Jonathan Franzen is the author of three novels: The Corrections, The Twenty-Seventh City, and Strong Motion. He has been named one of the Granta 20 Best Novelists under 40 and is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and Harper’s. In Strong Motion, Louis Holland arrives in Boston in a spring of ecological upheaval (a rash of earthquakes on the North Shore) and odd luck: the first earthquake kills his grandmother. Louis tries to maintain his independence, but falls in love with a Harvard seismologist whose discoveries about the earthquakes’ cause complicate everything.“Bold, layered. Mr. Franzen lavishes vigorous, expansive prose not only on the big moments of sexual and emotional upheaval, but also on various sideshows and subthemes. An affirmation of Franzen’s fierce imagination and distinctive seriocomic voice. his will be a career to watch.”— Josh Rubins, The New York Times Book Review"Ingenious. Strong Motion is more than a novel with a compelling plot and a genuine romance (complete with hghly charged love scenes); Franzen also writes a fluid prose that registers the observations of his wickedly sharp eye.”— Douglas Seibold, The Chicago Tribune“Complicated and absorbing with a fair mix of intrigue, social commentary and humor laced with a tinge of malice.”— Anne Gowen, The Washington Times“Strong Motion is a roller coaster thriller. Franzen captures with unnerving exactness what it feels like to be young, disaffected and outside mainstream America. There is an uncannily perceptive emotional truth to this book, and it strikes with the flinty anger of an early-sixties protest song.”— Will Dana, Mirabella“Franzen is one of the most extraordinary writers around. Strong Motion shows all the brilliance of The Twenty-Seventh City.”— Laura Shapiro, Newsweek“Lyrical, dramatic and, above all, fearless. Reading Strong Motion, one is not in the hands of a writer as a fine jeweler or a simple storyteller. Rather, we’re in the presence of a great American moralist in the tradition of Dreiser, Twain or Sinclair Lewis.”— Ephraim Paul, The Philadelphia Inquirer“With this work, Franzen confidently assumes a position as one of the brightest lights of American letters. Part thriller, part comedy of manners, Strong Motion is full of suspense.”— Alicia Metcalf Miller, f1 The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)“Wry, meticulously realistic, and good.”— Entertainment Weekly“Franzen’s dark vision of an ailing society has the same power as Don DeLillo’s, but less of the numbing pessimism.”— Details“Base and startling as a right to the jaw. [Franzen] is a writer of almost frightening talent and promise.”— Margaria Fichtner, Miami Herald

Roiss Skots Bakingems StrupceļšStjuarts ir jurists paša dibinātā firmā, viņam ir pieklājīga māja un satriecoši skaista sieva. Dzīve ir pilnībā nokārtota, jo katrs solis ir iepriekš plānots un paredzams. Viņa firmas partneris Klejs 40 gadu jubilejā noorganizē abiem ceļojumu uz Aļasku. Lieliska nedēļa tikai vīru kompānijā - kalnu namiņš, medības, atpūta pie mežonīgās dabas. Stjū nebūt nealkst pamest ierasto rutīnu, tomēr dodas ceļojumā, pašlepnuma un spīta vadīts. Jau lidostā viņu piemeklē pirmais neparedzētais pavērsiens...Romāns liks jūsu iztēlei mesties auļos, paātrinot sirdspukstus. Notikumi strauji ierauj lasītāju sižeta atvarā, liekot just līdzi romāna varoņu piedzīvojumiem.Roiss Skots Bakingems ir autors ar valodnieka un jurista grādu, raksta satriecošus bestsellerus un strādā par prokuroru kriminālvajāšanas pārvaldē.Satricinošs, enerģijas pilns trilleris. Grāfa Monte Kristo mūsdienu versija.Džefs Ebots, The New York Times bestselleru autorsBa 243 Strupceļš/ No angļu vai. tulk. Jāzeps Springovičs. - R., "Apgāds "Kontinents"". - 400 lpp.Stjuarts ir jurists paša dibinātā firmā, viņam ir pieklājīga māja un satriecoši skaista sieva. Dzīve ir pilnība nokārtota, jo katrs solis ir iepriekš plānots un paredzams. Viņa firmas partneris Klejs 40 gadu jubilejā noorganizē abiem ceļojumu uz Aļasku. Lieliska nedēļa tikai vīru kompānijā - kalnu namiņš, medības, atpūta pie mežonīgās dabas.Stju nebūt nealkst pamest ierasto rutīnu, tomēr dodas ceļojumā, pašlepnuma un spīta vadīts. Jau lidostā viņu piemeklē pirmais neparedzētais pavērsiens...Roisa Skota Bakingema romāna "Strupceļš" publicēšanas tiesības pieder "Apgādam "Kontinents""No angļu valodas tulkojis Jāzeps Springovičs Noskanējis grāmatu un  failu izveidojis Imants Ločmelis imantslochmelis@inbox.lvVāka dizains Artūrs Zariņš Vāka foto © alexlukin/www.eu.fotolia.com© Tulkojums latviešu valodā, mākslinieciskais noformējums, "Apgāds "Kontinents"", 2017

In the eleventh novel, A is still out there, lurking in the shadows and digging up the liars’ latest secrets...Emily’s reconnecting with an old flame, one baby step at a time. But is she headed toward true love or another bundle of heartache? Spencer’s learning about the highs and lows of campus life on a trip to Princeton. Aria’s seeing a whole new side to Noel’s dad—and it could drive a wedge between her and Noel. And, for better or worse, Hanna’s getting in touch with her inner A.Secret by secret, lie by lie, the girls get tangled in A’s dangerous web. Soon A will have enough ammunition to pull the trigger and end the pretty little liars, once and for all….

Grand prix du roman de l'Académie françaiseAmélie, une jeune femme belge, vient de terminer ses études universitaires. Sa connaissance parfaite du japonais, langue qu'elle maîtrise pour y avoir vécu dans son enfance, lui permet de décrocher un contrat d'un an dans une prestigieuse entreprise de l'empire du soleil levant, la compagnie Yumimoto. Amélie espère réussir dans ce pays qui la fascine tant. Fascinée par la hiérarchie d'entreprise japonaise, précise et méthodique, la jeune femme l'est d'autant plus par sa supérieure directe, l'intrigante et fière Mademoiselle Mori. Ses débuts sont déconcertants. Monsieur Saito lui fait rédiger une lettre, réponse à une invitation pour une partie de golf. A peine le courrier est-il terminé que Saito le déchire et ordonne à Amélie de recommencer. La jeune fille va rapidement déchanter à la découverte d'une culture qu'elle ne connaît absolument pas. Ses fréquentes initiatives sont régulièrement sujettes aux réprobations de ses supérieurs. Les humiliations et les vexations se succèdent et la soumission s'installe. Face à cet acharnement, la jeune femme se plie à leurs exigences. Amélie pensait être traductrice, elle finira dame pipi dans les toilettes de l'entreprise.«Monsieur Haneda était le supérieur de monsieur Omochi, qui était le supérieur de monsieur Saito, qui était le supérieur de mademoiselle Mori, qui était ma supérieure. Et moi, je n'étais la supérieure de personne. On pourrait dire les choses autrement. J'étais aux ordres de mademoiselle Mori, qui était aux ordres de monsieur Saito, et ainsi de suite, avec cette précision que les ordres pouvaient, en aval, sauter les échelons hiérarchiques. Donc, dans la compagnie Yumimoto, j'étais aux ordres de tout le monde.»

Akcja powieści "Stworzenie świata" toczy się na przełomie VI i V w.p.n.e. Narratorem i bohaterem jest Cyrus Spitama, wnuk Zoroastra, pół-Grek po matce, wychowany na dworze perskim za panowania Dariusza, przyjaciel jego następcy, Kserksesa. Jako poseł perski podróżował po Indiach i Królestwie Środka, Chinach, pod koniec życia wysłany został przez kolejnego władcę, Artakserksesa, do Aten, gdzie podyktował młodemu krewnemu, Demokrytowi, dzieje swojego życia. Z relacji tej poznamy intrygi i knowania haremowe w Suzie, walki królów w Indiach, wojny o hegemonię w Chinach, poznamy też Zoroastra, Buddę, Konfucjusza, Anaksagorasa, Peryklesa i inne sławne osobistości. Dowiemy się również jak umarł Ajschylos, dlaczego Persowie podejmowali wyprawy przeciw Grecji zamiast przeciw bogatym Indiom, jak wyglądała rozpusta w Babilonie, jaki charakter miał Temistokles, w co wierzono w różnych krajach i co ich filozofowie mówili o stworzeniu świata. Wprawdzie z pewnymi wyobrażeniami autora o życiu i obyczajach w ówczesnej Persji, Indiach i Chinach, a także z niektórymi poglądami przypisywanymi ich mędrcom naukowcy być może by się nie zgodzili, niemniej książka Vidala dzięki talentowi autora zyska sobie z pewnością uznanie czytelników.

In a room with no windows on the coast of Africa, an Englishman, James More, is held captive by jihadist fighters. Posing as a water expert to report on al-Qaeda activity in the area, he now faces extreme privation, mock executions, and forced marches through the arid badlands of Somalia. Thousands of miles away on the Greenland Sea, Danielle Flinders, a biomathematician, half-French, half-Australian, prepares to dive in a submersible to the ocean floor. She is obsessed with the life that multiplies in the darkness of the lowest strata of water.Both are drawn back to the previous Christmas, and to a French hotel on the Atlantic coast, where a chance encounter on the beach led to an intense and enduring romance. For James, his mind escapes to utopias both imagined and remembered. Danny is drawn back to beginnings: to mythical and scientific origins, and to her own. It is to each other and to the ocean that they most frequently return: magnetic and otherworldly, a comfort and a threat.

In a near-future France, François, a middle-aged academic, is watching his life slowly dwindle to nothing. His sex drive is diminished, his parents are dead, and his lifelong obsession — the ideas and works of the nineteenth-century novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans — has led him nowhere. In a late-capitalist society where consumerism has become the new religion, François is spiritually barren, but seeking to fill the vacuum of his existence.And he is not alone. As the 2022 Presidential election approaches, two candidates emerge as favourites: Marine Le Pen of the Front National, and Muhammed Ben Abbes of the nascent Muslim Fraternity. Forming a controversial alliance with the mainstream parties, Ben Abbes sweeps to power, and overnight the country is transformed. Islamic law comes into force: women are veiled, polygamy is encouraged and, for François, life is set on a new course.Submission is both a devastating satire and a profound meditation on isolation, faith and love. It is a startling new work by one of the most provocative and prescient novelists of today.

In his long-awaited new novel, Norman Rush, author of three immensely praised books set in Africa, including the best-selling classic and National Book Award-winner Mating, returns home, giving us a sophisticated, often comical, romp through the particular joys and tribulations of marriage, and the dilemmas of friendship, as a group of college friends reunites in upstate New York twenty-some years after graduation.When Douglas, the ringleader of a clique of self-styled wits of “superior sensibility” dies suddenly, his four remaining friends are summoned to his luxe estate high in the Catskills to memorialize his life and mourn his passing. Responding to an obscure sense of emergency in the call, Ned, our hero, flies in from San Francisco (where he is the main organizer of a march against the impending Iraq war), pursued instantly by his furious wife, Nina: they’re at a critical point in their attempt to get Nina pregnant, and she’s ovulating! It is Nina who gives us a pointed, irreverent commentary as the friends begin to catch up with one another. She is not above poking fun at some of their past exploits and the things they held dear, and she’s particularly hard on the departed Douglas, who she thinks undervalued her Ned. Ned is trying manfully to discern what it was that made this clutch of souls his friends to begin with, before time, sex, work, and the brutal quirks of history shaped them into who they are now — and, simultaneously, to guess at what will come next.Subtle Bodies is filled with unexpected, funny, telling aperçus, alongside a deeper, moving exploration of the meanings of life. A novel of humor, small pleasures, deep emotions. A novel to enjoy and to ponder.

It is Bombay in 1971, the year India went to war over what was to become Bangladesh. A hard-working bank clerk, Gustad Noble is a devoted family man who gradually sees his modest life unravelling. His young daughter falls ill; his promising son defies his father’s ambitions for him. He is the one reasonable voice amidst the ongoing dramas of his neighbours. One day, he receives a letter from an old friend, asking him to help in what at first seems like an heroic mission. But he soon finds himself unwittingly drawn into a dangerous network of deception. Compassionate, and rich in details of character and place, this unforgettable novel charts the journey of a moral heart in a turbulent world of change.

Anne Billson's debut novel is part horror story, part satire and has been praised by (among others) Salman Rushdie, Jonathan Carroll and Christopher Fowler, who in Time Out called it 'dark, sharp, chic and very funny'. It's set at the end of the 'greed is good' decade, and features a gothic love triangle between a man, a woman and the 300-year-old vampire they chopped into easily disposable pieces a decade earlier. But now she's back. and this time she's building an empire…Kevin Jackson, author of Bite, a Vampire Handbook, wrote: 'This debut novel by Anne Billson, a noted film critic and frequent contributor to the Guardian, was highly praised by Salman Rushdie and others as a sharp and witty satire on the greedy 1980s. And so it was, but that was only part of the story: it is also a gripping adventure yarn, a tale of the nemesis that may lie in store for us if we have ever committed a guilty act, and a delicious character study of an unconventional young woman whose weaknesses (envy, malice, jealousy) only make her all the more charming to the reader. It contains one of the most chilling moments in all vampire literature…'

A daring, kaleidoscopic novel about the clash of empires and ideas in the sixteenth century that continue to reverberate throughout modernity — a story unlike anything you’ve ever read before.Sudden Death begins with a brutal tennis match that could decide the fate of the world. The bawdy Italian painter Caravaggio and the loutish Spanish poet Quevedo battle it out before a crowd that includes Galileo, Mary Magdalene, and a generation of popes who would throw Europe into the flames. In England, Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII behead Anne Boleyn, and her crafty executioner transforms her legendary locks into the most sought-after tennis balls of the time. Across the ocean in Mexico, the last Aztec emperors play their own games, as conquistador Hernán Cortés and his Mayan translator and lover, La Malinche, scheme and conquer, fight and f**k, not knowing that their domestic comedy will change the world. And in a remote Mexican colony a bishop reads Thomas More’s Utopia and thinks that instead of a parody, it’s a manual.In this mind-bending, prismatic novel, worlds collide, time coils, traditions break down. There are assassinations and executions, hallucinogenic mushrooms, utopias, carnal liaisons and papal dramas, artistic and religious revolutions, love stories and war stories. A dazzlingly original voice and a postmodern visionary, Álvaro Enrigue tells a grand adventure of the dawn of the modern era in this short, powerful punch of a novel. Game, set, match.

In a village far away, deep in a valley, all the animals and birds disappeared some years ago. Only the rebellious young teacher and an old man talk about animals to the children, who have never seen such (mythical) creatures. Otherwise there’s a strange silence round the whole subject. One wretched, little boy has dreams of animals, begins to whoop like an owl, is regarded as an outcast, and eventually disappears.A stubborn, brave girl called Maya and her friend Matti, are drawn to explore in the woods round the village. They know there are dangers beyond and that at night, Nehi the Mountain Demon comes down to the village. In a far-off cave, they come upon the vanished boy, content and self-sufficient. Eventually they find themselves in a beautiful garden paradise full of every kind of animal, bird and fish — the home of Nehi the Mountain Demon. The Demon is a pied piper figure who stole the animals from the village. He, too, was once a boy there, but he was different, mocked and reviled, treated as an outsider and outcast.This is his terrible revenge, one which has punished him too, by removing him from society and friendship, and every few years he draws another child or two to join him in his fortress Eden, where he has trained the sheep to lie down with the wolves, and where predators are few. He lets the two children return to the village, telling them that one day, when people are less cruel and his desire for vengeance has crumbled, perhaps the animals might come back…

A poignant, heartbreaking new work — the story of a lonely older man and his devoted young caretaker who transform each other's lives in ways they could never have imagined.Ernst is a gruff seventy-year-old Red Army veteran from Ukraine who landed, almost by accident, in Israel after World War II. A retired investment advisor, he lives alone (his first wife and baby daughter were killed by the Nazis; he divorced his shrewish second wife several years ago) and spends his time laboring over his unpublished novels. Irena is the unmarried thirty-six-year-old daughter of Holocaust survivors who has been taking care of Ernst since his surgery two years ago; she arrives every morning promptly at eight and leaves every afternoon precisely at three. Quiet and shy, Irena is in awe of Ernst's intellect. And as the months pass, Ernst comes to depend on the gentle young woman who runs his house, listens to him read from his work, and occasionally offers a spirited commentary on it. But Ernst's writing gives him no satisfaction, and he is haunted by his godless, communist past; his health, already poor, begins to deteriorate even more. As he becomes mired in depression, Ernst seems to lose the will to live. But he has reckoned without the devoted Irena. As she becomes an increasingly important part of his life-moving into his home, encouraging him in his work, easing his pain-Ernst not only regains his sense of self but realizes, to his amazement, that Irena is in love with him. And, even more astonishing, he discovers that he is in love with her.

Suder, Percival Everett's acclaimed first novel, follows the exploits and ordeals of Craig Suder, a struggling black third baseman for the Seattle Mariners. In the midst of a humiliating career slump and difficulties with his demanding wife and troubled son, Suder packs up his saxophone, phonograph, and Charlie Parker's Ornithology and begins a personal crusade for independence, freedom, and contentment. This ambitious quest takes Suder on a series of madcap adventures involving cocaine smugglers, an elephant named Renoir, and a young runaway, but the journey also forces him to reflect on bygone times. Deftly alternating between the past and the present, Everett tenderly reveals the rural South of Suder's childhood — the withdrawn father; the unhinged, protective mother; the detached, lustful brother; and the jazz pianist who teaches Suder to take chances. And risk it all he finally does: Suder's travels culminate in the fulfillment of his most fanciful childhood dream.

Andrejs SaļikovsSūfiji mīlestības ceļšGrāmata par fotogrāfiju vai kur pārziemo sūfijiNo krievu valodas tulkojusi Marika Saturiņa Noskannējis grāmatu un failu izveidojis Imants LočmelisJĀŅA ROZES APGĀDSAndrejs Saļikovs (1961) ir fotogrāfs un ceļotājs. Šī ir pirmā grāmata, kuru viņš uzrakstījis pēc iepazīšanās ar sūfiju pasauli. Lasītājs šeit atradīs gan ceļojuma aprakstu, gan padomus tiem, kuri ceļā ņem līdzi fotokameru, gan arī aizraujošu, sūfija sarakstītu traktātu, kurā ir runa par dzīves mērķiem, dvēseles augšupejas pakāpēm, harismas būtību, saziņas likumsakarībām, personības attīstības posmiem un vēl daudz ko citu.АНДРЕЙ САЛИКОВСУФИИ. ПУТЬ ЛЮБВИКнига о фотографии или где зимуют суфииLiterārā konsultante Olita Rause Mākslinieki Arto un Jānis Jaunarāji© Marika Saturiņa, tulkojums latviešu valodā, 2009 © Arta un Jānis Jaunarāji, mākslinieciskais noformējums, 2009 © SIA "Jāņa Rozes apgāds", 2009ISBN 978-9984-23-318-5Vai nu izskaties tāds, kāds esi, vai arī esi tāds, kāds izskaties.Džalāletdīns Rūmi

Андрей Филатов работает копирайтером в столичном рекламном агентстве и хорошо знаком с кухней рекламного бизнеса изнутри. Впрочем, книга его не об этом. Вернее, не совсем об этом. Герой романа – пиар-директор и автор рейтинговой программы одной московской FM-станции – обижен плутоватым начальником по кличке Фернандель и «кидает» станцию на довольно крупные деньги. Его, конечно, пытаются найти и наказать подключают «пацанов», но в последний момент герою удается улизнуть на Остров свободы – Кубу. И вот тут начинается совершенно необычайная история, потому что на Кубе необычайно все.

Sugar Street is the final novel in Nobel Prize-winner Naguib Mahfouz’s magnificent Cairo Trilogy, an epic family saga of colonial Egypt that is considered his masterwork.The novels of the Cairo Trilogy trace three generations of the family of tyrannical patriarch al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, who rules his household with a strict hand while living a secret life of self-indulgence. Sugar Street brings Mahfouz’s vivid tapestry of an evolving Egypt to a dramatic climax as the aging patriarch sees one grandson become a Communist, one a Muslim fundamentalist, and one the lover of a powerful politician. Filled with compelling drama, earthy humor, and remarkable insight, Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy is the achievement of a master storyteller.

Édouard Levé delivered the manuscript for his final book, Suicide, just a few days before he took his own life.Suicide cannot be read as simply another novel—it is, in a sense, the author’s own oblique, public suicide note, a unique meditation on this most extreme of refusals. Presenting itself as an investigation into the suicide of a close friend—perhaps real, perhaps fictional—more than twenty years earlier, Levé gives us, little by little, a striking portrait of a man, with all his talents and flaws, who chose to reject his life, and all the people who loved him, in favor of oblivion. Gradually, through Levé’s casually obsessive, pointillist, beautiful ruminations, we come to know a stoic, sensible, thoughtful man who bears more than a slight psychological resemblance to Levé himself. But Suicide is more than just a compendium of memories of an old friend; it is a near-exhaustive catalog of the ramifications and effects of the act of suicide, and a unique and melancholy farewell to life.

Vanity Fair called this intensely erotic story of a young woman's sexual and psychological odyssey "a provocative tour through the dark side." Jesse, a beautiful twenty-nine-year-old, is adrift in San Francisco's demimonde of sexually ambiguous, bourbon-drinking, drug-taking outsiders. While desperately trying to sustain a connection with her bisexual boyfriend in a world of confused and forbidden desire, she becomes the caretaker of and confidante to Madame Pig, a besotted, grotesque recluse. Jesse also falls into a dangerous relationship with Madison, Pig's daughter or lover or both, who uses others' desires for her own purposes, hurtling herself and Jesse beyond all boundaries. With Suicide Blonde, Darcey Steinke delves into themes of identity and time, as well as the common — and now tainted — language of sexuality.

I’m not crazy. I don’t see what the big deal is about what happened. But apparently someone does think it’s a big deal because here I am. I bet it was my mother. She always overreacts.Fifteen-year-old Jeff wakes up on New Year’s Day to find himself in the hospital. Make that the psychiatric ward. With the nutjobs. Clearly, this is all a huge mistake. Forget about the bandages on his wrists and the notes on his chart. Forget about his problems with his best friend, Allie, and her boyfriend, Burke. Jeff’s perfectly fine, perfectly normal, not like the other kids in the hospital with him. Now they’ve got problems. But a funny thing happens as his forty-five-day sentence drags on—the crazies start to seem less crazy.Compelling, witty, and refreshingly real, Suicide Notes is a darkly humorous novel from award-winning author Michael Thomas Ford that examines that fuzzy line between "normal" and the rest of us. From School Library JournalGrade 9 Up—Jeff, the irreverent, sarcastic, and utterly terrified 15-year-old narrator, wakes up on New Year’s Day in a psych ward with bandages around his wrists. He copes with his therapy by using extreme denial and avoidance, attempting to one-up his therapist, Dr. Katzrupus, or Cat Poop, with flippant, deflective wordplay and outrageous stories of faux Sugar Plum Fairy fantasies. Jeff spends the rest of his time with the other teens, including suicidal Sadie the sociopath and the gay teen in jock’s clothing, Rankin. While Sadie encourages Jeff’s resentment toward the program, it is Rankin’s actions that force Jeff to come to terms with his suicide attempt and his own sexuality.This is a story of warped self-perception, of the lies that people tell themselves so they never have to face the truth. Ford is most successful in his withholding of Jeff’s secret, a disclosure not made until the last third of the book. While the book could be named Gay Boy, Interrupted due to many similarities to Susanna Kaysen’s characters and depictions of the mental-health community, Jeff’s wit and self-discovery are refreshing, poignant, and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny. Readers will relate to Jeff as a teen bumbling through horrible embarrassment and the shame that follows, and they will be inspired by his eventual integrity and grace.—Kat Redniss, Brownell Library, Essex Junction, VTCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.From BooklistAfter Jeff, 15, wakes up in a psychiatric ward, he won’t talk about why he slit his wrists. He lies to the therapist (whom he names “Cat Poop”) and refuses to relate to the other teens in group therapy. He feels that he is not nutty like them, his parents are fine, nothing is bothering him, and he is “normal”; he just had one bad day. The therapy talk sometimes gets to be too much, but there is rising tension in Jeff’s fast, irreverent, frank, first-person narrative: what is he holding back? He bonds with another patient, Sadie, and tells her about his best friend, Allie, and about Allie’s cute boyfriend. When Jeff sees a jock masturbating in the shower, he feels attraction that is returned, and the two teens have sex. Long before Jeff confronts the truth, readers will realize that he is gay, and his denial is part of the humor and sadness many readers will recognize.Grades 10–12.—Hazel Rochman