Am I Right or Am I Right? (review)

Sixteen-year-old Calma Harrison (from The Crimes and Punishments of Miss Payne, BCCB 9/05) seeks answers even when she might be overstepping her boundaries, and her wild imagination comes up with connections and conclusions even when there are none to be had. She's on overload as of late: her best friend, Vanessa, is keeping a secret; her mother (whom she calls "The Fridge" in reference to their typical correspondence via notes tacked up in the kitchen) is also keeping a secret; and her father, who has been gone for five years, has suddenly and infuriatingly returned. Add to that the drama of falling in love with the checkout boy at the Crazi-Cheep (and her subsequent unwise decision to apply for a job there) and Calma's pretty much up to her ears. Calma speaks directly and candidly to the reader, and her narrative is laced with great humor and a keen eye for the hilarious. Interspersed throughout the first-person perspective are creative imaginary asides (e.g., she is being interviewed by a tabloid, she composes "Fact Files" on the various characters in her life) which add an entertaining touch of the overdramatic. The surprise here is that this turns out to be not only a light, witty read but also one that deals with some pretty heavy issues (Vanessa is cutting herself, Calma's father has returned because he is dying and wants to make peace with his daughter), and it is revealed that Calma has come to some fairly faulty conclusions on her own. What's more, the people whom Calma has been blaming all along are the same ones to gently point out that, had she avoided her typical leap to conclusions, she may have come to the right answers herself. By using Calma's own point of view, Jonsberg cleverly protects the readers from Calma's flaws until they're unmissable and makes her sympathetic along the way. As well as being an engaging read, this novel is an excellent exercise in voice and viewpoint, and readers may find themselves wanting to reread passages once the alternate possibilities have presented themselves.