Valerie Hurley - "St. Ursula's Girls Agains the Atomic Bomb"

     Soooo, I've not been reading as much this week due to the recent addition of a Blackberry to my life.  It took me SEVEN HOURS just to learn how to use the darn thing!  Ok, I know I'm slow, but give a girl a break, it's my first smart phone (that just so happens to be smarter than me.)


     Ok, on with the good stuff!  I just finished "St. Ursula's Girls Against the Atomic Bomb," a novel about a high school senior (for the second time), Raine Rassaby, and her guidance counselor Al.  Raine is a full-steam-ahead kind or Quixotic girl who is more concerned with ridding the world of evil in the form of atomic bombs than finishing high school.  I like Raine's quirky and "take charge" kind of personality, but could not for the life of me get into this book.            St. Ursula's Girls Against the Atomic Bomb

    The language as well as many of the references were pretty "high-brow" for my idea of how the book should be.  I understand it goes a long way in illustrating how intelligent and well informed Raine is, but I had a hard time getting a grasp on how wading through all of that enhanced the story.  Maybe, again, I'm just slow?

   
     Al Klepatar is her "one step behind" ally that is desperately trying to get her head out of the clouds and into the classroom, but to no avail.  He is involved with turmoil of his own when his wife of 14 years decides to bail.  Instead of forcing Raine to keep one foot on solid ground, he allows himself to get swept into her own little idealistic world.

     I guess it's the story of two wandering souls that meet up at just the right time to impact each other to the fullest, but the plot felt like it wasn't going anywhere fast.  I also didn't get much closure at the end of the book.  There was one pretty good surprise in the middle that became my second wind to get me to the end, but I won't ruin it for you.  Overall, I didn't really enjoy it, but I think there IS something to be said about how it is a beautiful thing when two people on opposite side of the spectrum find a way to meet in the middle and are better for it.

     Now that I have a grasp on the workings of my "smarter than me" phone, I'll be able to plow on through the next one in the stack.

Whew!