Loud Silence

Martha Wilson is Canadian correspondent for the Japan Times (Tokyo) and
a Toronto-based freelance editor and writer.

What happens when two high-schoolers with charmed lives (“Beverly
Hills was an exciting place to live, especially when you knew
everyone”) fall in love? Meagan and Jason live on the same street.
Their parents are best friends. But when they start dating, there could
be trouble: Meagan is white; Jason, black.

Most of the book consists of bland and unrevealing dialogue, focusing
primarily on Meagan’s mother, Sara. “Sara moved across the room and
snuggled up to her husband as he finished threading his belt through the
loops of his pants. He was wearing Calvin Klein jeans and a white polo
shirt. ‘You look very preppy tonight.’ She hugged him close. Sara
adored her husband and had since the first time they met. ‘I love you,
Stephen.’”

Meagan and Jason receive equally pat treatment: “Jason was standing
with his arm around Meagan and this creep said something rude. Jason had
been very calm. He had ignored him, but you could see the hurt on his
face, more for Meagan than for himself. He seemed totally in love with
Meagan and she returned the feeling.”

According to the cover, Stoltz is working on a television pilot. It
should be a good medium for her (although most commercials have more
conflict than this book). She consistently reaches for the nearest
cliché, whether she’s filling in plot details, setting, or a
character’s grocery list. “I think I’ll go over to Fletcher’s
for some fresh croissants and strawberries,” says one shopper. That
“fresh” made this reviewer laugh out loud.

Finally, the book is riddled with verb-tense errors, spacing mistakes,
random or missing punctuation marks, and mysterious stray words. It’s
depressing to encounter a project so well intended and so carelessly
executed.