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Reviewed by:
  • Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke
  • Melanie Kirkwood
Oelke, Lianne Nice Try, Jane Sinner. Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
2018 [432p]
Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-544-86785-7 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-328-82884-2 $17.99
Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12

Initially, Jane Sinner is just a seventeen-year-old in search of truth that's based on something other than the Bible or whatever her parents believe. No amount of church group can prepare her for life at Elbow River Community College, though, especially not when that life revolves around her participation in the crappy yet endearing campus-wide reality show that provides her housing and that offers the prize of a free car. Luckily for Jane, she learns more than a few lessons of survival along the way, including how to classically condition her housemates and how to maintain sanity through self-administered talk therapy. Get ready for the raunchiness, drama and cringe-worthy obsession that comes with reality TV in this cheeky Canadian import. In this diary-format narrative, Jane chronicles her thoughts and experiences as she works through the serious tangles of life after what's gradually revealed as her attempted suicide, all the while masking her problems with misused idioms, dry humor, and a twinge of social awkwardness. This will suit angsty teens looking to forge their own path, or more generally anyone who loves the ups and downs of trash television. MK

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