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If You’re Lucky

by Yvonne Prinz

The latest novel from San Francisco–based Canadian author (and Amoeba Music co-founder) Yvonne Prinz starts out as a sad story about a disaffected teenager and slowly builds into a hold-on-to-your-seat thriller.

24886041Georgia is trying to adjust to life without her happy, adventurous big brother, Lucky, who drowned in a surfing accident. Fin, a young man who claims to have been Lucky’s best friend, turns up for the funeral and never leaves. Slowly he starts to live Lucky’s life, charming the dead boy’s parents, girlfriend, and even his dog. Numb with grief, Georgia feels that something about the situation is off, but can’t prove that Fin is up to anything. She’s taking medication that dulls her senses, so she cuts back on her pills to see if that will help her see things more clearly. Soon she has difficulty telling the difference between reality and delusions. As Fin’s popularity grows, Georgia’s mental state crumbles and she descends into psychological chaos.

Georgia suffers from schizophrenia, and because of this we’re never sure what is really going on. It’s is an intriguing hook for a mystery, and Prinz does an excellent job building suspense and bending reality as Georgia, haunted by ghosts and troubling dreams, slowly uncovers the truth.

The presentation of Georgia’s mental illness is particularly strong. We come to know her as an insecure young woman who has done some things she’s ashamed of, and only gradually discover that the incidents in her past (like burning down her school) resulted from her illness. As she tries to make sense of what is happening, Georgia’s courage in the face of isolation from the people around her is poignant. Prinz has created a memorable character who must battle her demons, inside and out.

 

Reviewer: Charis Cotter

Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers

DETAILS

Price: $17.95

Page Count: 288 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 978-1-61620-463-1

Released: Oct.

Issue Date: November 2015

Categories: Children and YA Fiction

Age Range: 14+