Please Ignore Vera Dietz
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Description
Vera's spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she's kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.
So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone--the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?
Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unforgettable novel: smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising.
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So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone--the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?
Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unforgettable novel: smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising.
show more
Product details
- 12-17
- Hardback | 336 pages
- 147 x 209 x 29mm | 449g
- 15 Feb 2011
- Random House USA Inc
- Random House Inc
- New York, United States
- English
- 0375865861
- 9780375865862
- 268,602
Review quote
Kirkus Reviews, starred review, September 15, 2010:
"A harrowing but ultimately redemptive tale of adolescent angst gone awry. Vera and Charlie are lifelong buddies whose relationship is sundered by high school and hormones; by the start of their senior year, the once-inseparable pair is estranged. In the aftermath of Charlie's sudden death, Vera is set adrift by grief, guilt and the uncomfortable realization that the people closest to her are still, in crucial ways, strangers. As with King's first novel, "The Dust of 100 Dogs" (2009), this is chilling and challenging stuff, but her prose here is richly detailed and wryly observant. The story unfolds through authentic dialogue and a nonlinear narrative that shifts fluidly among Vera's present perspective, flashbacks that illuminate the tragedies she's endured, brief and often humorous interpolations from "the dead kid," Vera's father and even the hilltop pagoda that overlooks their dead-end Pennsylvania town. The author depicts the journey to overcome a legacy of poverty, violence, addiction and ignorance as an arduous one, but Vera's path glimmers with grace and hope." "(Fiction. 14 & up)
"
Publishers Weekly, starred review, October 11, 2010:
"Beginning with the funeral of Charlie Kahn, high school senior Vera's neighbor and former best friend, this chilling and darkly comedic novel offers a gradual unfolding of secrets about the troubled teenagers, their families, and their town. Though Charlie's death hangs heavily over Vera, she has the road ahead mapped out: pay her way through community college with her job delivering pizza while living "cheap" in her father's house. But first she has to face her fractured relationship with her father, a recovering alcoholic who worries about her drinking; the absence of her mother, who left six years earlier; and the knowledge that she could clear Charlie's suspected guilt in a crime. Vera is the primary narrator, though her father, Charlie (posthumously), and e
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"A harrowing but ultimately redemptive tale of adolescent angst gone awry. Vera and Charlie are lifelong buddies whose relationship is sundered by high school and hormones; by the start of their senior year, the once-inseparable pair is estranged. In the aftermath of Charlie's sudden death, Vera is set adrift by grief, guilt and the uncomfortable realization that the people closest to her are still, in crucial ways, strangers. As with King's first novel, "The Dust of 100 Dogs" (2009), this is chilling and challenging stuff, but her prose here is richly detailed and wryly observant. The story unfolds through authentic dialogue and a nonlinear narrative that shifts fluidly among Vera's present perspective, flashbacks that illuminate the tragedies she's endured, brief and often humorous interpolations from "the dead kid," Vera's father and even the hilltop pagoda that overlooks their dead-end Pennsylvania town. The author depicts the journey to overcome a legacy of poverty, violence, addiction and ignorance as an arduous one, but Vera's path glimmers with grace and hope." "(Fiction. 14 & up)
"
Publishers Weekly, starred review, October 11, 2010:
"Beginning with the funeral of Charlie Kahn, high school senior Vera's neighbor and former best friend, this chilling and darkly comedic novel offers a gradual unfolding of secrets about the troubled teenagers, their families, and their town. Though Charlie's death hangs heavily over Vera, she has the road ahead mapped out: pay her way through community college with her job delivering pizza while living "cheap" in her father's house. But first she has to face her fractured relationship with her father, a recovering alcoholic who worries about her drinking; the absence of her mother, who left six years earlier; and the knowledge that she could clear Charlie's suspected guilt in a crime. Vera is the primary narrator, though her father, Charlie (posthumously), and e
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About A S King
A.S. King is the author of the highly acclaimed "Everybody Sees the Ants," a 2012 ALA Top Ten Book for Young Adults, and the Edgar Award nominated, 2011 Michael L. Printz Honor Book "Please Ignore Vera Dietz." She is also the author of "The Dust of 100 Dogs "and the upcoming "Ask the Passengers." After a decade living self-sufficiently and teaching literacy to adults in Ireland, she now lives deep in the Pennsylvania woods with her husband and children.
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Our customer reviews
Vera's life is about secrets. Living with only a father doesn't exactly inspire her to share her many secrets. He has done his best to raise a teenage daughter himself, but not only is he tight with his money but also with his ability to communicate.
Vera is the result of a teen pregnancy. One of her secrets is that after she was born her mother was a stripper. Her best friend, Charlie, knows that secret, but she would like to keep it from everyone else if at all possible.
Charlie is at the center of many of Vera's secrets. They have been each other's best friend forever, and they share the secret that Charlie's father abuses Charlie's mother. As neighbors, it has been difficult to ignore the sounds of shouts and slaps, but Vera's father says keeping their secret makes things easier for everyone.
It isn't until Charlie's untimely death that Vera fully embraces the secret love that she has felt for him. As she deals with a full-time job, keeping up her grades, and pleasing her father, Vera's stress level has her visualizing Charlie everywhere. It takes a while to realize that the "Charlies" are trying to communicate something.
There are secrets that Charlie wants Vera to uncover and use to clear his name. The circumstances around his death were suspicious and involved the destruction of a place Vera loved, but these are secrets she finds incredibly frightening to share. Will she find the courage she needs to do the right thing?
PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ is presented through multiple voices, including both the past and present. A.S. King draws readers into Vera's world and then slowly peels away the layers to reveal each and every secret. The characters speak realistically and the situations ring true, making King's story flow smoothly despite the many shifts in focus. This novel will please King's fans and earn her many new ones.show more
by TeensReadToo
