Trouble: A memoir

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Aaron’s perspective throughout the book is what differentiated Trouble for me from an experience like Juno. True, Aaron is not actually the babydaddy—and while his volunteering of those services might seem far-fetched, the juxtaposition of his rising star with Katie’s falling one says a lot about how something like being pregnant shows you who your friends are. The subplot about Aaron’s “shadowy past” teeters on the brink of cliché but never quite goes over—and at the very least, it serves to avoid making him into a manic pixie dream boy whose only purpose is to be Hannah’s friend.

The elderly characters not only have agency, and the trust of the teen characters, and pasts, but they are friends, not mentors. That is something which I found completely awesome about Trouble. They are allowed to still be awesome in their own right. They're not just foils for the younger characters to learn. They are active, opinionated, sassy characters in their own right. We spent far too long messing about getting ready, so that by the time we came downstairs loads of Jay’s mates had arrived. I’m not going to lie. I was on the prowl. A summer of flirting with Tyrone and learning how to make a guy lose control had given me confidence.

There were a bunch of weird ideas about sex in this book. In places, it felt voyeuristic. The details were too much, imo, when it came to kids. Not the crass banter or the casual sex. Just the way the author handled it. It was very matter of fact about the fact that these people were all having sex, which I appreciated. But then there was slut-shaming aplenty and the underlying message that it was ok to say mean things about the people you don’t like. The chapter about Hannah’s pregnancy horniness was weird to read, considering we saw very little of her other pregnancy symptoms. And it was always the physical ones rather than the mental or emotional ones. Did we need to know how she felt? And for a book that took such a warts and all approach, there was no mention of masturbation which really was the ideal solution.

The side character friends were really enjoyable but not as developed as I'd have liked. I would have loved to see a scene where Hannah and Anj discussed their former friendship and falling out after she had that epiphany about how toxic her relationship with Katie had been compared to Anj It’s super meaningful, and has so many brilliant messages for you to take away. There’s some pretty heavy themes in the second half of the book, but they were dealt with so well, and the book was still kept light and enjoyable. These dark feelings a character had were really important, and weren’t glorified in any way. It was real, dark, yet uplifting because of how well they were dealt with.

I'll be very honest now and say that the main reason I bought this one is because the cover really caught my attention. I feel like having the sperms in there made the book stands out and it makes the book more intriguing.

Hannah. I found myself not liking her like 70% of the time. Her promiscuousness took some getting used to, but that didn't bother me so much. It mostly had to do with the fact that she had no problem with cheating, was incredibly impulsive (not in a good way) and could be quite judgmental. Thankfully she does go through some serious character development, but boy was she hard to relate to. I have been waiting to read trouble for a long time and I am delighted to say it didn't disappoint. Trouble is the story of Hannah and Aaron. Hannah is 15 and pregnant and Aaron is the new boy at school who pretends to be the father of her child. It was the perfect read for me for several reasons. Non most definitely did a very brave thing writing a YA Contemporary book with no main romance. Yes this book isn't a romance. It is so much more and about something so much more important. True Friendship. And how true friendship can withstand everything, It is truly beautiful, uplifting and moving. I loved that there was a little hint of romance at the end. Hannah and Aaron have such a beautiful and perfect friendship so that little hint that it could be more had the hopeless romantic in me aww-ing and squeeing a little. Set in the 1980s, TROUBLE is the story of Henry Smith, a middle school student growing up on the northern coast of Massachusetts in a large house which has been inhabited by his ancestors for 300 years. Henry's older brother, Franklin, and his sister, Louisa, both attend Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Preparatory High School in Blythbury-by-the-Sea, the town that has grown up around their ancestral home. Big brother Franklin is the golden boy, popular and athletic, who can do no wrong -- or at least that is how it seems at first glance. By reaching the summit of the mountain, Henry learns that instead of his father's strategy of avoiding discomfort, pain, and sadness, Henry should build his house right in the center of tragedy, which he and his father call, "Trouble." Update this section!

Marcy. There were other characters that I disliked more than her but she was the most underdeveloped. She embodied that typical villainess-queen-of-the-school-out-to-ruin-people's-lives-for-little-to-no-reason mean girl trope. She was even a model. Cliche much? That was kind of lazy writing on her part because Marcy was portrayed as basically all bad. There is not a single (sympathetic) mention of her being a victim of cheating, which she very much was. Most importantly, for a story with a pregnant 15-yr-old, no adult ever shames her for having had sex, or getting pregnant, even if they judge her for choosing to have the baby. There's a culture of slut shaming from some of the douchebag teenage characters, but it is not universal, and Aaron (the male lead) calls them on it, if not out loud, then in his head/narration. Gary Schmidt does an incredible job with character development, and he is one of those writers that can take a small phrase and so clearly set the scene and make you visualize what’s happening. He especially does a great job with the scenes with the dog—it is obvious that the author knows and likes dogs, and those scenes were both heartbreaking, and hysterical! In addition to Henry, the characters of Henry’s friend Sanborn (who shows up to climb Katahdin and support his friend--despite Henry’s attempt to go it alone) and of “the enemy” Chay are superbly done. Sanborn and Henry have one of those deep male friendships disguised by constant insults and even fights—the kind of fights where neither gets mad no matter who wins. And Chay has layers that are revealed a small bit at a time. He goes from The Bad Guy of the story to just…human. I found it problematic. Maybe I’m too old. But I just don’t want to read books that reinforce negative ideas. Readers deserve better. As characters, Hannah and Aaron deserved better. I did like Aaron and I felt really bad for the terrible things that had happened to him, but he didn’t really seem to develop either. And I didn’t really understand why he offered to pretend to be the father of Hannah’s baby. It is explained, but I still didn’t really buy into it. And I definitely didn’t understand why his parents went along with it!

The book also reveals that the highly educated, who are supposed to be more enlightened, are as human as the working classes and have darker attitudes toward immigration than perhaps even they would like to accept. Its fine for Those people to live in That place away from us, but not to go to our schools or date our children. Or participate in Our Sports like crew. America is not a very welcoming place, though it is so often the destination of those without hope. For me this book is all about friendship and the main characters learning what it is to be a good friend. As the book goes on you get to see shifts in the social groups both Hannah and Aaron associate with and it is brilliant to see them at that last stage of high school going into adulthood as they suss out which of their friends are true friends and deserve the loyalty the other can offer.

Did we miss something on diversity?

Non Pratt also made the two voices distinct and full of life. Considering the POVs switched every few paragraphs it was both necessary and welcome. I just can’t get past how dumb and unrealistic they were. If I surveyed the parents of like a hundred 15 year old boys, how many of them would allow him to pretend to be the father of the child of another 15 he just met? Um, none. What if the kids father was a teacher in the high school they both attended? What if the boy was severely emotionally damaged and just vulnerable in general? My one little issue with Trouble is the ending came way too fast. I really wanted more and I as left with so many questions. What happened with Katie? What happened to Aaron and Hannah afterwards? What happened to Jay? I felt the ending was a tad bit rushed but I still loved it and it does not take away from the beauty of this masterpiece. I would love to see a sequel to see what happened to everyone after the end of the book. It had some good points. The author did a great job making the dialogue, social interactions and thought processes of the teenager characters realistic and relevant. There are countless people in the world actually like these characters. I often read YA where it feels like no-one on earth in any way resembles the characters we’re reading about. Of course, the fact it was set in an average area in the UK made it easier for my Irish self to relate to than some of the American stuff I read.