Synopses & Reviews
Its said that good things come in threes: wishes, kings, back-up singers….Then theres Gem, Lo, and Mira—three good friends with something to prove, if only to themselves.
Gem is initially thrilled when she convinces her two friends to take their antisocial edge one step further and make an underground film. After all, movies are her thing, and this may finally be her opportunity to shine.
But while Gem is mastering the art of the slow pan, and Mira contemplates the casting couch, no one knows what it is that Lo—the most subversive of the three—has planned. In the back of her mind, Gems worried. Instead of equalizing the friendship, the movie seems to bring Lo and Mira even closer together, leaving Gem in a very distant corner. Suddenly, three seems a very uneven number, and the hip underground theyve chosen a dark and lonely place to be.
It will take great films, bad haiku, and a pantheon of inspirational guides—from Andy Warhol to Henry David Thoreau—to help Gem discover the true meaning of friendship, where family fits in, and that when it comes to underground, a little bit of light is all right.
Review
From Kirkus ReviewsThrough short, episodic chapters, Howell crafts a realistic story that female readers should relate to, specifically the turbulent and volatile nature of the girls and their friendship. Lo, Mira and Gem are sassy, whip-smart characters with interests in art, politics, literature and film. ...Abefitting contribution to the teen-literature market. --
Kirkus Reviews From VOYA
[A]n engaging coming-of-age novel about a summer in a seventeen-year-old girl's life. ...Gem's narration rings true, and the characters are endearing, whether good or bad. --VOYA
From Publisher's Weekly
Heathers meets I Shot Andy Warhol in this gritty ode to underground cool. ...[T]een misfits and film geeks will devour this renegade read with pleasure. --Publishers Weekly
From Booklist
Unvarnished but rousingly raunchy debut. ...There's sufficient humor, raw emotion, and adolescent envelope pushing to carry YA readers along. --Booklist
Synopsis
Seventeen-year-old Gem loves movies, her feminist mom, and Dodgy, her coworker in a video store (at least she thinks she loves Dodgy). When a school trip inspires Gem to make an underground film, her best friends Lo and Mira are quick to join the project, taking on the roles of producer and star. The film is intended to cement the girls' friendship as well as their superiority over their sucker high school peers. But when the fragile balance of their friendship begins to falter, and intentions lead to betrayals big and small, it will take great movies, bad haiku, and a pantheon of great voices--from Dostoyevsky to Emerson to The Beatles--to help Gem find the meaning of love, friendship, and being true to herself.
About the Author
Simmone Howells short fiction has been published in journals and anthologies, and her short script, Pity 24, won the 2004 Australian Writers Guild Award. The film has played festivals from Australia to the United States. Simmone has a BA in literature from Deakin University. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, where she reads pulp fiction, watches ex-rental videos, listens to hillbilly music, and writes. She is also the author of Everything Beautiful.