The novel Jimmy is the kind of book where you don't have to be an English scholar to know it's good.
The dialogue is so down to earth, it seems as though it was transcribed right out of a conversation held among friends at Winning Coffee House. Author Amber Hartley's sense of humor is dead on, and it comes through in the characters of the book.
The plot revolves around Jimmy, a high school senior who is similar to Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye. He's popular but not a jock. He's witty, but not everyone understands him. He's smarter than most of his peers, but his impulsiveness gets him in trouble. And the kid is pretty insecure, although no one around him could guess it. Half the time his cockiness is a mask for his insecurities.
Jimmy is a white guy whose best friend is Esteban, a typical Albuquerque homeboy. The author paints Esteban in such a light that readers respect him. He's a slightly intimidating Hispanic who comes from a large family, but he considers Jimmy his ese through thick and thin.
The dynamic between Jimmy and the rest of his friends is incredibly realistic. The novel doesn't portray high school students like they are characters from "The O.C."
Jimmy drinks. He has a budding dependency problem, and he has casual sex. Yet he also talks to the uncool kids in class and forms a bond with his history teacher because she is the only one who challenges him.
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Jimmy's insight on life is hilarious. He is in love with the popular girl, Crystal, yet until he can get her, he's sleeping with his best friend Acadia. Their relationship accurately portrays high school. Acadia is in love with him, but he is too immature to want her as a girlfriend. When he's not dreaming about Crystal, he's being visited in his sleep by his older brother Nick, who is stationed in Iraq.
The author understands and appreciates Albuquerque and writes about it in a refreshing light. At one point, Jimmy is cursing his dad for moving the family to Albuquerque. He goes on to say, "But then I'd remember the sweet New Mexico sunsets and all those guacamole salads and cut my old man some serious slack."
It's nice to read a book by an author who understands New Mexico and all its oddities but doesn't try to make it into a spiritual thing.
For the most part, the author's ability to capture the emotions of a confused teenage boy seems accurate. Jimmy is a guy you want to know, and when tragedy strikes, you are as worried about the boy as his parents are. The characters come right out of your crew, so throughout the book, you are rooting for them like they are your own.
The book's main downfall is that when disaster strikes, it is a little misplaced. It isn't until halfway through the book that anything happens, and it seems to come out of nowhere.
The ending is so out of left field, it's hard to know what to make of it. I assume this is what the author wanted - to shock the pants off you and show that things like this do really happen to everyday people.
Because Jimmy is the first in a planned trilogy, I can't imagine where the author will take us next. More than likely, it will be an insightful, yet terrifying, place.
Jimmy
A-
iUniverse
