LaCour, Nina. The Disenchantments. Dutton, 02/2012. 308p. Fiction, 9-12, OUTSTANDING. $16.99, 978-0-5254-2219-8.
In her second novel (Hold Still, 2009) local author LaCour perfectly captures the transcendent moment after high school graduation when nothing is settled and everything is possible. Four friends, a boy and three girls, go on a road trip from San Francisco to Portland, stopping along the way to perform in a series of small gigs. The girls play in a band called the Disenchantments in which their enthusiasm and attractiveness at times compensate for their lack of musicality. Their driver and roadie, Colby, is in love with Bev, his best friend, and eagerly awaits the start of their long-planned trip to Europe. Life and Bev, however, have other ideas. Sensitively written, filled with carefully detailed characters large and small, and set to girl band music, the characters honestly explore their new found freedom and fears at every turn of their adventure.
Helen Bloch, Oakland Public Library