Mary's Review: Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers

This is the kind of book that a person could finish in two hour, if they really set their minds to it. Its more a novella than novel, which is both its greatest strength and greatest weakness. On the one hand its not a book about the ISSUES, its a book with an issue, and that makes it feel much less heavy handed than a lot of YA fiction. Johnny is a goth who accidentally overdoses at a club, and is sent to rehab where he decides he wants to go somewhere else with his life. This is the first time he hears the titular singer Debbie Harry. His single mom, still grieving the death of Johnny's father, sends him across the country to live with his uncle following the rehab. It's there that Johnny starts piecing life back together, finding a father figure in his uncle and a girl he loves.He also begins to realize that his love for Debbie Harry extends to wanting to be her. Or at least to wanting to dress up like her. Johnny's journey is covered nicely for the novel's short length, making it solely his journey in a way many books don't. The story is an emotional rollercoaster condensed, and the reader really feels for the protagonist. On the downside, the protagonist is more or less the only one the readers feel for. Barring Johnny's girlfriend Maria the cast is mainly peripheral. We see them when they affect Johnny's life, but not beyond that. We may like or dislike them, but we are never really allowed to care. We know that Johnny's mother suffered a crippling depression, for example, and that his uncle went through an ugly divorce, but we never see the details nor feel those characters' pain. It's Johnny's story from start to finish. Even considering that, the plot is interesting enough to warrant a read, though some readers might be turned away by the cross dressing subject matter.
Final Verdict: 3Q, 3P