Girl Out Loud (review)

Kass Kennedy is not a singer, nor does she wish to be. Unfortunately, her bipolar dad, on a manic high, is nonetheless convinced that her vocal talents are enough to wow the world on The X-Factor, and he's pushing and guilt-tripping fifteen-year-old Kass into compliance. She'd like to rely on her friends for help, but sweet-natured Char is upset that Kass has been getting attention from Cassian, the boy Char likes, and analytic Izzy is occupied with mollifying Char. When Kass finds out that her always-dutiful mother has been secretly having an affair (and with Char's father to boot), and then her first kiss with Cassian turns into a nightmarish nonconsensual groping, she's left with no one to turn to. Kass is utterly believable as a girl who's average and fine with it, and whose relationship with her father is an understandable mixture of resentful anger and protective love. Characterizations are strong throughout and dynamics are sharply observed, from the way that Kass' father's illness is the catalyst for snowballing family dysfunction, to the fact that Kass' absorption in her own problems leads her to shortchange her friends. The subplot of her relationship with Cassian is particularly well negotiated, in that he's genuinely sorry for what he did, but she's legitimately limiting their rapprochement to friendship. Mostly, though, it's a briskly toned yet sympathetic portrait of a girl stuck with a problem she can't fix and can't find help with, and the book is utterly understanding about how quickly isolation can overtake a young person struggling with family difficulties. Plenty of teens have parents who are projecting their own dreams onto their kids, and they'll feel for Kass in her fight for autonomy.