Jagged Little Pill

February 15, 2022
A novelization of the award-winning musical inspired by Morissette's acclaimed 1995 album. In alternating first-person chapters voiced by teenage Frankie and her brother, Nick, as well as several of their classmates, characters grapple with a host of social issues including addiction, transracial adoption (Frankie is a Black girl in a White family), sexual violence, and gender expression, all set against the backdrop of stifling suburban life. Morissette's song lyrics are broken up and woven into the story, showing up as poetry penned by Frankie and as exposition and dialogue. Unfortunately, the story is otherwise weighed down by clunky delivery of backstory and reliance on heavy-handed internal monologues. Many passages read as contrived and are not reflective of authentic teen voices. There's also a lot of intense emotion--fitting, given the intensity of the Jagged Little Pill album. But here it feels forced and out of place, for example, when it is expressed between characters who have just met and whom readers barely know as well. In one instance, Frankie suggests that her poems scare her racist White classmates, but the poem in question is composed of the lyrics to Morissette's "Ironic," which have nothing to do with race. Here and elsewhere in the novel, more strategically placed backstory might have provided context for the characters' reactions. Moments of smart humor unfortunately aren't enough to offset these narrative problems. This wannabe-edgy drama falters into melodrama. (Fiction. 14-adult)

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April 25, 2022
Five teens navigate the aftermath of sexual violence in this raw novelization of the musical Jagged Little Pill. The adoptive daughter of a white family in suburban Connecticut, Black 16-year-old Frankie feels that “I don’t belong here, in this family.” Her white older brother, Harvard-bound Nick, is desperate to please their parents. Transfer student Phoenix, who is Latinx, is struggling to balance his growing feelings for Frankie with caring for his hospitalized older sister. Frankie’s best friend with benefits, queer white Jo, craves her homophobic mother’s acceptance while also nursing feelings for Frankie. And white Bella simply wants to enjoy the end of high school before escaping to college. The teens’ lives untether following an act of sexual violence, and they must come together to pick up the pieces. Though the intertwining story lines cause the jam-packed narrative to feel unbalanced, the five narrators’ voices are distinct, providing a multilayered perspective. The teens explore gender and sexual identity, substance dependency, and complicated relationships in this edgy interpretation of the sometimes traumatizing experience of growing up. Morissette’s lyrics, woven throughout, resonate powerfully with the group’s turbulent adolescence. Ages 14–up. Agent (for Smith): Jen Azantian, Azantian Literary.