Twelve Long Months (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Twelve Long Months Karen Coats Malloy, Brian; Twelve Long Months. Scholastic, 2008; [320p] ISBN 978-0-439-87761-9 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9–12 Brainy Molly is thoroughly smitten with her farm-boy lab partner Mark, even though their relationship begins and ends with her letting him cheat off her work. College brings new possibilities, though, as they both leave Minnesota, her for NYU and him for a job with his uncle in New Jersey. His occasional visits to the city strengthen their friendship and reveal to Molly that that’s all their relationship will be because Mark is gay. As she grieves for what might have been, she also steps up as a good friend, going with him to bars to help him gain confidence as he starts dating guys. She’s gaining confidence, too, with two good girl friends and a budding relationship with a guy as into quantum mechanics as she is. She even sets Mark and Simon, her boyfriend, up as roomies in the city. Unfortunately, her gaydar fails her once again as Simon falls for Mark, leaving her to wonder all the things a girl might wonder when the only two boys she’s ever been interested in turn out to be gay. Verisimilitude of character shines here; nobody emerges as too insightful, too tragic, or too flippant to be fully credible. Mark might just be too beautiful, though, since everyone he meets seems to fall impossibly in love with him, except, of course, the more experienced guys he meets in bars. Here again, though, this resonates with truth, as the people who fall for Mark and miss other clues are those who are much better at equations and physics than they are at matters of the heart. Molly’s friends are equally naïve at relationship building—they are solid with what matters with girlfriend loyalty but less savvy when it comes to balancing hormones and desires against what they know they need from the men in their lives. For readers who are hoping things will be different after high school, Molly’s story provides a measured kind of hope—things are different, and they do get better, but relationships aren’t any easier. [End Page 33] Copyright © 2008 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois