Laws of Emotion

Kelly L. Green is co-author of The Ethical Shopper’s Guide to Canadian
Supermarket Products and associate editor of the Canadian Book Review
Annual.

Alison Lohans knows the ways of young women well. She writes from
knowledge and experience, and her stories are nothing if not personal.
This collection of short stories gives ballast to the emotions, ordinary
and unusual, that young people struggle with every day. Along with the
requisite unrequited love story, there are stories about crippling
accidents and their repercussions, stories about young people fighting
life-threatening diseases, stories about the experiences that turn
adolescents into grownups, sometimes before their time. Always, the
stories are anchored, as the title says, in the laws of emotion.

Lohans certainly gets the emotions right, as anyone who has ever been
young will see. Her style is smooth and introspective, but when she
veers into dialogue her steps are a little less steady. Some of her
conversations don’t quite ring true. The subject matter might not be
appropriate for very young teenagers, although no doubt some could
handle it. It would be a very good book to use to initiate discussion
between adults and young people, and might alert some adults to the
feelings that overwhelm young people as they face some very real
pressures. Recommended.