Hard Love

by Ellen Wittlinger
PRMS hardcover 224 pages
genre: YA coming-of-age

Lots of kids have checked this book out (provocative title), but I never heard much back from them. Out of curiosity, I had to see what it was about. John is an angry teenage boy with fairly absent parents (emotionally, at least!). As he is getting into the world of writing zines & reading others' work, he is drawn to Marisol, a self-labelled "Puerto Rican Cuban Yankee Lesbian." The "hard love" of the title refers primarily to his growing affection for Marisol, despite her continual reminders that she is not available. The strongest story line, though, comes through in his relationship with his mother, who has not touched him since her divorce from his egotistical father.