps the reader put together. It's dark, dark, dark and yet there are wonderful moments of humor and triumph. Vera is sarcastic, smart, tough, but emotionally fragile and trying to survive this craziness. She's a superb protagonist and someone to love, even if you can't relate to her crazy life and especially if you can. I loved Vera's use of her vocabulary words and the way she would say "Parsimonious. Here is me using parsimonious in a sentence. My dad is so parsimonious he won't buy anything without a coupon." Vera and her dad have a fascinating relationship, but all the peripheral characters are well-wrought too. We have Mr. Dietz: Zen master who can't get over his wife's leaving and reader of self-help books; James: Vera's pizza 23-year-old pizza colleague, make-out partner and booz-buyer; Marie: the pizza manager with crazy teeth but a sweet disposition; the animal lovers at Zimmermans; Bill Corso: the deadbeat jock who can't read, Mr Kahn: wife-beater and stultifier of all dreams; and then there are all the people Vera delivers pizza to. King excels at character creation. In effect, "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" is pure genius.
Significance: It's a gripping story, horrifying and deadly serious as it tackles teen alcoholism, perversion, abuse, drugs, love, death and all the terrors we wish young adults never needed to know about, but sadly do. The book discusses destiny and whether or not we are forced to follow in our parent's footsteps because of our genes or whether we can break the cycle and live our own dreams. It portrays a teen-parent relationship as fallible, but ultimately salvageable and honors some adults, even when others are complete idiots. It is real, honest and definitely not for the faint of heart.
Personal Choice: One of my best friend's last name is Dietz and she urged me to read the book and tell her what I thought before she dared read it. My advice to her?...don't read it if you're in the mood for something light and fluffy because you won't find it here. It's a heavy, edgy story but stunning and eventually hopeful and one that deserves high honors.
Awards: Printz Honor Award, 2011
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