I picked up this Young Adult title by Joyce Carol Oates because I wanted see how this virtuosic writer pared down her prose for the younger crowd. The answer: stripped of her usual complexity, Oates’s mastery shines through even more brilliantly. Her reduced style is as close to poetry as prose – just a few well chosen words, the bare essentials to create images.

Sexy moves incredibly fast, the pages almost turn themselves, yet the story is a heavyweight.

High school junior Darren Flynn is befriended by Mr. Tracy, an eccentric teacher that some of Darren’s cruel fellows students plant false rumors about – career-ending rumors. Darren must decide whether he’s brave enough to stand up for the teacher. But the issue is complex; though the rumors are a gross caricature, they’re not completely false. Darren is trapped in the middle – of his peers, and of his own uncomfortable search for who he is. This is a great book.