Feathered

A perfect book for young adults. However, it goes without saying, that readers of all ages can enjoy it. It's a beautifully written cautionary tale. There's a lovely mystical flavor to this book. The sense of adventure, longing and curiosity every young girl experiences is captured within this writer's prose. If I had a daughter I'd add this book to her reading list.

"Feathered" is the story of 3 friends headed off to Cancun for Spring Break of their senior year. The two main characters, Anne and Michelle, tell the story in alternating chapters, with Anne's in first person and Michelle's in third. Terri, the third friend, is little more than an incidental character. When Ann and Michelle agree to visit some ruins with an older man, a stranger, Ann gets a really bad feeling. Michelle is acting like this guy's her father. But what happens is completely unexpected, and in some ways, even more frightening. My only complaint was that third female character. There wasn't really any need for her, and she wasn't fleshed out as well as I would have liked.

If I told you this is a book about a spring break trip to Cancun, you wouldn't expect it to be full of delicious writing, would you? C'mon, 'fess up. You're thinking tequila, tanning oil, and wet t-shirts, right? You probably wouldn't expect it to spiral into an edge-of-your-seat page-turner, either. Feathered is and does. The setup is simple: three friends fly to Cancun, eager for fun, sun, and a taste of freedom. Two of them tell the story in alternating chapters. I thought I knew right at the outset what was going to happen, who would get in over her head, where disaster would strike. I was wrong. The shifting perspectives, styles, and tenses all conspired to keep me from figuring out who really had a handle on what was going on. Suspense abounds, and it's almost impossible to untangle the elements of danger, safety, and trust before things spin out of control.

...about making the wrong choice even when all evidence and emotion point to it being the right one. Michelle and Anne know better than to accept a personal tour of Mayan ruins from a stranger old enough to be their father, but on their spring break in beautiful Cancun it seems nothing can be truly dangerous. The novel captures perfectly the illusion of invincibility travel to a foreign country can create; the risks that don't seem risky when one is away from home. "Feathered" is also a smart examination of how trust is formed from instinct, and how dangerous it can be both to trust and question that instinct. Since the novel is told from each girls' point of view in alternating chapters, the reader doesn't know whose instincts to trust. Is Ander, the older man, really as creepy as Anne thinks he is, or is he simply treating them like surrogate daughters, as Michelle wants to believe? Are those boys Anne trusts to give them a lift back to their hotel really safe just because they are sunburnt Midwestern boys from a familiar-sounding Illinois town? Each girl has seemingly unerring emotional, instinctual, and logical reasons for placing their trust where they choose. The novel's suspense is so well crafted the reader absolutely cannot guess which choice is the wrong one; which one will put them in danger. The descriptions of Michelle's and Ander's exploration of the Mayan ruins are both beautiful and chilling. The depiction of Anne's long night alone on the road after tragedy unfolds is one of the scariest, most wrenching descriptions I've read in a while. One of the things I liked about this novel is that although the girls are victimized they are not portrayed as victims. Each girl has her own vulnerabilities that lead her to make the wrong choice, but they are strong when faced with the dangerous consequences of their choice, and fight to protect each other. Teenage readers of this book will love the main characters and the challenging twists and turns in the plot. I am not a young adult reader. I read "Feathered" because I have enjoyed Kasischke's other novels and find her storytelling poetic and compelling. I have always enjoyed Kasischke's themes concerning the underlying danger of beauty, and the harm that inevitably comes when we, innocently or not, make the wrong choices. But I am especially drawn to "Feathered", particularly the redemption parable that plays out in the last part of the novel. Michelle's literal journey through the jungle of trauma's aftermath, and the healing she finally finds in the end, were unexpectedly thought-provoking and inspirational to me. "Feathered" is a wonderful book, as suspenseful and meaningful for the adult reader as the young adult one. I have given my copy to my teenage stepdaughter for her to read on summer break!

Laura Kasischke's novel Feathered tells the story of two best friends who travel to Cancun for Spring Break. After an auspicious start, the unexpected happens, and their dream vacation turns into a nightmare which they can't simply escape by waking - which, perhaps, they cannot escape at all. This story wonderfully captures that feeling of freedom one gets while far from home, when it's possible (easier?) to be uncharacteristically impulsive. Fueled by the toxic intensity of perfect strangers, fast friends, and foreign cultures, the girls find themselves in an extremely dangerous situation, and, in the blink of an eye, everything changes. Every high school student who is planning a big-deal trip for Spring Break (or for any break) needs to read this book - and so do their parents, teachers, and chaperones. Lest you think Feathered a run-of-the-mill cautionary tale, it's not. Truly, this book does not promote anxiety or xenophobia, but simple, basic caution. Feathered is told in alternating points of view, with Anne telling her story in 1st person past tense in one chapter, then Michelle's story is described 3rd person present tense the next. Each voice is very distinct. Kasischke's lyrical writing shines, especially in Michelle's chapters. This is Kasischke's second novel for young adults, following 2006's Boy Heaven. Though the plots of the two books are vastly different, both offers twists, turns, and tension from start to finish, and both get my recommendation. Feathered is on my list of Best Books of 2008.