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Rage

A Love Story
by Julie Anne Peters
Julie Anne Peters Rage: A Love Story 291 pp. Knopf 9/09 ISBN 978-0-375-85209-1 $16.99 g Library edition ISBN 978-0-375-95209-8 $19.99 (High School)
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Johanna—the good girl, the hospice volunteer, the go-to employee—fell for classmate Reeve Hartt long before Reeve ever talked to her. But once they meet and start dating, Johanna's vivid, sensual "Joyland" fantasies of their shared love ("I run a red silk scarf over her flat belly...I kiss her so soft and gentle it's mist and fog") slowly turn into a nightmare of abuse ("She fists my face. I feel my neck snap and something come loose"). Peters approaches the difficult subject matter with nuance and insight, and her charismatic but flawed protagonists (Johanna with her savior complex; Reeve, a product of abuse whose moments of manipulation and rage are balanced with others of self-awareness and compassion) carry the story, allowing it to develop naturally and believably. Secondary characters as well are exquisitely crafted and include Johanna's estranged sister Tessa and Reeve's possibly autistic, definitely disturbed brother Robbie, who figures in the devastating climax of the novel. The systematic destruction of everything Johanna holds dear, from her job and hospice work to Tessa's trust, is as upsetting to read as the violence itself. Peters has always steered clear of making her gay characters model minorities; here, allowing Johanna's and Reeve's personalities a wealth of contradiction and complexity, she creates a deeply human story of abuse and redemption. CLAIRE E. GROSS
Gr 9-Up Johanna, 17, watched her mother die while her older sister escaped to college, and she fantasizes about a relationship with Reeve Hartt. Reeve's mother is a junkie prostitute, and her mother's boyfriend, no surprise, physically and sexually abuses Reeve. Reeve is hypersexual and violently angry, and she beats Johanna. The abuse in the Hartt house is so public and over-the-top that real-world children's services would have removed her long before the novel takes place. Everything happens too fast here, with YA tropesbattering, drug abuse, sexual confusion, abandonmentin place of deep character development. Both the plot and pace of "Rage" are so frenetic that there's no time to feel anything for the characters. The only vivid character is Robbie, Reeve's intelligent, deranged brother. Teens may feel set up, though, when Peters martyrs him. Johanna's fantasy segments are forced instead of sexy, intrusive instead of illuminating. Though Peters exposes girl-on-girl abuse, Janet Tashjian's "Fault Line" (Holt, 2003) and Chris Lynch's "Inexcusable" (S & S, 2005) remain better choices."Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library" Copyright 2010 Media Source Inc.
After she starts dating tough-girl Reeve, Johanna's dream-come-true turns into a nightmare of abuse. Peters approaches the subject matter with nuance and insight. Her charismatic but flawed protagonists carry the story, allowing it to develop naturally and believably. By letting Johanna's and Reeve's personalities be a wealth of contradictions and complexity, Peters creates a deeply human story of abuse and redemption.

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