Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You is renowned author Joyce Carol Oates's newest novel for teens. Laurie Halse Anderson, bestselling author of Wintergirls and Speak, said that "the painful honesty of this book will crack open your heart."
Senior year, their last year together, Merissa and Nadia need their best friend Tink more than they ever did before. They have secrets they can share with no one but her, toxic secrets that threaten to unravel their friendship—and themselves. Tink had a secret, too, a big one, but no one knows what it was. And now she's gone. . . .
In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews described Joyce Carol Oates as "a master at portraying the inner lives of teens." In Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You, she's created a powerful portrayal of a friendship strong enough to transcend death.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Merissa is the envy of all her similarly privileged peers, yet she also lost her friend Tink six months ago to suicide. While good things fall into place for Merissa (getting into a great college early, for one), neither she nor her friends can shake the loss of complex, audacious Tink, making her a significant influence even in death. Switching perspectives from Merissa to a collective "we" and then to the POV of a troubled girl named Nadia, Oates deftly conveys the ways teenage girls sometimes hide behind superficialities to disguise grief, insecurity, and fear and how adults often do just the same. Oates creates an uncomfortable disconnect between characters' public actions and their thoughts and behavior behind closed doors. The formal prose style borders on stiff, with occasional use of outdated expressions (such as "bimbo"), but Merissa's desperation and longing for a sense of control is powerfully conveyed through her cutting and relentless self-effacement. The examination of teenage isolation, humiliation, and quiet suffering make this a painful, but excellent novel filled with haunting details. Ages 14 up.
