Have you ever read a book and been completely amazing but also completely unable to describe it? I have a feeling that this is not going to be the best review I have ever written because I loved Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King, but I don't even know where to begin telling you about it. In a nut shell the story is about love, in all its messed up forms. As it is almost impossible to describe I will tell you the facts:
- Vera is a 17-year-old pizza delivery technician.
- She lives alone with her dad, a penny-pinching accountant.
- Her mom left when she was twelve to live a more exciting life in Vegas.
- When Vera was about a year old her mother worked as a dancer at the local strip club. She lives in fear of people finding this out.
- Vera's has been best friends with Charlie, her next door neighbor, ever since she can remember.
- Being best friends means keeping each other secrets, like Vera's mom's previous occupation and Charlie's abusive father.
- Charlie and Vera stopped hanging out in middle school when Vera's dad made her get a job and Charlie found the detentionheads. But Vera and Charlie were still best friends.
- Until April, when Charlie betrayed Vera, and she stopped talking to him.
- Now Charlie is dead.
- Vera still hates Charlie for what he did in April.
- But she also misses him.
- It's complicated...
Whew! I hope that makes sense. Please Ignore Vera Dietz is about Vera's relationship with her best friend and her worst enemy, her love for her father, the hole left by her mother's abandonment and most of all, is about forgiveness. I can't recommend this book highly enough. You will lose yourself in the language, and the feelings. Read it this weekend, no don't wait, read it right now!