Harley Columba is smart but troubled. She starts out without a boyfriend, and she hasn’t even been kissed properly by a boy, at the advanced age of 14. (Don’t worry, she finds romance soon enough, and it doesn’t make her any happier; far from it.) She lives in the suburban hell of New Jersey: New York City is only an hour away, but it might as well be on a different planet.

This is typical high school life: everyone is thinking about sex, drugs, and the school dance. Harley is gifted and pretty sensible; she starts out as a model student but soon gets involved with distracting influences. Before long, she is smoking cigarettes and even the occasional joint. But she never thinks that these are any sorts of solution to her problems, and she is clear on the limits of what her boyfriend is and isn’t allowed to do when they make out.

But life conspires against Harley. Her relationship with her best friend Carla starts to have problems. Her grades suffer, and she starts ending up in detention on a regular basis. She is grounded at home for all the trouble she gets herself into. She cries often. It’s really her parents who are the cause of her problems, especially her father, Roger, who drinks too much and hits her. She hates him, and is convinced that he isn’t really her father. She finds various clues to support her theory. Eventually she discovers the truth.

Cat Bauer tells the story from Harley’s perspective, and she’s a likable narrator. There are plenty of adult themes, but it is clear that Harley is only fourteen; teenage readers will find it easy to identify with her. She doesn’t lapse into moronic "MTV-speak," "street language," or other grating verbal mannerisms, which I imagine that most "young adults" will be thankful for. It makes the book more timeless: there’s little to identify whether it is set in the ’80s, ’90s, or ’00s. The story is fast-paced, and the plot is simple.

Harley always has confidence in her natural intelligence, even when she is heavy with depression. She manages to keep friends and allies, and even if she falls in with some questionable characters, she is a good judge of character, except when it comes to romance. Harley: Like A Person probably conveys as much wisdom about how to deal with teen life as any well-intentioned self-help book. It’s a good read too.

Categories: Fiction