FAULT LINE
Janet Tashjian
Henry Holt and Company
Fiction
ISBN: 0805072004
248 pages

High school senior Becky and her best friend Abby are aspiring comediennes who work on their material and stand before San Francisco audiences to deliver it a few times a week. At one event, Becky meets Kip. She has not attracted a boy's attention like this before, and soon they are inseparable. But Kip begins to grow possessive and violent. Most of the time, though, he is wonderful and Becky loves him. What should she do?

Janet Tashjian, author of the wonderful THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LARRY, builds suspense in this realistic title. The story of Becky and Kip is set against Becky's fascinating stand-up career. Readers will see that anyone can find himself or herself in this situation. A note from the author at the end cites a study from the Journal of the American Medical Assocation where "one in every five" teenage girls is physically abused by her boyfriend, showing that the subject needs more discussion.

Becky is not simply a wimp who submissively goes along with an abusive boyfriend. It's not black-and-white, and Tashjian does a good job of providing three-dimensional characters who readers will care about. Becky and Kip are in love, and she is more confused than anything else. But she cannot live a normal life while she is with him. When she is asked to go on a tour of comics that will be filmed for MTV, she honestly thinks Kip will be happy and supportive. When things come to a dangerous head, readers will not be surprised.

FAULT LINE is an excellent book that should be both read and discussed.

   --- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

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