No Problem

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

The adage about not judging a book by its cover is certainly true of No
Problem, because disappointment awaits those readers who think the
cover’s flaming hardball indicates that a baseball story will be found
within. Though Grade 11 student Curt is a pitcher on a junior men’s
team in Victoria, B.C., the novel is only minimally a sports story.
Instead, it is actually about Curt’s growing drug addiction, a problem
he denies having.

No Problem really deserved to be a full-length young-adult novel,
because the story Gaetz attempts to tell is simply too constrained by
the length limitations of the hi-lo genre. While it is Curt’s baseball
coach who provides Curt with his first drugs (ostensibly muscle
relaxants for Curt’s sore pitching arm), Curt begins to seek relief in
the pills whenever he is stressed, with some of that stress coming from
his demanding father, who wants Curt to achieve the big-league baseball
success that had been denied him.

As the novel progresses, Curt spirals downward. He snorts cocaine and
later smokes crack, both supplied by Rachel, a sexy, older co-worker at
his part-time job. Ultimately, Curt seems to lose everything—baseball,
his job, his new girlfriend, Leah, and perhaps his academic
year—before being “rescued” by Stuart, a long-time friend, and
Leah, whose father is a recovering alcoholic.

While No Problem is an adequate hi-lo read, thinking reluctant readers
will still be left with many unanswered questions about plot elements
and character relationships. Not a first-choice purchase.